Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. Since the pc and mac are two different operating systems, they use different file systems. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. But both of them cant format the hard drive which the mac os is installed on because the mac system doesnt allow other software to destroy the system.
Aug 27, 2019 now, as you can see, formatting your flash drive on your mac is a very easy thing to do. Solved formatting external drive for mac and pc spiceworks. Get your flash drive formatted and set up for dashcam on v9 of tesla incar software. By default, macs use hfs, while pcs use ntfs, which are not compatible with each other. Mar 03, 2020 also, since i dont know whether you are on a pc or mac to perform this operation, im here to break down this guide into two parts. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Jan 23, 2020 i hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. 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 wd external drive for mac more less apple footer this site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. 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. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. You can mitigate that by formatting the drive for mac. Otherwise, you can only use data recovery software to recover data from a. Choose view show all devices from the menu bar in disk utility. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the.
How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Nov, 2018 get your flash drive formatted and set up for dashcam on v9 of tesla incar software. The disk utility application is located in the utilities subfolder. Thus, having an external hard drive will help you to save your files. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. You can use lacie setup assistant to format your lacie hard drive when it is first connected to a computer windows or mac. Then select disk utility from the utilities window and click continue. Today, we will talk about how to format or reformat ssd on mac.
And it also wipes out all the bugs and harmful files that might harm your mac. 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. Turn on your macintosh notebook computer or desktop system and login. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. The sidebar now shows your disks devices and any containers. The first part is for mac users, and the second part is for pc users windows 10 based. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. How to format toshiba harddrive for mac apple community. Connect the hard drive or usb key to the mac launch disk utility, located in applications utilities locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. Now, as you can see, formatting your flash drive on your mac is a very easy thing to do. For that, you might buy a new external hard drive and you connected with your mac computer or windows pc. However, the formatted data can be recovered by data. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility.
Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac. Jul 05, 2017 again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. This process wont actually convert the file system. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also. How to format a new or second hard drive in windows 10 formatting a drive may vary in terms of different operating systems, like windows and mac. Formatting the hard drive a vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Remember, this will erase all the files on the drive. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with.
This mac hard drive formatting tool also can erase free disk space to permanently erase deletedlost data on the hard drive. Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. With everything set, you may click on the erase button to start the formatting process. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus. Apr 20, 2012 mac illiterate here so please bear with me. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. 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. Go through this article and find out the easiest way to format your toshiba drive for mac. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. A solid state drive is primarily used on mac machine. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. My manager the mac guy is out today and i need to get one of these formatted. However, the new external hard drive comes as formatted drive, but, if you think the external drive should be formatted as another format filesystem. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. 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 29, 2019 you can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application.
The main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a windows pc, as well as a mac perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. Depending on the size and speed of your flash drive, it may take a minute or two. Select disk utility, and then choose the drive to format. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted.
Dec 08, 2016 in this video i show you how to reinstall mac os x on your apple computer. Be absolutely sure you have your files off the drive and that youve selected the correct drive you want to format. How to format usb flash drive on mac free mac data. 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. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms. The exfat format supports virtually any size hard drive and file, unlike the outdated fat32 format. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. How to format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. You may also be preparing the drive for use as, say, a storage device for a media player or to record tv programmes on a tv with a usb port. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Apr 10, 2020 formatting a drive may vary in terms of different operating systems, like windows and mac.
If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. Aborted lacie setup assistant while it was formatting. We purchased a pile of 500gb external drives that need to be formatted for both mac and pc, cross platformed if you will. 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. If you want to recycle a ssd, formatting is the best way to remove all history data from the ssd. And keep in mind that if you are going to format your flash drive, make sure that you choose the right format so that you can use it in any pc.
This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. Feb 08, 2020 your advice on formatting the external hard drive is rather insightful. All you need to have is the knowledge on how you can do. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. Most accessory manufacturers tend to build accessories for the more dominant platforms, which is why many computer peripherals tend to be more focused on. Feb 21, 2020 for apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. Jan 09, 2020 with everything set, you may click on the erase button to start the formatting process. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc.
This option is used for erasing deleted files and formatted files on your mac, without affecting the existing data. Flash drive formatting and setup on a mac pure tesla. 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. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. The following is based on the latest version of macos. Macs may also create a protected efi partition on these drives that you cant delete with the. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. You can run easytouse mac disk formatting software to easily format internal ssd or external ssd under mac os. To format a hard drive on your mac, follow these instructions. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive. 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. The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Formatting it for mac lets you use it, as i said, on both the parallels vm and the mac side.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Wahle entweder apfs oder mac os extended journaled. Lacie setup assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Once the formatting process is finished, you should be able to transfer files to the newly formatted flash drive. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. Refer to detailed steps of using both tools for fat32 format. How to format an external drive for mac launch disk utility. If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. I would like to format my external hard drive so that i can edit in on my macbook pro. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. The two hard drive formatting software for mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under mac os. Paragon disk wipe allows you to create a bootable usbflash drive or external hard drive that will help you to completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or just clean free space.
Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Seagate backup plus is preformatted exfat for compatibility with both mac and windows computers. Although in principal, formatting means to erase existing data and free up space for utilization, the procedures are not exactly the same for mac and windows. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch the app on your mac. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab.
You can run easytouse mac disk formatting software to. To format your ps4s external hard disk to a different file system, all you need to do is plug your drive into your computer windows pc, mac and perform the formatting through the operating systems disk utility. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows machine. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Open disk utility open finder applications utilities disk utility. As earlier stated, you need to first back up your usb drive before formatting the drive as you may not be able to recover the contents again. How to install os x after formatting your hard drive. 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 external hard drive on a mac latest version.
When youre done, the drive should work on both windows pcs and macs with no problem. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. Use disk utility to format an external drive after you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. 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 format or partition an external hard drive for mac. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. This method should work on all apple computers and with all recent versions of mac os. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. Jan 15, 2019 the main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a windows pc, as well as a mac perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard drive under mac os. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation.
Tesla dashcam flash drive formatting and setup on a mac. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Give the drive a descriptive name and leave the default settings. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu.
How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. If you were using boot camp, i would advise leaving it formatted as ntfs and purchasing ntfs for mac to access the drive on both oss. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Click on the erase option from the four options available in the main window. Your exfatformatted drive or partition can now be used for both windows and mac.