Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. How to format a new external drive for use with an apple mac. For mac owners, one of the most annoyinginconvenient aspects of owning a mac is the external drive compatibility. Mar 10, 2020 in all likelihood, youre more acquainted with formatting an external hard drive than your macs internal one, arent you. Most or we can say almost every external hard disk comes in ntfs windows nt file system format but ntfs format is not supported by mac os. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. The best way to determine whether the fault is with the hard drive or your computer is to plug the hard drive in a different computer. The hard drive will primarily be used on my macbook pro and occasionally on a pc. I hope you have retrieved all your lost data due to reformatting the external drive. Read only ntfs from native mac os x to readwriteformat ntfs from mac os x, here are some alternatives. Sep 28, 2019 the best format to choose when you plan to use your seagate expansion only for your mac is mac os extended journaled file system. Seagate expansion on mac, want it but can i use on my mac.
Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Yes, im trying to format it on a mac sorry, i thought i had posted in the mac section. Formatting your hard drive for ppc or intel based macs. I tried formatting the 2tb to ntfs, but when it does format it with no problems, it becomes read only. Choosing disk format type while formatting external drive. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. When the disk utility recognizes it the drive is read only.
Now, im trying to format it so that i can use it on pc instead of mac. Feb 08, 2020 your advice on formatting the external hard drive is rather insightful. Formatting an external hard drive for my apple community. The follow procedure walks through how to format your internal or external hard drive for booting on either. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. I have been trying to walk her through reformatting it but nothing is working. The simple and easy steps to formatting your seagate drive on your mac. Using an external hard drive on mac without formatting. But sometimes, the units themselves, which carry proprietary firmware for the controller, may vary.
The disk utility gives no options for formatting under the erase. How to format hard drive and fix disk format errors on mac. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Mac not formatted to display external drives on the desktop. 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. 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. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities.
Setting up a new hard drive or ssd in your plugable. Cross compatibility rests on the os itself and additional plugins. Its good to have an external hard drive which can be used for backup and other purpose. Initializing and formatting a hard drive will erase all information on that drive. This is a wireless ssd drive with an integrated battery, sd card reader and usb port. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch. 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. Transcend s jetdrive 820 ssd utilizes the pcie gen3. Formatting your hard drive for ppc or intel based macs newertech.
Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. I have macfuse and ntfs3g and ntfs for mac os installed. 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. Error message when formatting a new drive external. Make external harddrive compatible with mac and windows computer, how to format using disk utility on mac. The hard drive is already formatted in mac os extended. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. What to do when your external hard drive wont show up. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. May 03, 2010 securely format a mac hard drive may 3, 2010 5 comments if you want to be absolutely sure your data is wiped clean with virtually no chance of recovery, by anyone, using any possible known recovery tools, look no further than apples disk utility tool. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility.
Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Sep 19, 2014 she has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. For 32bit mac os x, install ntfs3g for mac os x free does not work in 64bit mode.
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. Reset the system management controller smc if your mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. Well show you everything you need to know about the.
External hard drives are handy tools in storing files, data and documents. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. You might want to redo the full drive using an external bootable usb os. Avoid static discharge by grounding yourself using a wrist grounding strap or by touching a bare metal surface like a connector on the back of the laptop and remove all of the power. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. If you are trying to access existing data or attempting data recovery on your hard drive and are encountering issues, please see this post here. So, we suggest that its better to use a pc to partition an external hard drive for macos and windows. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Choose mac os extended journaled or another file system if you. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar.
Instead, save them to your mac hard drive first, then transfer them back to your external drive later. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Unformat mac hard drive recover formatted hard drive on mac. If you are formatting this drive for use as a drive on a ppc based mac select apple partition map and click ok. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to format a hard drive for mac the below steps can be used to format mac internal hard drives, external hard drives or usb flash drives. The best format to choose when you plan to use your seagate expansion only for your mac is mac os extended journaled file system. This will narrow your search for the cause of the problem by a great deal. Once youve done that reformat the drive and reinstall the os. 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. I did restart the computer as you suggested, but again received the message the. Hi i have a external hard drive that needs formatting and i use gparted. I often get confused over which things to choose as many are not ideal.
If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. In many cases, we learn that the native format of external drives that work. This is the default partition map for all external drives. Here are the steps to partition an external hard drive for mac and windows pc, which is a little tricky. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. This product was made for portable external hard drives such as the. I want to use it for backups and storage, with time machine, also manual storage of work files.
Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. How to format external hard drive for mac and pc iskysoft. Disk utility automatically defaults to the os x extended journaled file system format, but you can choose a different option by selecting. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Nov 11, 2011 read only ntfs from native mac os x to readwriteformat ntfs from mac os x, here are some alternatives. Securely format a mac hard drive may 3, 2010 5 comments if you want to be absolutely sure your data is wiped clean with virtually no chance of recovery, by anyone, using any possible known recovery tools, look no further than apples disk utility tool. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. What is the benefit of purchasing a mac formatted external. Trouble formatting external hard drive macrumors forums. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. How to format a hard drive for mac that would be sold to another person.
This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into. What is the best format to chose for an external hard drive. How can i format this drive in windows 7 home premium. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. If you use a mac, the likelihood that youll have to reformat the drive is higher. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. The drive does not appear on the desktop or the finder. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat.
How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Alternative ways to recover data from an external 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. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014.
Intel based machines can read and write to a drive with a apple partition map, however you cannot boot of off this partition map on an intel mac. Just follow these steps to format and erase your hard drives on mac. Do this to connect up your seagate expansion drive. Before we get started, a brief word of caution is essential. She has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. External hard drive formatting options apple community.
Heres how to fix external hard drive not detectedrecognized error on a mac. You have to format the storejet before using on your mac. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. All options, including format, is greyed out except to delete volume. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the. How to format an external drive to work with mac from ntfs to mac os extended. Transcend 240gb jetdrive 820 pcie gen3 x2 solid state drive. 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.
In a few moments youll see the drive icon on your desktop. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Nov 14, 2019 alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive. The quickest way to do this is a simple spotlight search. For macs with removable batteries, you need to switch them off, remove the battery. For the 15 macbook pro 15 unibody mid 2012 hard drive cable and for the. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. How to format an external hard drive to work with mac and pc.
Jul, 20 for mac owners, one of the most annoyinginconvenient aspects of owning a mac is the external drive compatibility. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. Is there a way to completely format or erase the data from hard drive so it cannot be recovered by another user. Were sure that some of you have encountered situations where you plug in an external hard drive or usb flash drive to your mac computer, only. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. 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. Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. For some mac models, the partition option would be greyed out in disk utility.
I would like to format my external hard drive so that i can edit in on my macbook pro. Matter of fact, youll be seeing this tool a lot throughout the article. Im usually change hard drives to a bigger capacity ones and sold the old ones to others. Ntfs format hard disks can be connected to mac os but the drive will run with readonly permission which means you can only copy from hard disk but cant add or. I found akku app in github to check the battery status of the bluetooth headphones on mac. Thats often the norm because theres rarely ever a need to format your internal drive. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. I have another external hard drive thats formatted as ntfs and files stay the way i arrange them. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. If you purchase an external hard drive as an addition to expand the storage space of your computer, most likely you would need to format it. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled.
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