It’s difficult for me to help my spouse use his Apple computer. Sorry, but I’ve only ever used a PC. Our new external hard drive arrived, but I’m having trouble saving files to it. It refuses to let me save at all and says it’s a read-only file when I try. I am unsure if I have not correctly configured the hard disk or if I simply do not know how to use this machine. Any assistance would be highly valued.
First, you can check the file system of the new external hard drive. Here’s how:
- Open Disk Utility from Finder > Applications > Utilities.
- Select the connected external drive from the left list.
- Check the disk info showing in the right panel.
If the drive is formatted as NTFS, a Windows-exclusive file system, you can only read this drive on Mac, because macOS doesn’t support NTFS write by default.
Since it’s a new drive, you can directly format it in Disk Utility to choose a compatible file system. Otherwise, try iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to use NTFS drive on Mac without reformatting.
In case the drive is compatible with macOS, right-click it in Finder and choose Get Info, there, you should ensure Read & Write is selected for your current user account. If this method doesn’t work, try to reformat it again to see whether it will be writable.
When you can’t save files to the external hard drive, you can check the following:
- Format the drive correctly.
- Check permissions to ensure write access.
- Run First Aid in Disk Utility to check for errors.
- Ensure the drive is not write-protected or full.
- Test with a different USB port or cable.
- If nothing works, try the drive on a different computer.