In disk utility on your mac, format disks or volumes using apple file system apfs, mac os extended, msdos fat and exfat. If the drive is internal, it should already show up in. This format was created for microsoft and allows users to quickly plug their drives into windows machines and work with files. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system.
If you want to be super security conscious, you can select the security options button. 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 best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. Go to the applications folder on your mac s hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Apfs vs mac os extended which mac disk format is best. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. Time machine cant back up to an ios device or disk formatted for windows. If you need to erase the disk manually, use the disk utility app to erase using the mac os extended journaled format. To format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on winmac respectively.
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. With macdrive 9 standard, you can access, manage, and even create and format disk drives for apples mac os from inside windows explorer. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. There are a couple of things you should keep in mind, however. Today, we will talk about how to format or reformat ssd on mac. And youll detailed tutorial on how to format seagate drive for mac and windows computer in the following text.
Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Choose view show all devices from the menu bar in disk utility. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Jan 15, 2019 all the drives will be at hand in the menu bar, so you can get to see types of drives you have and manage them easily. This could be useful if you want to write to a boot camp partition on your mac, as windows system partitions must use the ntfs file system. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. This format is also compatible with all versions of windows but limited to none windows os as fat32. Remember, this will erase all the files on the drive. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. 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. In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which comes with all recent versions of the mac os x operating system and how you can use it to format usb drive on mac.
Then, connect the seagate drive to your pc and make sure that it can be detected by windows. If youre erasing your startup disk, you might be prompted to enter your apple id. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Ntfs is a modern format system and windows also uses this format for itself and for other nonremovable drives by default.
Copy a data disk uing one optical drive using disk utility on os x how to. Then select disk utility from the utilities window and click continue. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Even though mac computers are capable of reading hard drives that are formatted for windows, if you intend on using your external hdd as a bootable disk or want to use it to backup files with your mac s time machine, you must format it to be entirely mac compatible.
Now enter the volume label as you need and change the file system for exfat and click ok. Need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. Certainly you can format the drives yourself by directly setting in the application on mac.
You can format external hard drive or other external drives with exfat or fat32 file system for mac and windows, so that both mac and windows computer can read and write it. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. And in the event that your mac disks is having a problem, our robust repair feature can fix basic disk issues. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Uses the apfs format and is casesensitive to file and folder names. Cleanmydrive is absolutely free to use, so download it on the mac app store and enjoy. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
Usually, you can use windows builtin tools like diskpart to format seagate drive. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or flash. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Its very easy to format a usb drive on a mac using disk utility. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. To format as a mac disk, choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard. No worry, actually it is not impossible to realize it no matter you use an external or internal drive of your windows system. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Select erase and ensure that the format is mac os extended journaled. Once youve unboxed your new drive, connect it to your mac. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. Erase the mac partitions, including the efi system partition. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac.
If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. As ntfs is proprietary, apple would need a special license to use it. Macdrive also includes powerful features that enable you to create and partition mac disks direct from your pc. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all.
Add virtual cd and dvd drives to your pc with alcohol how to. Disk utility is a useful application inside your mac system. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. Plug the drive into a usb socket if you have a recent macbook or macbook pro that only has usbc connectors, youll need a usbc to usba adaptor. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and.
It will likely already be formatted, either for use. However, you cant write or delete files from a mac. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the. When you get a new hard drive, it may already be formatted for windows or mac. Many people think it is hard to format the windows drive on macintosh. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Most of the ssds come in default exfat format that is compatible with both windows and mac. If the disk isnt using the correct format, time machine automatically prompts you to erase it when you connect it to your mac. The following is based on the latest version of macos. Using exfat on macos and windows while you can only use an apple file system like apfs and mac os extended for your main system drive, another file system is also worth considering for external drives exfat. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. Give the drive a descriptive name and leave the default settings. By default, they format disks with the maconly os x extended file system.
Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive or other storage device. 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. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows.
Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. Open disk management tool by rightclicking on start menu icon and then select disk management. Here are a few solutions for getting full readwrite access to ntfs drives. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. Windows can read and write to ntfsformatted drives. Not just hard drives, but removable usb drives, too.
If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need the help of a thirdparty driver. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat. Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. This gives you a choice of how secure youd like the erasure of the hard drive to be. Now right click on the external drive and click on format option doublecheck the drive name and capacity to make sure you are going to format the right drive. You can run easytouse mac disk formatting software to easily format internal ssd or external ssd under mac os. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple support. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it.
May 09, 2019 even some mac specific drives are still sold with usb 3. This is a great thing to do when you first purchase a drive or when you are looking to. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Turn the drive on, and make sure it appears in the finder. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Choose one of the following apfs formats for mac computers using macos 10. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Formatting a drive in disk utility disk utility lets you format your drive using many filesystems like the three listed above.
Which mac file system is best for an external drive. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. In the new properties window, check general file system and youll see what type of file system your flash drive is currently with. From floppies to hard drives, macdrive can handle almost any disk you toss at it. So, you need another tools to do the highlevel format and permanently erase your data with safe data erasure method. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial.
Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Jun 02, 2017 in this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drive device under mac os. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. Apples macos can read from windowsformatted ntfs drives, but cant write to them out of the box. 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. Mar 03, 2020 go to this pc, under devices and drives, highlight the disk that represents your usb flash drive, rightclick and select properties. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. May 29, 2018 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. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag.
The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at. Moreover, the thunderbolt 3 drives you can buy are constrained by the maximum throughput of the drive itself, rather than the. 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. To format an external storage device, connect it to one of the ports on your mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Disk utility can help you format fusion drive on mac, other disk management tools including macclean360 also can help you format fusion drive, but please note that the formatted data can be recovered by data recovery software. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Repair a power mac g5 remove the superdrive how to. For the time machine, you have to format the ssd from the default shipped format. Drives cannot exceed 2tb and are limited to 4 partitions. That means that while macos can read ntfs drives, it is unable to write data to them without thirdparty software. Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives.
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