Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. You can use it to deal with unlocked files means the files that are not currently in use. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. 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. Add virtual cd and dvd drives to your pc with alcohol how to.
Apr 16, 2020 to format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. 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. To format a hard drive means to erase any information on the drive and to set up a file system so your operating system can read data from, and write data to, the drive. If you wish to boot the drive on a pc or use it with older versions of windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to master boot record mbr for full windows compatibility. However, you need to make doubly sure that you complete a quick format. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Find the hard drive you want to format, and highlight it. How to format your hard drive to exfat file system on.
For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. 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. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows using. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. To format the primary drive the hard disk where the operating system resides you need to boot into the setup program on windows 7 or windows 10 and use it to format your drive. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive back up the drive s data first. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Formatting external harddrive for both mac and windows. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. I have an old external 1 tb hard drive id like to format for use with apple time machine backup. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at the same time and type in disk utility to find the program.
How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or flash. Thats probably ok for most files, especially if youre using a thumb drive rather than an external hard drive. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x.
Under the format menu, choose the file system you want to use. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. You must know what file system the partition was using to rebuild the disk. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
Now, you can follow these two solutions to format any hard drive, flash drive, usb drive, ssd or any other external storage drive so as to make them work on your mac now. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways. To start, your first step will be to find disk utility. 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. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. However, its pretty normal these days to have video files or other highfidelity assets that are larger than 4gb, which makes this unsuitable for large drives that are likely to host bigger files. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Hierarchical file system plus, also known as mac os extended, is the primary file system format used in mac computers. Jan 02, 2017 at this point, you can proceed to the next section to format your mac backup partition. If your mac internal hard drive has startup problem, it means that the drive will be formatted once and for all. The only free application that will let you do this we are aware of is hfsexplorer, which uses java and is really only suitable for the odd file transfer fat32 the most compatible option.
Erase the mac partitions, including the efi system partition. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. It is possible to reformat the drive and keep your files by formatting your drive and then using a data recovery tool to restore your information. But using a third party all the time for accessing a hard drive on windows is not good. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use. For instance, users want to write data to and read data from, to do a clean installation of the windows system, to get rid of a virus or malware, to erase the data before giving the drive to someone else or throwing it away, or some other reasons. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. Mac can read all the file system formats including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs, but you cannot write on it.
A user has to know how to convert mac formatted hard drive to windows formatted. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. Once in the folder, youll see an application named disk utility, doubleclick on it to launch the program. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Formatting external hard drive for both mac and windows. Dec 05, 2019 but using a third party all the time for accessing a hard drive on windows is not good.
Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos is the formatting. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Format your hard drive using diskpart and command prompt. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows 10. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. Diskpart format command that runs on command prompt is used for formatting internal and external storage mediums of hard drives.
In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. Nov 22, 2019 i have an old external 1 tb hard drive id like to format for use with apple time machine backup. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. After disk management opens, which might take several seconds, look for the drive you want to format from the list at. But its a good idea to also create a third partition on your disk that both macos and windows 10 can use. Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as macintosh hd. Windowsformatted hard drives have either ntfs file system of an fat32 file system. Mar 31, 2020 how to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Its a direct continuation of the original dos format used on floppy diskettes and hard drives. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on. Windows formatted hard drives have either ntfs file system of an fat32 file system.
Repair a power mac g5 remove the superdrive how to. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. With disk utility open, locate the hard drive you want to partition and select partition. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. 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. Hey all, quick question, and from my googling it looks like it is possible, however i want to double check just to be sure. 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.
All data has to be put in a file format that the operating system can read off the hard drive. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Copy a data disk uing one optical drive using disk utility on os x how to. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. The command is available in all windows operating systems like windows 10, 8 7, vista, xp and in other older versions too. In this tutorial, we explain how you can format a hard drive using the command prompt.
After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers operating system, as well as fix any nonphysical errors on the drive itself. Apr 29, 2020 to format a hard drive means to erase any information on the drive and to set up a file system so your operating system can read data from, and write data to, the drive. If you are a personal user, you can try its professional edition. Jan 17, 2019 rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option.
Is it possible to format a hard drive to readwrite for both windows and mac os specifically, film and photo files. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Step 1 in the case of external hard drive, connect the drive to your system using a compatible medium and make sure the windows recognizes your drive. Instead, youll need to perform a system reset not to. To format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt toms. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Formatting the hard drive ensures that the system has been blanked and there is no issue causes any problem.
Step 2 now search for disk management through the search panel on the home screen and go to the disk management window through the search results. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Jul 15, 2009 all data has to be put in a file format that the operating system can read off the hard drive. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. See the above section for more details on which one to pick. If the drive you want to wipe is where your windows 10 operating system is installed, you wont be able to format it using the above steps. To format hard drive for mac and windows without data loss, we suggest using minitool partition wizard and its convert ntfs to fats32 function.
Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Mar 15, 2018 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. 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. How to wipe a hard drive in windows 10 and macos techradar. Click your hard drives name in the window near the bottom of the screen. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. You need to format a hard drive if you plan on using it in windows. At this point, you can proceed to the next section to format your mac backup partition.
Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. When you format your hard drive, you can clean internal as well as external storage media. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. The fat or file allocation table is quite possibly the most widelysupported disk format in existence today. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. 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.
Next, under the partition layout column, specify the number of partitions you want. Reformatting a drive on windows is a pretty straightforward process. Format usb or external hard drive for mac using mac disk utility format usb or external hard drive for mac on windows pc using thirdparty usb format tool. The problem is that the disk is currently formatted as ntfs and is not readable with time machine. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. 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. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine.
Select your drive in the lefthand sidebar and go to the erase tab. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Apr 21, 2020 i have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. Currently, hard drives for windows pc are always formatted with ntfs, while hard disks for mac. If you dont see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into start. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities.
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