To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Jan 08, 2020 you can only read your elements external hard drive. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other. And it also wipes out all the bugs and harmful files that might harm your mac. But sometimes, the units themselves, which carry proprietary firmware for the controller, may vary. Cross compatibility rests on the os itself and additional plugins. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Now in this interface, you will see a format option.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. How to fix a corrupted external hard drive on macmacbook. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Aug 30, 2019 select the external hard drive in the left hand sidebar and click on the erase tab. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide.
While external drives might include their own software for getting started, macs use disk utility to. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. 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. Dont bypass this, if you will use the drive with your mac only. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.
How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms. This is because when you initially connect an external hdd made for mac to a mac computer, you wont be required to format it before you begin transferring files. The best format choice of external drive on mac using the external drive on mac is a good idea as it provides additional storage. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. 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. 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. Jan 23, 2020 i hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting.
Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. Format external hard drive for mac reformat external. How to recover data from a formatted external hard drive. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. What is the benefit of purchasing a mac formatted external. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. However, you cant write or delete files from a mac.
How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Select the external hard drive in the left hand sidebar and click on the erase tab. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Formatting your toshiba hard drive for mac is important, as it makes the hard drive best suitable for the mac by formatting it. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also. You can only read your elements external hard drive. So, it is better that you know your options and understand which format is right for you. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. 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. External hard drive setup and formatting sweetwater. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Check if an external hard drive is ntfs formatted in the finder. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility.
Formatting a hard disk drive hdd in an external hard drive enclosure is done the same way like an internal drive. You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. The drive should automatically mount on your macs desktop if the finder preferences are set to show external drives. Then, after making sure that it is the windows ntfs file system that makes your external hard drive readonly on mac, you can go head to fix this problem. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. 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. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer.
I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. This is not hard to do, and will take you only about a minutes effort. 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. 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. 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. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. As mentioned before, macs can only read ntfsformatted hard drives by default.
However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. 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. If you have a mac you should format the drive for your mac first thing, before you start using it. Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up copy. 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. How to format an external hard drive for use with a mac.
How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. 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. 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. 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. For mac users, buying an external hdd already formatted for your system makes getting started much easier. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. Most external hard drives you buy will come out of the box preformatted for a windows computer ntfs. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac youtube. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format.
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. Feb 21, 2012 the drive should automatically mount on your mac s desktop if the finder preferences are set to show external drives. 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. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. 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. Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. You can also check this in the finder with a few clicks. Some external hard drives are already formatted for mac or have their own setup software. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. If the drive is not formatted, you may get a message saying that the drive. While external drives might include their own software for getting started, macs use disk utility to format and manage your hard drives. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all.
Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Click on the first aid button, or rightclick the external hard drive and choose first aid from the options. Before starting the formatting hard drive in mac, you have to connect your mac system to external hard drive. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. What formatting option should i use to format an external hard drive for use with time machine on imac retina 4k 2017 running os mojave. Apr 14, 2020 select the external hard drive at the left side. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. How to format usb drive or external hard drive on mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag.
How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. 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. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drivedevice under mac os. 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. Here are your macos file system options and how to pick the best one for you. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. I hope you have retrieved all your lost data due to reformatting the external drive. Instead, save them to your mac hard drive first, then transfer them back to your external drive later. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. But it is hard to pick the suitable format as it depends on your usage. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Open disk utility go to the applications folder and then to another folder, known as utilities. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows.
By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. How to format an external hard drive for use with a mac pro. 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. This formatting is also known as mac os extended journaled file system. How to solve external hard drive readonly without formatting.
Format external hard drive for mac reformat external hard. 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. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. Which mac file system is best for an external 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. While drives are sold as plugandplay, formatting prior to use will give you optimal performance and compatibility with your mac. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar.
External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. 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. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and. Give your drive a name and select the file system you want from the format dropdown. Sep 26, 2018 need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. You are ready to go in a few quick measures, so you can transfer your backup data to the hard disk, keep your documents safe so give you peace of mind. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system.
You may also set a direct connection to your computer. Simply connect the external drive via thunderbolt, usb, firewire or esata to your computer, turn on the power and then use the native disk. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. It is not as complicated to reformat an external hard drive for use with mac os x as it may look. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or flash.
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