You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. Now here is how to format your fat32 external drive on mac. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. How to format an external drive for mac launch disk utility. If you have a pc, you can also find out how to format a hard drive on windows. To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. 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. Usb drives and external hard drives on macos catalina are used for storing and backing up important data such as photos, videos, audios, images, notes, messages, music. When you use a hard disk drive, time machine will take a while to back up your mac.
Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up copy. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. 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. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Here, scroll down to sharing and permissions at the bottom, click the lock icon, then enter your password when prompted now you have two options. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility.
Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. Format external drive usb flash drive mac os x windows. The easiest way to unlock an external hard drive on mac computers is to rightclick or hold option and click the drive icon, then select get info. 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.
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. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Copying data on mac to external hard drive with this format will make copying much longer. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. If you re erasing an external drive, make sure that its connected directly. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the partition tab. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drivedevice under mac os. Open the start menu and search for disk management. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata.
Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x.
Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. You can choose whatever name you want, and you should choose guid partition map for the. Well show you everything you need to know about the. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. The disk utility application is located in the utilities subfolder. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or. Step 1 connect the external hard drive you want to format to your mac, then start the disk utility app that you can find under applications utilities. Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a name for the drive.
To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Click the icon of the unmountable external drive on the left part of the window. Click erase button, the external hard drive will be formatted. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. Click the erase function on the top of the disk utility window. Give your drive a name and select the file system you want from the format dropdown. This is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial.
To delete this partition you have to use microsoft diskpart erase utility. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. How to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran jan 2, 2016 mac most external drives ship in formats that are universally recognised amongst nearly all operating systems fat, im looking at you, but there may be times where you might want to completely wipe a drive andor set it up to be compatible with apples mac lineup only. How to unlock and format an external hard drive for your mac. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. 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. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with your computer.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on a mac. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex.
Complete the related information name, format, scheme, then click erase button. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. When you cant mount an external hard drive on your mac, you can try the 5 methods introduced in this. Yes, connecting an external hard drive or usb flash key to a mac will generally read and work fine as is because the mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a windows and mac machine, formatting it to be entirely mac compatible filesystem is highly recommended, and necessary for time machine and to make disks bootable. This type of file system is the right choice to be usable for. Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a. 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. Before format external hard drive in mac, you should know about the file systems offered by disk utility. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc.
The ssds are fast, dont need any external power supply, and have more resistance to shock and vibrations. How to format usb driveexternal hard drive on macos catalina. 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. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through.
To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Go finder window on you mac then click on applications the image right. Click on the erase option from the four options available in the main window. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Step 2 on the left side of the utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Cannot mount external hard drive on mac, how to fix. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os. Therefore, scroll down until you see a folder utilities double click on it. You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems.
Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Connect the empty external hd to your mac and launch disk utility. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. 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. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips.
Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. The mac os x extended volume format is optimal for macs. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Because fat32 supports only up to 4 gb large files, it should be used only with flash drives. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. After you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. Seagate backup plus 5tb external hard drive portable hdd light blue usb 3. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to.
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