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