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Can files that are loaded onto an SD card (format to FAT32) be transferred to the NTFS EHD if I do this through a PC?

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    Are you asking if Windows supports the FAT32 file system? Windows supports both file systems in question. What you describe is a simply file copy procedure to Windows.
    – Ramhound
    May 27, 2015 at 15:57
  • I tried to copy files from a MAC desktop into the NTFS EHD - that doesn't work. So I thought it might work to copy the files instead onto an SD card (which was formatted FAT32 according to the general info on it ) then pop the SD card into a PC and then copy into the NTFS EHD.
    – Sue
    May 27, 2015 at 16:06
  • @Sue, yes that should work, and since you seem to say you think it will, please go try it and come back if you run into an actual problem performing it. May 27, 2015 at 16:09
  • Be aware that the format of text files is slightly different, though most Windows programs will read Mac text files (unless they are pre-OSX).
    – AFH
    May 27, 2015 at 16:15
  • @TECHIE007:Thank you for your suggestions. I tried out the computer maneuver posted from another poster which worked for two of my EHDs.ALthough I have copied files onto the SD card ready to transfer,however I'm hesistant to boot up the PC because it is very slow ( being both older and possibly buggy too) compared to the instantaneous Mac. Unfortunately,a third EHD ( a much older device-2011/2012) is not responding to method used for other two EHDs. :(
    – Sue
    May 27, 2015 at 18:47

1 Answer 1

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Yes. (Don't know what else to say. There's nothing stopping you from transferring files between file systems except for edge cases where the file names or sizes are unacceptable to the destination file system. The former is easily fixed though.)

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  • I tried to copy files from a MAC desktop into the NTFS EHD - that doesn't work. So I thought it might work to copy the files instead onto an SD card (which was formatted FAT32 according to the general info on it ) then pop the SD card into a PC and then copy into the NTFS EHD.
    – Sue
    May 27, 2015 at 16:07
  • You need to enable write support for NTFS in OS X. This is still experimental however and might cause corruption, so the best option is to use a third-party driver such as the ones from Tuxera and Paragon. FAT32 will present no problems, except for the 4GB per file size limitation.
    – Karan
    May 27, 2015 at 16:24
  • ,Thank you for the links you posted. I used the link with 'enable..' and followed the instructions. I was able to transfer files from the mac to NTFS EHD that were purhased in the last couple years, however, the EHD (Seagate) purchased earlier(maybe 2011/12) than either of the others, did not respond to the same computer maneuvers. Would you be able to suggest why this is so?
    – Sue
    May 27, 2015 at 18:40
  • Which of the two solutions did you use? Did you install the NTFS driver for Mac, or did you edit /etc/fstab? If the latter, did you add separate lines to /etc/fstab for both drives?
    – Karan
    May 27, 2015 at 18:46
  • I did the edit! ( rather brave, or foolish! of me -as I am not techy; however the instructions were very clear ) . I did each drive separately, repeating the instructions exactly for each. The instructions worked fine for the one - which , by the way, will I have to repeat these instructions every time I need to backup my files to this NTFS EHD? It did not work though, for the older EHD, perhaps it is incompatible or something ( I have no idea of cyber jargon I'm afraid - it really is mostly greek to me!) Thank you very much for all your helpful suggestions so far though.
    – Sue
    May 27, 2015 at 18:55

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