How Do IMake My Seagate Work With a Mac?One thing you should know first. SeagateTechnologies sell external hard drives that are formatted in different ways.How does that matter?You’ll find different formats. Also knownas file systems. And these file systems or formats tell you how the drive islaid out.How your Seagate external hard drive isformatted opens up. Or restricts what you can do with it on your Mac.I’ll show you some examples.
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Seagate DriveFormatSeagate ExpansionNTFSBackup Plus SlimExFATSeagate PortableNTFS. When you’replanning to use your Seagate drive only for your Mac.
There are a few reasonsto reformat your drive this way.Reason 1, your Mac can use a Seagate external hard drive formatted as HFS+ for a Time Machine backup.So ifanything happens to your Mac you can restore your entire Mac from a TimeMachine backup.Reason 2, when you accidentally delete a file you want, then you can bring that file back as well.Only a Maccan read a HFS+ file system.You can split up a large enough HFS+ Seagate drive. You call this partitioning. And it means you can have one section say for your Time Machine backups. And another section to copy and paste files to.You could even have a third section set up as ExFAT to share with a Windows PC. Don’twant to Reformat your Seagate NTFS External Drive?And you maynot want to.Becauseyou’re using your Seagate NTFS external hard drive mostly for a Windows PC.
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Seagate Backup Plus 1TB Thunderbolt Portable External Hard Drive for Mac (STBW1000401) – VERSATILE.
Andonly sometimes on your Mac.But youwant to do more than just to copy the files off the drive and use them on yourMac. You want to put files back on the drive. Or updated the files on theSeagate drive.There isanother option.Seagatethemselves sell some of their drives with driver software.What isdriver software?This issoftware you can download and run on your Mac. This software allows your Mac tochange files on the Seagate NTFS external hard drive.And as longas you have the software loaded. And you keep the software updated to matchyour Mac’s operating system you’ll be fine. And it may be a better option foryou rather than reformatting. Pluggingin Your Seagate External Hard Drive into Your MacBook Pro?Or yourMacBook Air or iMac.Do you have a 2017 MacBook Pro or iMac?
MacBook Air 2018? Then you’ll have a Mac with C ports on it.And?Many of theSeagate external hard drives are USB 3.0 drives.So what?They willwork. But you’ll need to get yourself an USB micro B to USB C adaptor cablewhen you buy your Seagate drive. Or a USB A to USB C adaptor.The SeagateUltra Touch for example comes with a type A to USB C adaptor in the box.The LaCie Seagate external drives come with the right cable for your Mac.But what ifmy Mac is older then that?If your Machas USB 3.1 ports you’ll also need an adaptor cable.If your Macis earlier than 2011. Then it’s likely to have a type A USB port and you canplug your USB 3.0 Seagate drive right into it.The driveis able to work faster than your older Mac. But there’s backwards compatibilityof the USB standards. And this mean your Mac will talk to your Seagate drivejust fine.
At USB 3.0 or 2.0 speed. How toUse your Seagate External Hard Drive on MacBook Pro, Air or iMacPower up,log into your Mac. Plug in your Seagate’s USB cable.YourSeagate external hard drive connects to your Mac by its USB cable.The Seagateportable drives receive their power from your Mac by the USB cable.And thatmeans you’ll have to have enough battery power in your MacBook. Enough to poweryour Seagate external hard drive.If yourbattery is low you’ll need to plug your MacBook into power.And if yourSeagate is a desktop drive it’ll have its own power cable. Plug your desktopSeagate drive into power before connecting it up to your powered up Mac.When yourSeagate external drive is plugged into your Mac and has power its light willblink. And in a few moments your Mac will show the drive icon on your desktop.
Finder Create New FolderClick onyour untitled folder and type in a name.And thereyou have created a new folder on your Seagate hard drive. And you’ve learnt howto give your new folder a name. How toUse Seagate External Hard for Drag and Drop On MacAnd how tocopy and paste your files to your Seagate drive.Now you’veopened up a finder window on your Seagate External hard drive. You’re ready toput some files on there. Drag andDrop from your Mac to your Seagate DriveWhen you’redragging and dropping your files.
You’re moving the files from where they areon your Mac to your Seagate external drive.It is theway to free up space on your Mac’s internal drives.But, ifthese are the only copy of your files, you should have a copy of them somewhereelse as well. Maybe in a backup you’vealready taken of your Mac.Or take acopy of your Seagate drive by cloning it to another Seagate external drive.Open asecond finder window on your Mac and move through your folders to the files youwant to drag and drop. You can also drag and drop folders this way.You canclick on each one.Want tochoose more than one?Hold downthe shift key and click on the other files you want to choose.Click andhold on the highlighted file(s). Move your cursor over to the window on yourSeagate external drive. And when you see a highlight around the window liftyour finger and drop them there.If you’redropping a lot of files. Or dropping a folder with a lot of files in it. It maytake a while.
Your Mac will show you a progress bar if there are a lot offiles. Copyand Paste from your Mac to your Seagate DriveThis islike dragging and dropping your files. But this time you’re take a copy of yourfiles and putting them onto your Seagate drive.Open up afinder window on your Mac. And move to the files you want to copy.Click onthe file.
Or shift and Click to choose more.Or you canuse a selection window.Click yourcursor in an empty space near your files. Click and hold. Move your cursoracross all the files you want to choose. Example of Pasted files 13. How toDelete Files on your Seagate External Hard Drive on MacWhen you want to delete some files fromyour Seagate external hard drive it’s easy.You double click on your Seagate’s driveicon on your desktop.
And open up a new finder window.Click on each file or folder you want to delete. You can use Shift and click to choose morefiles or folders.Then you can just press the Delete key onyour keyboard.Or you can right click once you havepicked the files and pick move to trash from the menu. Right Click to EjectAnd from the menu you choose Eject.Wait a few moments for your Mac to writeeverything down to the drive from its memory.And once the drive icon has disappeared from your desktop you can plugout your USB cable.Wait for your drive to power down and thenyou’re free to move and put away your Seagate drive. Using Your Seagate External Hard Drive for yourBackupsYou can useyour Seagate external hard drive for your Time Machine backups.
And keep a copyof your entire Mac should anything bad happen to your Mac.You’ll first need to format your Seagateexternal hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. As that is the file system your Mac uses fora Time Machine backup.After formatting you connect up your Seagate hard drive to Time Machine. Something that’s really quick to do. How toUse your Seagate External Hard Drive on Mac and WindowsWhen you’vebought a Seagate drive formatted as ExFAT. The drive is already set up for youto use on a Mac and a Windows PC.You can usethe instructions above to open the drive up on your Mac. You can drag and dropfiles to your Seagate external hard drive.Copy and paste your files on the drive.And use thesame actions to take files off your Seagate drive onto your Mac.Or you canstart up a compatible program on your Mac.Then openfiles put on your Seagate external drive by a Windows PC.
And use them on yourMac.Here are acouple of examples. You can start up iTunes. And open MP3 files put on your Seagate external drive by a Windows PC. And iTunes will start to play them.
You can start up the photos app on your Mac. Open up a JPEG photo on the Seagate drive put on there by a Windows PC. And view them on your Mac. Or edit them on your Mac. You can start up Excel on your Mac.
Open up an Excel spreadsheet put on your Seagate external drive by a PC. And make your changes.When you’reready to plug out your Seagate be sure to Eject your drive before pulling outits USB cable.You cantake your Seagate drive over to your Windows PC and open up the drive there.Justremember that you’ll need a program on the Mac or the Windows PC that can readthose files.Andremember that Application programs are different.You can’tswap them from a Mac to a Windows PC. Aprogram made for a Mac has to run on a Mac.Just thesame as a program made for a Windows PC has to run on a Windows PC. Last WordsAnd now you know 16 ways to use yourSeagate external hard drive on your Mac. Please have a look at my other Seagatedocuments on the site.
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