Therefore, before you format mac pc drive, make sure that you have taken a backup of your important data. May 29, 2018 how to format drive with compatible file system for mac and windows. If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc.
However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. As mentioned before, macs can only read ntfsformatted hard drives by default. This process wont actually convert the file system.
Especially for the new mac users, it seems difficult to find a solution to format local hard drive or external hard drive under mac os. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Rightclick on the start button and select disk management on the popup menu. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and.
However, if you want to use the mac to format your external hard drive to exfat, youll face the problem that the external hard drive may not be compatible with the windows pc. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. How to get an external drive formally used with a mac to be recognized and useable with a pc running windows 7 i have an iomega 500gb external hard drive that i purchased about 2 years ago that i used exclusively with an imac, until that computer crashed beyond affordable repair last month. Remember, once the data is gone, theres no way to recover it.
To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. 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 is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive. Master boot record is appropriate for external drives used with a pc or boot. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Format external hard drive with windows builtin tool. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up copy. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32.
Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with your computer. Help formatting external hdd to hfs mac e apple community. Rightclick on the external hard disk and select format option from context menu. 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. Formatting external hard drives is a process of deleting or erasing the memory chunks to avail the space for new data. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows.
Aug 22, 2019 you might already know the consequences of formatting a hard drive. Can any honourable member advice me on how to reformat my new external hdd for use in mac os x and windows as in office and during meetings i might haveto use wwindows system also if done with formatting will this be allowing to setup time machine back ups. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Feb 21, 2012 looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. After reading this post, youll know what is the best file system for your cameras sd card and what is the best format for your mac and pc. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. On a pc, the process is less straightforward than what you see on a mac, but its now easier than ever. 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. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it.
Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. Sep 26, 2018 how to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a mac when i plug it into my pc i cant access it. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. If you work solely on a mac, but need to send files to someone working on a pc, your external hard drive needs to be set up for both operating systems. Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. If you need to erase your disk before installing high sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose mac os extended journaled. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. So the first step you must do is move all of your important data to your pc mac, or to cloud storage service. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. How long would it take to format a 160 gb hard drive.
This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. First of all, as i said before, reformating will erase all your data that stored on the hard drive permanently. 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 external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. External hard drives back up your most important files, but what happens when they malfunction. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers. Heres what to do if your device is not detected in windows and mac. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for os xs time machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible with time machine backups. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to format an external hard drive and remove errors. You can format an external drive in os x using disk utility and terminal. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
Connect your external hard drive to your windows 10 pc. Are you about to install macos high sierra or later on the disk. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. The tutorial and screenshots below are based on macos sierra. How to get an external drive formally used with a mac to be. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. 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.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. 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. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. 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 reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Feb 27, 2018 before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. What to do when your external hard drive wont show up. Open the disk management tool by rightclicking this pc manage disk management. In this article, we will introduce some mac disk formatting software tools to help mac users easily and securely format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card or other device under mac os. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with mac and windows. Could someone please provide me with the steps for formatting an external hard drive to the hfs mac extended journaled format using disk utility.
Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and windows. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc.
For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. Though the default hard disk file system also known as format of windows and mac are different, there should be some ways to format an external drive for both mac and pc. Here we take an example of formatting external hard drive to exfat in a windows 10 pc. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. It will erase all the data stored in it, making it empty in one go. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac.
Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. If youre using a windows computer to format external hard drive for ps4 or any other storage device for that matter such as a usb flash drive, sd card, or even an internal drive, youll get three options. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Feb 03, 2020 are you formatting the disk that came built into your mac.
Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Jan 10, 2020 by following the stepwise procedure mentioned above, you can easily format the storage device on mac.
If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Dec, 2007 how to reformat mac external harddrive for pc by djylee dec, 2007 5. Formatting an external hard drive will delete any information on the device, likewise reformatting your system will essentially bring your mac back to. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to format an external drive for mac from ntfs to mac os extended. Jan 17, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data.
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. If your external hard drive is readonly on mac because it was formatted with microsoft ntfs file system, you can free download iboysoft ntfs for mac and feel free to copywriteeditdelete and transfer files on this drive without formatting it. Oct 22, 2018 formatting a hard disk drive hdd in an external hard drive enclosure is done the same way like an internal drive. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch the app on your mac. Connect your external hard drive with your computer and open windows explorer to check if it can be recognized. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. However there is a simple solution you can format the drive to fat32 or exfat that performs better than fat32. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.
How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. 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. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. In the disk management, youll see your external hard drive as partition or unallocated space. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows.
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