Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. Manually mount this external hard drive in disk utility. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. While apfs is optimized for the flashssd storage used in recent mac computers, it can also be used with older systems with traditional hard disk drives hdd and external, directattached storage. On mac computers, all of this can be done with the disk utility app.
Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac. 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. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. With its distinctive rubber bumpers and brushed aluminum chassis, the drive offers drop resistance up to 5 feet, crush resistance that can withstand up to a 1ton car, and ip54 water. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. 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.
Which external hard disk format fat32 or apple community. Which mac file system is best for an external drive. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended.
To setup the external hard drive for the first time, connect the external hard drive to your mac computer, open the disk utility and perform the following steps. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. How to fix a corrupted external hard drive on macmacbook. If youre looking for a macfriendly external hard drive thats built for durability, take a look at lacies rugged thunderbolt usbc portable hard drive. 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. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. For some mac models, the partition option would be greyed out in disk utility. Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up copy. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. If youre erasing an external drive, make sure that its connected. Navigate through the following to open the disk utility. Developed by microsoft, this modern file system is optimized for situations where the ntfs file system is not a feasible solution, and the file size limit of the standard fat32 file system is unacceptable.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Find the name of the drive in the left side of the utilities window and select it. Format external hard drive with multiple partitions easeus. 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.
Oct 18, 2019 this wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. 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. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Apr 14, 2020 to fix a corrupted external hard drive on mac, the solutions are categorized into without formatting and by formatting. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Disk utility is a macos utility application used to format and manage both internal and external hard drives as well as disk images. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. You can do that by typing disk format or disk management in windows search or going to control panel administrative tools create and format hard disk partitions. Aimed at multimedia professionals, the caldigit av pro 2 is a welldesigned, macformatted external drive that comes in ssd and spinning disk versions, and includes both a usb hub and thunderbolt. Aug 30, 2019 plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system.
Just launch the disk utility, rightclick or controlclick the drive containing your apfs partition, and select erase. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard.
May 09, 2019 aimed at multimedia professionals, the caldigit av pro 2 is a welldesigned, mac formatted external drive that comes in ssd and spinning disk versions, and includes both a usb hub and thunderbolt. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next step. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. How to fix external hard drive not mounting on mac computer. This is one of the easiest solutions, so you can have a. If you intend to use the external hard drive exclusively to mac, then you can select the mac file system. You may also set a direct connection to your computer. Choose another file system from the format box and click erase. Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with your computer. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. How to partition external hard drive on mac info remo. 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 filesystem is highly recommended, and necessary for time machine and to make disks bootable. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them.
You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. It will likely already be formatted, either for use. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. To this day, it remains the default file system for mechanical and hybrid hard drives, both while installing macos and while formatting external drives. To fix a corrupted external hard drive on mac, the solutions are categorized into without formatting and by formatting. Connect the external drive or the usb drive to the mac. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. 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. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Start the disk utility, located under applications utilities. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. The best format choice of external drive on mac using the external drive on mac is a good idea as it provides additional storage. Please guide which format of external hard disk fat32 or ntfs is compatible with my mac.
Seagate backup plus 5tb external hard drive portable hdd light blue usb 3. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format a drive with the apfs file system on macos. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data.
If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. If your external hard drive is not mounted on the desktop or in the finder, you can try to mount it manually in disk utility which is a native disk management tool in your mac. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Unfortunately, disk utility in macos high sierra doesnt make that option easy to find. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
Fix a corrupted external hard drive without formatting formatting usually is the least wanted solution for fixing the problem, so we gather two fixes without formatting here. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. Need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Mac os extended was the default file system used by every mac from 1998 until 2017, when apfs replaced it. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. Make sure your external hard disk is connected to your mac device correctly and the icon on the desktop appears. To delete this partition you have to use microsoft diskpart erase utility.
Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on.
Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Once youve unboxed your new drive, connect it to your mac. But it is hard to pick the suitable format as it depends on your usage. Sep 26, 2018 need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Open disk utility go to the applications folder and then to another folder, known as utilities. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. 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, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all.
The following is based on the latest version of macos. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. This will completely wipe the drive, deleting all the files on it and converting it to whatever file system you choose. As the internal storage is not much, i am thinking if buying an external hard disk. How to format usb drive or external hard drive on 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 best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. If youre not erasing the disk your mac started up from, you dont need. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
It is the fastest way to format an external hard drivedevice under mac os. 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. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. How to format external hard disk on mac devices correctly. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Designed by microsoft to provide similar compatibility to fat32 without the pesky limitations, exfat is the format of choice for drives that youll. Highlight your external hard drive from the storage devices listed on the left sidebar and click erase tab from the main menu.
With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. So, we suggest that its better to use a pc to partition an external hard drive for macos and windows. Continue below to format an external hard drive or learn more about. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. Feb 27, 2018 before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. Before starting the formatting hard drive in mac, you have to connect your mac system to external hard drive. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Here are the steps to partition an external hard drive for mac and windows pc, which is a little tricky.
For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Jan 09, 2020 if you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Best for mechanical drives, or drives used with older macos versions. You will see two fields where you need to supply the details. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. As mentioned before, macs can only read ntfsformatted hard drives by default. Follow onscreen prompts to choose mac os extended journaled file system and allow the disk to format. Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as macintosh hd. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat.
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. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. So, it is better that you know your options and understand which format is right for you. Many external drives even include their own software for getting started. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.