How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. 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. If you have a mac you should format the drive for your mac first thing, before you start using it. When you format a disk, the file system you choose essentially governs which devices can read or write to the disk. It just lets you write to ntfs, which i believe isnt so natively and it also lets you chose ntfs in disk utility, the same as you can choose fat 32 or something like that. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Sep 20, 2019 but formatting a drive with exfat offers one huge advantage. In disk utility on your mac, format disks or volumes using apple file system. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux.
What is the difference between the format types in the mac os x disk utility. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. Turn the drive on, and make sure it appears in the finder. If you are a personal user, you can try its professional edition. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. What is the difference between the format types in the mac os. How to format a hard drive or ssd to erase it forever. Os x extended journaled os x extended casesensitive, journaled msdos fat 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. Is there a way to completely format or erase the data from hard drive so it. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Dec 12, 2017 ntfs ntfs, short for windows nt file system, is a propitiatory file system created by microsoft for its windows line of opperating system.
A selection of the best programs for different types of formatting a hard disk drive hdd, ssd, raid and removable media storage devices usb flash drives, sd card. A hard drive format refers to how the operating system stores the data on the drive. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. The first part of the formatting process that performs basic medium preparation is often referred to as lowlevel formatting. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. This post highlights the different types of hard drives for mac that you can use, and how to choose the best backup hardware for your needs. Sure, you could read a mac formatted drive on windows or read a windows formatted drive on a mac, but both solutions either cost money or are unstable.
To format an external storage device, connect it to one of the ports on your mac. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. What is the difference between the format types in the mac. It contains information on the partition, including sector size, position with respect to the primary partition, types of partitions present, operating systems installed, etc. How to format a hard drive for mac that would be sold to another person. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. Apple file system apfs apfs is apples latest file system new macos, new filesystem. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons.
The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. Everything you need to know about your macs hard drive. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Luckily, this can be done without any complicated booting procedures all you have to do is plug it in, open disk utility while your mac is working as usual, select it in the sidebar and follow the same procedure described above in the using disk utility section. Dont bypass this, if you will use the drive with your mac only. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. Partitioning a hard drive for mac, windows, and linux ccm. Windows xp10 operating system has a builtin program to format a hard 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. Macyourself blog archive how to format a drive for mac and pc.
Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives. If the drive is internal, it should already show up in. 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. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple support. 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. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. If you are looking to format a disk that will be shared with windows users, the mbr scheme and msdos fat are the best choices. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat. Be sure to doublecheck this you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here. May 01, 2008 what is the difference between the format types in the mac os x disk utility. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it. Select the mounted drive on the left hard side bar.
Since mac os x and windows use totally different file systems, the way a drive is formatted can. Which mac file system is best for an external drive. If you dont see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into start. For example, folders named homework and homework are two different. 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. Sep 08, 2015 disk utility has 4 format types on my mac. Mac os extended casesensitive, journaled mac os extended casesensitive msdos fat what are the differences among these. If you want to make use of your macs thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. Os x, windows, and linux all use different hard drive formatting for normal system operations. Then select disk utility from the utilities window and click continue. Repartition the drive to create the three partitions.
Partitioning an external hard drive for m apple community. Designed by microsoft to provide similar compatibility to fat32 without the pesky. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. The former option can help ensure that the usb drive is made fully compatible with your mac, since most usb drives are preformatted for windows computers by default. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Partitioning is the process of writing the hard drive sectors that will make up the partition table.
Launch disk utility, which is built right into mac os. Choose one of the following mac os extended file system formats for compatibility with mac computers using macos 10. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. For mac owners, one of the most annoyinginconvenient aspects of owning a mac is the external drive compatibility. Means if one want to transfer movie or any stuff greater than 4gb it cant be done in this format. If you dont see the partition map scheme option, it is likely because disk utility doesnt list all volumes. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Many businesses and households have multiple pcs of different types in their homewindows, macos, and linux being the most common. Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to. For drives used with intelbased macs only, the guid partition map should the option to go for.
Select your macs hard drive in the lefthand column, to reveal more options, then select the partition button. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. If you format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. This command erases the entire selected disk, including all its files and partitions whether. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. This is not hard to do, and will take you only about a minutes effort. You might be curious to know, whats the right hard disk for your mac. Mac data eraser doyourdata super eraser for mac can easily format mac hard drive partition and erase all data permanently on the hard drive partition. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Uses the mac format journaled hfs plus to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system. And you can buy external or internal drives of three types. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. 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 both windows and mac laptop mag. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. So if you have files or folders with the same name but use different capitalization, then youll need to get two different file paths. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Nov 19, 2009 ntfs3g just ads ntfs to the supported format types in osx.
Here are your macos file system options and how to pick the best one for you. If you already used your external hard drive on a pc, be sure to back up any files on it. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. So youre using disk utility to partition your new hard drive when youre.
Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Choosing a hard drive to back up your data can be a quest in and of itself. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. 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. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer.
The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. Before data can be stored onto a hard drive or removable media, it must be formatted to a file system. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Choose view show all devices from the menu bar in disk utility. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Everything stored on a hard drive is measured in terms of its file size. 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 format an external hard drive for use with a mac. We will discuss some of the most popular formats out there. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Most external hard drives you buy will come out of the box preformatted for a windows computer ntfs. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. It contains information on the partition, including sector size, position with respect to the primary partition, types of partitions present.
If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. When you connect the drive to your pc it should have no problem reading the partition set up for a pc. A hard drive is the hardware component that stores all of your digital content. If you bought an external hard drive, it too needs to be formatted before use. Click your hard drives name in the window near the bottom of the screen. However, to use it on windows you can hfs explorer read only. Your documents, pictures, music, videos, programs, application preferences, and operating system represent digital content stored on a hard drive. During the formatting process, it will format the mac hard drive partition first, then overwrite the disk space with blank data. 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. There are multiple different types of file systems a hard drive or removable media can be formatted. There are three common filesystems that are used today. 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.
How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. The different partition format types on mac when you attach a storage disk to a mac with the purpose of erasing or repartitioning it, youll be presented with the option of selecting one of the three available partition maps. Select mac os extended journaled, or your preferred format type. Most accessory manufacturers tend to build accessories for the more dominant platforms, which is why many computer peripherals tend to be more focused on. This mac propriety file system and is used in ios and mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. How to choose the right hard disk for your mac the mac. 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. Aug 10, 2018 launch disk utility, which is built right into mac os. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. For example, here wed type select disk 2 finally, type clean and press enter. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
Choosing a file system is basically choosing between these three options. The different partition format types on mac the different partition format types on mac when you attach a storage disk to a mac with the purpose of erasing or repartitioning it, youll be presented with the option of selecting one of the three available partition maps. 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. Disk utility lets you format your drive using many filesystems like the three listed above. Disk formatting is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solidstate drive, floppy disk or usb flash drive for initial use. Im usually change hard drives to a bigger capacity ones and sold the old ones to others. 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. One hurdle youll face is that, by default, these platforms use different. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. The one you wish to use on a pc you should format msdos fat. To format hard drive for mac and windows without data loss, we suggest using minitool partition wizard and its convert ntfs to fats32 function.
Want to use one external drive for both your windows pc and your mac. Macs are currently sold with three types of storage devices. In the partition information box, enter an appropriate name for. This is a default file system for linux os including raspberry pi.
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. Disk utility will automatically choose the format for you. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. The standard way to back up a mac is to use a hard disk connected via usb or thunderbolt. To format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on winmac respectively. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. Choosing disk format type while formatting external drive.
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