I’ve a problem I’ve never come across before and its how to copy files to External Hard Drive? I’ve just migrated from using Windows for 15 years onto Apple iMac and had been copy files easily on Windows without any hassle and thought I’d done the same on my iMac but seemingly they’re hard to copy the files or folders to any other External Hard Drive, I have tried to format it to FAT32 but it’s still the same. Do you have any ideas as to why this happens and how to solve this please?

1. Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os 10
2. Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os X
3. Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os Mac
4. Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os Download

Mar 15, 2018  If you need to work with Mac-formatted drives on a regular basis and you want the operating system integration, speed, and write access, Paragon HFS+ is a great choice and will be worth it for you. But, if you just need to get some files off a Mac-formatted drive occasionally, this is overkill and you can save $20 by sticking with HFSExplorer. Nov 14, 2019  It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup HD and external drive problems. If you are able to fix the hard drive or SSD in your Mac (or an external drive) using Disk Utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files. To run Fist Aid on an external hard drive: Open Disk Utility. Why copy Windows operating system (OS) to USB drive? At the age of electronic information, the importance of data in computers is self-evident. The good news is more and more computer users attach importance to backup. One can easily bring the computer back to.

Why Mac Files Won’t Copy To External Hard Drive?

Oct 15, 2013  Hi all, i've run into a dilemma today and i was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue? When i plug an external hard drive into my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.8 (12A256) i can't copy files or folders to it? When i drag them across the little white circle icon with a line through it appears and it just puts the files back to my desktop? Has anyone found a solution how to resolve this? Jan 29, 2015  Unable to Copy large file to usb,How to Copy Paste folders on Mac, usb flash drive 16gb, 8gb, 4gb, 32gb, 64gb, 128gb, 200gb, 300gb. Problema al copiar archivos grandes, Mac files won't copy to. This is a good reason to download the official copy from the Mac App Store, or join the free public beta program if you want to try out a new version of the Mac OS early. Other possible causes include a damaged boot drive.

The problem is that your drive is Windows NTFS formatted by default. Mac system is not support this format, OS X can’t write NTFS out of the box (at least not without some tweaks). Here are some ways to do this. So why Mac files won’t copy to external hard drive? There are several reasons:

1. External Hard Drive has been locked. You will get a notice said the item “folder name” could not be moved because “USB-HDD” cannot be modified. In fact, the external USB drive is not formatted for use with your Mac. the drive is formatted as NTFS which is normal in a Windows environment. While OS X is able to read from a drive that is formatted at NTFS, it cannot write to one. You will get a warning saying that the drive cannot be modified.

2. External Hard Drive in a read-only state. It is in a read-only state, you will not be able to copy and modify the file. So you need to check if the External Hard Drive in a read-only state or not.

3. Connection or damage issue about External Hard Drive. A misaligned or malfunctioning cable may be the cause of the problem， especially if you also have errors when trying to read from the external disk.

Guides to fix Mac Files Won’t Copy To External Hard Drive

1. Format the drive as HFS+, open the Disk Utility software in your /Applications/Utilities folder. Click on the drive in the list of drives in the left-hand side of the window. Then check the bottom of the window for the entry “Partition Map Scheme.” the normal Mac OS X format, using the Disk Utility. The downside is that you will lose ALL the data that is on the drive at the time of formatting. Remember to save everything to the Mac’s drive before you format.

2. Set the external hard drive onto unwriteable state. Unmount the drive by clicking on the eject button next to the drive’s name in a Finder window. Disconnect the cable entirely, then reconnect it first to the drive, then to the Macintosh’s USB, Firewire or Thunderbolt port. If this does not work, swap out the cable for a different one, if you have an extra available.

3. Determine Space Free. Single-click on the disk in the Finder, then choose “Get Info” from the “File” menu. Check to make sure there is space listed after the label “Available:” in the General section of Get Info. Also check the size of what you’re trying to put on the drive. Even if you have space on the drive, if the file you want to write over is larger than the space available, you won’t be able to write it to the hard drive.

4. Repair External Hard Drive from Disk Utility. Press Command + Space to open Spotlight search, type Disk Utility, and press Enter. Select your Mac’s system partition — generally “Macintosh HD.” Click the Verify Disk Permissions button if you’d like to check your permissions for problems. Click Repair Disk Permissions to check for problems and automatically fix them.

Note: Fix this issue need professional knowledge of Mac. If you haven’t sufficient expertise in dealing with this issue, it may lead to mistakes damaging your system. If you don’t want to waste time playing trial and error with every possible solution for it, welcome to contact Yoocare online Expert. Our professionals will locate the problem and work quickly safe your Mac.

Published by James B. Gonzalez & last updated on October 14, 2016 9:39 am

Summary: Two methods to change Seagate external hard drives from read-only back to read-write, so that you can edit, delete, and rename files on this Seagate external hard drive. Also, if a Seagate external hard drive is read-only or files are locked on Mac due to NTFS format, you can use iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to mount it in read-write mode on Mac.

When you plug a Seagate external hard drive into your Mac, one of the worst things would be that you find your Seagate hard drive is read-only. Your photos, videos, and other files you saved from a Windows PC could be locked. Or your Seagate external drive could be write-protected. Are you facing such disk problem right now? Well, you are not the only one.

'I'm having a problem using my Seagate external hard drive. I only have permission to read files on my external hard drive, but I am not allowed to write or edit files on the drive when using Mac OS. Why this happened and how to fix Seagate external hard drive read-only on Mac?'

You might have trouble backing up or adding files to Seagate external hard drives on Mac. But it's not necessarily because the disk is locked but some other reasons. For example, the Seagate external hard drive becomes read-only on Mac.

In this article, we introduced three possible reasons for disk being read-only on Mac, and you can find solutions to change the external drives from read-only accordingly.

Why is your Seagate external hard drive read only on Mac?

You may be wondering why my Seagate external hard drive is read-only. In fact, read-only Seagate external hard drive results from various reasons. It could be the NTFS format that makes this trouble since NTFS is not writable on Mac. Generally, there are three possible reasons:

• The Seagate external hard drive is NTFS formatted
• You don't have permissions to access the Seagate external hard drive
• The Seagate external hard drive has some disk errors

In the following part, we'll go into details about how to fix the Seagate external hard drive read-onli issue in different situations.

Case 1: The Seagate external hard drive is NTFS formatted

Most Seagate external drives are read-only on Mac because they are pre-fomatted with Windows NT file system (NTFS) by the manufacturer. So your Seagate HDD is read only on Mac, which affects Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch, Portable drive, and Slim.

However, macOS disabled the NTFS write support by default. If you connect an NTFS formatted external hard drive to your Mac, you will find that files on this disk will be locked or show as read-only. You can only read but can't add files to this Seagate external hard drive on Mac.

How to check if your Seagate hard drive is NTFS formatted on Mac?

1. Open the Finder and click Go at the upper right of your desktop, then choose Utilities.
2. Find Disk Utility and open it.
3. Select your Seagate external hard drive in the left sidebar of Disk Utility.
4. Then you can see Windows NT File System on the right.
5. You can click the Info icon at the upper right to check if this disk is writable.

Solution: Use NTFS for Mac to write to Seagate external hard drives on Mac

In this situation, what you need is not to unlock the Seagate external hard drive but a NTFS for Mac driver. Many people would think about converting NTFS to APFS or formatting the Seagate drive for Mac to make it compatible with macOS. However, the truth is that you can fix the Seagate external hard drive read-only issue without formatting, i.e. you don't have to lose your files on this drive.

Alternatively, you can download NTFS for Mac software to enable NTFS drive write support on Mac with no fuss. There are a great number of NTFS for Mac in the market, and iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is used here as an example.

Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os 10

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac: NTFS for Mac driver and more

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a handy disk management tool, which can help you mount NTFS formatted external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. on Mac with write support. This NTFS drive mounter is also compatible with macOS 10.15 (Catalina), macOS 10.14 (Mojave), macOS 10.13 (High Sierra), macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.8 (Mountain Lion).

How to use iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to write to NTFS Seagate external hard drive on Mac?

Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os X

Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your computer.

Step 2: Launch this NTFS driver for Mac and connect the read-only Seagate external hard drive to Mac.

Step 3: Then, you can fully write and copy data to the Seagate external hard drive on Mac after the drive is mounted successfully.

Aside from being an NTFS for Mac driver, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is also a wonderful tool to manage files on NTFS external drives. It lets users open, monut, repair, and erase NTFS drives on Mac natively and seamlessly.

Case 2: You don't have permissions to access the Seagate external hard drive

If your Seagate hard drive denies your access or restricts you to read-only activities, there is likely an permission issue. Being a multiuser operating system, macOS sets up access permissions for all files and folders on the system, including external drives.

Solution: Change permissions on Seagate external hard drive

To fix the read-only Seagate external hard drive issue, you need to regain full access. You can ignore the ownership or change the sharing and permissions of this disk in the Finder by following the below steps.

Step 1: Select Seagate external hard drive on your desktop or in the Finder sidebar, and then press Command + I to get information of the drive.

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of this list and click on the triangle that is at the left side of the Sharing & Permissions tab.

Step 3: Click on the lock icon at the right bottom and type in the password to unlock this tab.

Step 4: Check the box to Ignore ownership on this volume, or you can toggle it off and then on if it's already enabled.

Step 5: Click on the gear button and choose Apply to enclosed items… to save your changes.

Then you can go to check if your Seagate external hard drive is read-only still. If not, you will be able to write to this disk.

But if you can't access the Seagate external hard drive as it's locked still. Well, the disk may be really locked by certain programs, especially for Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch. Then you need to unlock the password protection or hardware encryption with Seagate Secure software.

Case 3: The Seagate external hard drive has some disk errors

If your Seagate external hard drive becomes read-only not for the reasons above, you may need to have a check if there is any inner disk error. Some formatting errors will make an external hard drive read-only on Mac. If this is the cause, usually you will see a warning in Disk Utility that states it is only being mounted in read-only mode.

Solution 1: Fix read-only Seagate external hard drive in Disk Utility

Fortunately, there is a built-in tool called First Aid that can check and repair some minor disk errors. When your Seagate external hard drive becomes read-only due to logical disk problems, you can use First Aid to repair it then.

Here is the guidance to fix read-only Seagate external hard drive with Disk Utility:

1. Open Disk Utility.
2. Select the read-only Seagate external hard drive on the left window.
3. Click First Aid in the top center and choose Run to repair this disk.

Solution 2: Reformat Seagate external hard drive

However, if Disk Utility fails to fix read-only Seagate external hard drive, the last thing you can try to remove write protection from Seagate external hard drives would be reformatting. Reformatting will assign a new file system to this disk, consequently, the Seagate external hard drive issue could be fixed.

But before you go ahead to erase this disk, you should know that reformatting will wipe the files on this hard drive. Thus, you are advised to check if you have a copy of data back in the first place , or you can recover lost data from this external hard drive with iBoysoft Mac data recovery to avoid data loss.

If you're sure that you have data backup in hand, you can proceed to reformat this read-only external hard drive with the following tutorial.

Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os Mac

1. Open Disk Utility as you did before.
2. Select the read-only Seagate external hard drive in the left sidebar.
3. Click the Erase button in the top center of Disk Utility.
4. Fill in name, format, and scheme when the pop-up asks.
5. Click Erase to confirm this operation.

A final note

Why Cant Copy To Hard Drive From Mac Os Download

Besides Seagate external hard drives, Toshiba, WD, Samsung, or other brands' external hard drives will come across the read-only problem. It is common to see people complaining WD My Passport external hard drives suddenly became read-only on Mac. You can also use these solutions to fix this problem. But if you are unable to fix it with the solutions suggested above, you can only send it to local disk repair store for help, but that will cost a lot usually.