Reformat

"NTFS" only applies to Mac people, Windows people can ignore the part about "NTFS". However, Windows people ARE affected by "Case Sensitive". If you're on windows and have a case-sensitive file system, here is how to fix it. More Info.

What Format?

In the Finder, find your external hard drive. Select the icon and go File->Get Info. In the window, under "General" you should see "Format:". If that format is NTFS or “Case-sensitive”, then this disk will NOT work with kJams. (NTFS is read only and kJams requires write access to your music files, “Case-sensitive” drives just wreak havoc and make searching more difficult). You will need to reformat that drive. To do that, you'll need to back up all the data on the drive, that means you'll have to have another drive which is at LEAST as large as this drive. Copy all your data on to the other drive, reformat, then copy it back.

If that format is FAT32, the drive WILL work with kJams, *and* will also work with Windows. You'll be able to plug the drive into either a Mac or a PC and be able to transfer files back and forth. However, you will not get the very best performance.

If that format is "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" (which is another name for "HFS+"), then you will get the best performance, but you can not share that drive with a Windows computer unless you have a File System plugin (like MacDrive) that can read/write Mac OS format.

How to Reformat on Macintosh

1. back up all your data on another drive
2. open the application "Disk Utility" (spotlight it if you don't know where it is)
3. In the Disk Utility window, find the volume you want to reformat. It will have a "Hardware" icon and below that, indented a little, will be the "Volume" icon. The hardware icon references the physical media of the disk drive itself, while the Volume icon represents the logical storage area you have imposed on the hardware.
4. Select the volume icon and press the "Unmount" button. This will make the icon disappear from the desktop, but you can still see the hardware icon in Disk Utility.
5. Select the hardware icon, and click the "Partition" tab (on the right).
6. In the "Volume Scheme" popup, pick "1 Partition"
7. Enter a name and select the "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" format. DO NOT PICK "case sensitive"
8. At the bottom of the screen, click the "Options…" button
9. Pick "GUID" partition table, hit OK
10. Click "Apply" and confirm
11. Go have coffee
12. Copy all your data back