Home > Questions

What to Do If Unable To Copy Files to An External Hard Drive?

I'm trying to copy some files to an external Maxtor OneTouch 4 hard drive (it's previously been used with a PC). However, when I get info in Sharing & Permissions, it tells me I can only read. How do I change this so I can copy some files over?

Best Answered by

iBoysoft author Eudora Liu

Eudora Liu

Answered on Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Your external Maxtor OneTouch 4 hard drive is read-only which may be caused by the following reasons:

  • The external hard drive is NTFS formatted.
  • Disk permission is changed to read-only.
  • Your external hard drive is corrupted.

So the first thing you need to do is to check the format of your external hard drive in Disk Utility. Here's how:

  1. Connect your external hard drive to your Mac.
  2. Go to Launchpad > Other > Disk Utility and double-click to open.
  3. Select your drive and the format of your drive is in the right panel.

If your drive has been formatted with NTFS, Mac doesn't support you to copy, write, delete, or rename files on it so that your drive shows read-only. Thus, all you need is an NTFS reader to mount your drive in read-write mode, like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.

iBoysoft NTFS for Mac can change the drive from read-only Mac without formatting, granting people full access to read NTFS drive on Mac and write files on NTFS-formatted drives.

  1. Free download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
  2. Connect your hard drive to your Mac.

If necessary, you will be asked to install an NTFS driver by iBoysoft and enable System Extensions.

Now, you can copy your files to your external Maxtor OneTouch 4 hard drive.

What's more, you can also try to format your external hard drive, but you will lose all the data stored on it. 

People Also Ask

Read More Questions

Read More Advice From iBoysoft's Computer Experts

Fix Couldnt modify partition map error on Mac

Résoudre 'Impossible de modifier la carte de partition' sur Mac (69874 & 69803)

Échec de l'effacement, de la partition ou de la réparation de votre lecteur en raison de l'erreur, 'Impossible de modifier la carte de partition.' sur Mac? Cet article vous aidera à résoudre le problème et à récupérer vos données perdues.

Resumen de Matriz All Flash

Qué es un almacenamiento de matriz totalmente flash & almacenamiento de AFA VS Híbrido

Esta publicación ofrece una introducción a la Matriz de Almacenamiento Totalmente en Flash, incluidas las principales características, los usos, las ventajas y desventajas, y la comparación entre la Matriz de Almacenamiento Totalmente en Flash y el Almacenamiento Híbrido.

macos sonoma cliquer sur le fond d'écran pour révéler le bureau

macOS Sonoma Nouvelle Option : Cliquer sur le Fond d'écran pour Révéler le Bureau

Est-ce que les fenêtres ouvertes disparaissent lorsque vous cliquez sur le fond d'écran sur macOS Sonoma ? Cela est dû à la nouvelle fonctionnalité macOS Sonoma 'cliquer sur le fond d'écran pour révéler le bureau'. Lisez cet article pour en savoir plus.