How to Transfer Files From Mac to External Hard Drive

Copying and pasting files from your Mac to an external hard disk is a pretty straightforward process. However, it quickly gets a little more complicated if you have a hard disk with an NTFS file system, like Macs, which only support read functions in NTFS drives by default. This means you cannot copy-paste files on an NTFS hard drive, only view them. This article details how you can transfer files from Mac to an external hard drive as well as an NTFS hard drive.

Table of Contents

How to Transfer Files From Mac to External Hard Drive?

The first method will explain how you can transfer files from Mac to an external hard drive. Read the instructions provided below to know more about the process.

Sign in to your Mac and connect your hard disk to the computer.
Open a Finder window from the dock or use a Spotlight search to do the same. Press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type in “finder” without the quotation marks, and hit the return key to open the app.
After opening a Finder window, find and select the files you want to copy over to the external hard disk. If you’re going to pick multiple files at once, hold down the Command key and then choose the files.
After you’ve made your selection, right-click on the files to display the context menu and click on Copy from the list. You can also use the Command-C shortcut to do the same.
Once the files have been copied, open another finder window by right-clicking the Finder app from the app and selecting New Finder Window from the list. Subsequently, you can also use the Command-N shortcut to open a new window.
Select your hard disk from the menu on the left side—Right-click on it, and select Paste from the list. You can also use the Command-V shortcut to do the same.

You can also drag and drop the files at once from your Mac to your external hard disk.

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How to Transfer Files From Mac to an NTFS Hard Disk?

The files inside NTFS hard drives can only be read on Mac; you cannot copy-paste new files or make any changes such as renaming files or creating new folders in these hard drives. We have collated a few ways to circumvent this problem.

The first method requires you to format your entire hard disk. Read the instructions provided below to know more about the process.

Sign in to your Mac and connect your external hard drive.
Open a Finder window from the dock or use a Spotlight search to do the same. Press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type in “finder” without the quotation marks, and hit the return key to open the app.
Click on the Application tab from the left side menu and open Disk Utility from the list.
Subsequently, you can also use a Spotlight search to do the same. Press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type in “disk utility” without the quotation marks, and hit the return key to open the app.
Select your external hard disk from the menu on the left side and click the Erase button at the top of the window.

Transfer Files From Mac to External Hard Drive

A new pop-up window will show up where you can select the hard disk file system. Select MS-DOS(FAT) from the list and click on the Erase button when you’re done.

Read How to Recover Deleted Files on Mac Without Software

How to Transfer Files From Mac To External Hard Drive Using Third-Party Software

A lot of third-party software allows you to mount the NTFS hard drive on your Mac to transfer files and make changes to the hard disk. We recommend Paragon NTFS for Mac as it is the best cross-platform utility tool for Macs.

However, it is a paid app, but it also eliminates the need to worry about using Mac-compatible hard disks every single time.

Download the Paragon NTFS for Mac from this site, and you will get a trial period of thirty days before you need to purchase the software. Just install the software and give permissions to it as displayed on the screen.

After that, you can mount NTFS hard disks directly onto your Mac and read-write on it without having to format it entirely first.

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How to Use Terminal to Transfer Files From Mac To External Hard Disk?

The last method in this article allows you to enable NTFS to write support using Terminal on your Mac. This process needs you to be familiar with MacOS command-line functions and operations, as it should be performed with caution, for it can mess up the internal systems.

Read the instructions provided below carefully to know more about the process.

Sign in to your Mac and open a Finder window from the dock or you can use a Spotlight search to do the same. Press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type in “finder” without the quotation marks, and hit the return key to open the app.
Head over to the Applications tab from the left-side menu and open up Terminal.
Subsequently, you can also use a Spotlight search to open it, press the Command-Space shortcut to launch the search bar, type in “terminal” without the quotation marks, and hit the return key to open the app.
Now, connect the external hard disk to your Mac.
Type in “sudo nano /etc/fstab” without quotation marks and hit the return key to run the command.
Next, type in “LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw, auto, nobrowse”, replace NAME with the name of your external hard disk.
Once that is done, press the Command-O shortcut to save the changes and exit out of the terminal.
Now you can copy-paste your files on the external hard disk.

Conclusion

That’s it for this article, folks. As you saw there are several ways to transfer files from Mac to an external hard drive. Be sure to check out the other tips and tricks mentioned here.

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Robert

Robert is a tech expert (with more than 10 years of experience in using mac os and iPhone) who loves to help others learn about the Mac operating system and iPhone. He provides helpful tutorials on how to use Mac OS, tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Mac operating system, iPhone tips and tricks, and more. He’s always up for a challenge and enjoys learning new things about his favorite OS. When he’s not helping people get the most out of their technology, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two cats. Check out more.