topic Re: Chalk, I have a question in Electronics

Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 16:18:24 GMT

I want to copy the entire contents of an external hard drive onto my iMac. After I format the drive to FAT, I want to put the contents back on the external hard drive. If I was using a Windows machine, I would create a folder on the C drive, drag and drop everything there then drag and drop it back. What would be the easiest way to do this using my iMac?

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 01:55:44 GMT

I know you asked for chalk, but here is what I would do...I would attach the external drive to the iMac. Click on the hard drive, and drag what you want from the drive to your desktop. Then I would drag it back to the hard drive, and then drag the stuff on the desktop to the trash. Empty trash. Maybe there is something more technical that I don't understand about what you are trying to do, but that is what I would do.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 02:50:38 GMT

The external hard drive is in a Windows format that my iMac can read but can't write. I want to format the drive so it will be compatible with my Apple devices. I need to transfer the data to my iMac before I format it. I want to put the data in a single folder so I can transfer it back to the external drive once the formatting is completed.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 02:50:39 GMT

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 03:29:57 GMT

Here is a link that speaks to formatting the drive to FAT for use with windows and Mac. Please read, as it lists some risks associated with it. http://www.cnet.com/how-to/the-best-ways-to-format-an-external-drive-for-windows-and-mac/

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 03:32:16 GMT

Once you decide what you are going to format the disk to, you can do it using disk utility on the iMac. You can do like I suggested above and drag the files from the hard drive to the desktop before you reformat. Or you can do as you want and crate a folder on the iMac, and drag and drop the files there.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 10:39:32 GMT

On 4/18/2014 Lynnj said: Once you decide what you are going to format the disk to, you can do it using disk utility on the iMac. You can do like I suggested above and drag the files from the hard drive to the desktop before you reformat. Or you can do as you want and crate a folder on the iMac, and drag and drop the files there.

I am going to format the disk. I've already done one external hard drive and there were no issues or problems. I really don't want all of the separate folders on my desktop or in one of the folders already on the hard drive. I want to be able to drag the folders on the external hard drive to a "master" folder. That way when I want to find everything, the folders/data will be in one place. Plus I want to keep a copy on my iMac. Thanks anyway.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Cha1k — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:37:02 GMT

Gail,

I don't see a problem with placing the contents of the external within a folder on your iMac, formatting the drive to FAT, and then dragging the folder from your iMac to the external.

Another option is to format the external to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and let Time Machine back up for you. You might not want your entire iMac hard drive backed up to that external with Time Machine though.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:59:51 GMT

On 4/19/2014 Cha1k said:
Gail,

I don't see a problem with placing the contents of the external within a folder on your iMac, formatting the drive to FAT, and then dragging the folder from your iMac to the external.

Another option is to format the external to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and let Time Machine back up for you. You might not want your entire iMac hard drive backed up to that external with Time Machine though.

My problem is how to create a folder then get the data from the external to the iMac. Can I do it similar to how it's done on a Windows machine?

I use the time machine for backups to a different external hard drive. I have several external hard drives with data saved over the years. I want to eventually format all of them to FAT so I can use them with my Apple and Windows computers.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 01:50:42 GMT

You create a folder in Finder, since you don't want to create a folder on your desktop as I suggested earlier. Name it contents of external HD, then connect your HD and drag and drop everything to the folder.

Or, you could create the folder on the desktop, drag/drop from the external HD. then when done, drag/drop folder to wherever you want it in finder.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 02:02:45 GMT

Here is Youtube video on how to create a folder -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe6omCdayBI

The video shows adding the folder to the desktop. But if you don't want to do that, open finder, then on left click on category you want the folder to live (Documents?), then create the folder by following the instructions in the video.

Personally, I think it will be easier to create the folder on the desktop to use when drag/drop everything from the HD. Then all you have to do is drag the folder to wherever you want it to live in finder when you are done. If you create the folder in finder first, then you have to have finder open and that folder in view as you drag/drop from the HD.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 02:43:50 GMT

I don't want a folder on the desktop.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 03:00:40 GMT

Okay, well Chalk basically said the same as I did. You now have the instructions on how to add the folder to finder. Have at it!

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 14:02:49 GMT

What I want to know the best way to get the data from one device to another. Can you drag/drop or is copy/paste better? I don't want to do one folder at a time and I don't want multiple duplicates. I also don't want to make a mess like I have with iPhoto.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

Lynnj — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 17:16:02 GMT

No, don't copy paste. Just grab what you want from the HD and drag and drop to where you want it on the iMac. You could probably select all on the HD, and grab all at once to drag and drop to the iMac. When you reformat the HD using disk utility, it will remove/clear the HD. Once HD is reformatted, drag/drop back to the HD. As a result,you will have one copy on the IMac and one copy on the HD. Or, as chalk suggested, use time machine on the iMac and do a full back up of the iMac to the HD. You'll then have everything from the iMac (including these files you just moved to the iMac)

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 18:08:23 GMT

Thanks. I'll post back when it's done. I do use the built in backup but, I also want the data to be accessible from any of my devices including my Windows computer.

Re: Chalk, I have a question

glb613 — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 12:16:18 GMT

I finally got the data copied to my iMac. I did use copy/past because drag/drop kept having errors. When I get some uninterrupted time, I'm going to format the drive. I know one thing, USB 3 is significantly faster when transferring a large number of files/folders.