All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. How to format usb drive or external hard drive on mac. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. If you see the messages telling you that the first aid failed, the external hard drive is too corrupted to be fixed by first aid. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. You may also set a direct connection to your computer. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep.
After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. Formatting iomega external hard drive apple community. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Reformatting a hard drive is often done just to erase all of its contents. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Feb 21, 2012 the drive should automatically mount on your mac s desktop if the finder preferences are set to show external drives. When formatting a hard drive with disk utility, make sure to. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac youtube. Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. Jan 23, 2020 i hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Give your drive a name and select the file system you want from the format dropdown. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os.
Sep 26, 2018 need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Aug 30, 2019 select the external hard drive in the left hand sidebar and click on the erase tab. Use disk utility to format an external drive after you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. In this post, youll learn how to format an external drive to a mac compatible file system and recover files from a reformatted hard drive. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc.
Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up copy. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms. Need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. You should create multiple partitions on your external hard drive, in order to have enhanced file organization. Youve formatted your external drive to be compatible with mac os x, and have confirmed that the formatting process was successful. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater.
You can now edit, read, and write files, as you wish. Simply connect the external drive via thunderbolt, usb, firewire or esata to your computer, turn on the power and then use the native disk. To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. How to fix a corrupted external hard drive on macmacbook. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard drive so make sure you back up your data elsewhere before starting. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Well show you everything you need to know about the.
Connect the external drive or the usb drive to the mac. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. Thus, when you are planning to use the same hard drive on any other os, particularly macos, it is always suggested to format your hard drive for mac. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. On the formatting window, select quick format option, choose file system format, and click start. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. The drive should automatically mount on your macs desktop if the finder preferences are set to show external drives. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. How to format an external drive to work with mac from ntfs to mac os extended. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive.
After disk utility loads select the external hard drive this is the outdented entry with the mfgr. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external drive formatted in. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. And it also wipes out all the bugs and harmful files that might harm your mac. Under the volume scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. How to recover data from a formatted external hard drive. Formatting a hard disk drive hdd in an external hard drive enclosure is done the same way like an internal drive.
Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. Formatting your toshiba hard drive for mac is important, as it makes the hard drive best suitable for the mac by formatting it with the osspecific file system and drivers. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. So, it is better that you know your options and understand which format is right for you. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Select the external hard drive in the left hand sidebar and click on the erase tab. Dec 22, 2019 how to format external hard drive mac. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Open disk utility go to the applications folder and then to another folder, known as utilities. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc.
In the format partition section, select the file system. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drivedevice under mac os. Start the disk utility, located under applications utilities. Now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select exfat for format option and click on the erase.
While drives are sold as plugandplay, formatting prior to use will give you optimal performance and compatibility with your mac. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as. The best format choice of external drive on mac using the external drive on mac is a good idea as it provides additional storage. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc.
Before starting the formatting hard drive in mac, you have to connect your mac system to external hard drive. I hope you have retrieved all your lost data due to reformatting the external drive. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Find the name of the drive in the left side of the utilities window and select it. How to format an external hard drive on windows formatting a hard drive on windows is a simple affair, especially if you leave everything as default. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Click on the first aid button, or rightclick the external hard drive and choose first aid from the options. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Oct 22, 2018 formatting a hard disk drive hdd in an external hard drive enclosure is done the same way like an internal drive. Dec 25, 2016 if you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external drive formatted in a file system both oss can read. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also. Instead, save them to your mac hard drive first, then transfer them back to your external drive later. Simply connect the external drive via thunderbolt, usb, firewire or esata to your computer, turn on the power and then use the native disk utility of the operating system or a 3rd party program. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Apr 14, 2020 select the external hard drive at the left side. So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both windows and mac, you need to format it to a filesystem that is compatible with windows pc and mac.
Format and external hard drive on mac first, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. This process wont actually convert the file system. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution.
Dec 29, 2015 the instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Connect the hard drive or usb key to the mac launch disk utility, located in applications utilities locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. Mar 31, 2020 if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Dec, 2019 now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select exfat for format option and click on the erase. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Also you can enter a name for the drive under volume label.
Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Click on the partition tab in the disk utility main window 3. Please remember that all data will be deleted from the drive, so make sure you have made a backup.
System prompts formatting removes all data and asks confirmation for the action. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. The disk utility application is located in the utilities subfolder. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition.
External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. If the external hard drive is pre formatted for mac, disk management will list 3 partitions and you will not be able to delete the health efi system partition because its a protected partition. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. But it is hard to pick the suitable format as it depends on your usage. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it using a compatible file system. The quickest way to do this is a simple spotlight search. On mac computers, use the finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives.
Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. The following is based on the latest version of macos. You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way macs do the formatting on some larger drives, though, so give it a try and if your windows machines dont like it, just format the drive with windows. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side.
How to format or partition an external hard drive on mac. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If the drive is not formatted, you may get a message saying that the drive. Formatting your toshiba hard drive for mac is important, as it makes the hard drive best suitable for the mac by formatting it. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux.
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