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Author Topic: iMac/PC discrepancy ?  (Read 3543 times)

RMW

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iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« on: July 29, 2017, 03:10:15 pm »

Hi All.
Have an external hard-drive with photos on it that was connected to a PC. Now I have an iMac. The question is: How do I access the photos on the iMac when the hard-drive is PC formatted ?
I understand, but it's not all that clear to me, that if I re-format the drive I'll lose all the files. I was wondering if perhaps I should go to a computer repair shop. attach the h-d to a PC, look thru the fotos and copy the ones I want them to something like a CD or a flash drive.
Or is there a better way?
Thanks for looking.
Richard
PS- When I looked on-line for help, I could only find the question for going from Mac to PC. Curious ?
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Telecaster

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2017, 03:27:06 pm »

Have you attached the HD to your Mac? Depending on the drive's filesystem the Mac may be able to read the files and let you copy 'em over. Definitely don't reformat the drive before copying until you copy your pics!

-Dave-
« Last Edit: July 29, 2017, 04:00:03 pm by Telecaster »
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graeme

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2017, 03:41:17 pm »

I bet the mac will read the files no problem.
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kers

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2017, 05:37:25 am »

It is not that difficult...

buy something like this ( connects with usb3) , put your windows harddisk in it and copy your files tot the iMac - if you want...

I use these to access my archive disks

( remember all the memory cards and USB-sticks are also windows formatted and you can read them on the mac)
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2017, 08:25:54 am »

Have you actually tried to connect it to your iMac? As mentioned above, it should read photographic files without a problem.

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2017, 08:30:15 am »

As for the Internet:

Quote
Macs can easily read PC-formatted hard disk drives. Writing to them, however, is a different story.

If you've switched to the Mac, welcome aboard. Your old external Windows PC drive will work great on the Mac. Apple has built OS X Yosemite and some previous OS X releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. If you're using such a drive and you'd like to write new data to them, you'll find you can't unless you add new software. Fortunately, you don't have to spend a dime.

Link: https://www.imore.com/how-use-pc-formatted-drive-mac

RMW

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2017, 10:45:33 am »

Thank you Dave, Graeme, Kers and Slobodan.
As suggested, I hooked up the h-d to the computer and lo and behold, like a magicians sleight of hand, the photos instantly appeared. What  relief ! All the warnings I read about trying this came to nought. No machines burst into flames and as far as I can tell, no curse has descended upon me. (At least none I can detect.)
Thank you all again.
Richard
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Telecaster

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2017, 03:12:46 pm »

Excellent!

-Dave-
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Joe Towner

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2017, 12:21:51 pm »

Thank you Dave, Graeme, Kers and Slobodan.
As suggested, I hooked up the h-d to the computer and lo and behold, like a magicians sleight of hand, the photos instantly appeared. What  relief ! All the warnings I read about trying this came to nought. No machines burst into flames and as far as I can tell, no curse has descended upon me. (At least none I can detect.)
Thank you all again.
Richard

Reading the data is fine, writing new data will be the issue.  Who made the external drive, as you'll want to see if they offer a NTFS for Mac application so you can continue to add data to the drive.
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t: @PNWMF

Telecaster

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2017, 04:01:57 pm »

Reading the data is fine, writing new data will be the issue.  Who made the external drive, as you'll want to see if they offer a NTFS for Mac application so you can continue to add data to the drive.

I'd just pull everything I wanted off the drive, then reformat it.

-Dave-
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mediumcool

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Re: iMac/PC discrepancy ?
« Reply #10 on: August 12, 2017, 11:51:13 am »

The fondly-remembered PC Exchange made FAT-formatted disks mountable—and readable—on System 7. Them were definitely the days!
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