You would have to install a program to allow you to write to that format, or format the drive for use with a Mac instead of Windows. MacOS cannot write to NTFS drives natively. Select MacOS Extended (Journaled) from the dropdown menu.Type in a name for the reformatted drive.Choose the external disk in the Disk Utility sidebar.With the drive plugged into your Mac, go to Applications > Utilities and launch Disk Utility.… Change the permissions to either Read & Write or “Read only.”įurthermore How do I make my external hard drive read and write on a Mac? How to reformat an external drive: Click the arrow next to Sharing & Permissions to expand the section. On your Mac, select the item, then choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I.

If you don’t have permission to open a file or folder, you may be able to change the permissions settings. Secondly, Why can’t I change permissions on my Mac? Check to make sure there is space listed after the label « Available: » in the General section of Get Info.Īlso, How do I make my external hard drive writable on a Mac?Ĭlick the « Privilege » pull-down menu, and then click « Read and Write » to make the external hard drive both readable and writeable, or click « Write Only » if you want to turn it into a « Drop Box, » which the user can only write files to, but not read files. Single-click on the disk in the Finder, then choose « Get Info » from the « File » menu. The simplest reason why you may not be able to write to a hard drive is if it is full.

External hard drive read only switch