To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Dec, 2007 ive an external hard drive that ive used on mac. Click erase button, the external hard drive will be formatted. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Dec 19, 2017 the reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way mac s 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.
Unformat mac hard drive recover formatted hard drive on mac. Macos external drive not showing not reformatting fix. If your external hard drive is read only on mac because it was formatted with microsoft ntfs file system, you can free download iboysoft ntfs for mac and feel free to copywriteeditdelete and transfer files on this drive without formatting it. Back up the files on the mac external hard drive before erasing it. To use my old external hard drive without formatting it, on my new mac. If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need the help of a thirdparty driver. How to transfer files to your toshiba external hard drive on your mac.
Enter a name, select the format and scheme, and click erase. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. For pc and mac compatibility, select exfat format and master boot record scheme. In order to get started and partition your external hard drive, follow the simple instructions below. I just formatted a brand new wd25ezrx caviar green 2. The hard drive is already formatted in mac os extended. If you find your external hard drive is ntfs format, thats what the cause is. 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 previous defunct hd was also fat32, which i did not realize upon receiving and using. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. When trying to save large files in final cut pro, the hard drive would save numerous. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc.
If nothing works, use remo mac data recovery software and recover data from it before reformatting the drive. Jan 30, 2009 i dont like automatic backups because i need to access the only specific files from an external hard drive. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. When the disk utility recognizes it the drive is read only. Nov 09, 2008 how to format a hard drive on a mac when you dont want to use time machine. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system.
Regardless of the physical size, capacity and medium your external drive. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Formatting an external hard drive for my apple community. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers.
Where and with working to reformat my new hd, i have been directed to base support and then knowledge base answer id 3865. The three 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. Mar 20, 2018 1 you should only format a hard drive in apfs if it is a ssd. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Fat32 msdos format which allows files to be read written to windows and mac computers. I cant edit external hard drives on macs your business. Many backup archives and video files are larger than 4 gb. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. Select the file system you want to use and give the drive a. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. 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. The incompatibility of the file system is the main cause of the error external hard drive read only on mac. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac.
How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Formatting the hard drive is the only way to properly and completely remove all private data from your mac while this tutorial will cover the procedure for formatting your system drive, the same applies to formatting a new external drive if you bought one for storage purposes. Some people may want to format a storage because they want to clean hard drive mac and others might want to install fresh os x. Feb 08, 2020 now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it.
Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. Found in the utilities folder, inside your applications folder, disk. One way to do this is to convert the raw hard drive to ntfs using the cmd command method. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Formatting a volume will destroy any data on the partition. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. Most external hard drives you buy will come out of the box preformatted for a windows computer ntfs.
If you plan to use your drive for time machine backups on a mac, and you use only. As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. May 09, 2017 how to use external hard drive on mac without formatting. Or it might be that you bought a drive to use with your mac only to discovered it is pre formatted for windows. How to fix raw external hard drive without formatting. I have been trying to walk her through reformatting it but nothing is working. Be sure to back up any data you want to save before you begin. A mac can only read the ntfs formatted hard drive but can not write any data on to it until you install a third party apps like ntfs for mac or ntfs3g to enable write access to ntfs partition under mac os x. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it.
The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. 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. How to use external hard drive on mac without formatting. It appears that you have formatted your external hard drive in mac os extended format, which is not supported in windows. How to format a hard dr ive on mac to work on mac and pc. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. 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. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. How to format your hard drive seagate support australia. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution.
If your mac or pc has a windows os installed, then you wont face any trouble managing it. Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. 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.
If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format an external hard drive on macos open finder. Dec 29, 2015 follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. You may be presented with an alert asking if you want to use the new drive as the time machine backup drive. Click start button and search commond, then rightclick one it and afterward press run as administrator. Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Nov 21, 2017 and we usually perform formatting in our usb or external hard drive when we want to get rid of viruses, or we want to clean the disk as it was when we purchased it. Connect the external hard drive to your mac and copy.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. Its good to have an external hard drive which can be used for backup and other purpose. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Normally when you plug in an external hard drive to your macs usb port you will see it appear on the. Macformatted external drive that comes in ssd and spinning disk versions, and. Hey all i got a seagate external hard drive so i can back up my first laptop which runs on windows vista yes, i know its the worst operating system but its a long story as to why i am still using it. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. How to get an external drive formally used with a mac to be recognized and useable with a pc running windows 7 i have an iomega 500gb external hard drive that i purchased about 2 years ago that i used exclusively with an imac, until that computer crashed beyond affordable repair last month. Seagate branded external drives come preformatted, some for pcs, some for macs, and some of them have special utilities allowing them to work between both without. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. How to open an external drive thats not showing on mac. How to get an external drive formally used with a mac to be.
I now have a pc with windows 10, but i cant find a way to save the photos onto my computer. Follow the path applicationsutilities and click disk utility. This is very easy to carry out, and only requires a few moments of your time. Hard drives, which are the primary storage devices on our computer, need to be formatted before we can use them. Or as exfat can have files transferred without driver software on your mac. Silicon power black 1tb rugged portable external hard drive armor a60, shockproof usb 3. How you format a mac hard dr ive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on mac. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Remove write protection from read only mac external hard drive either by editing preference file or using fuse package. Choose 1 partition from the volume scheme and then click on options.
What to do when your external hard drive wont show up pcmag. How to format an external hard drive for use with a mac pro. Aug 02, 2017 set the format type to mac os extended journaled. Sep 19, 2014 she has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. There is a however a driver available which will allow your mac to write to ntfsformatted drives. You should create multiple partitions on your external hard drive, in order to have enhanced file organization. Trouble formatting external hard drive macrumors forums. So, if you wish to use the hard drive for mac, you need to format. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. 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. 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. Or if you only have the one, plug another device in and see if that works ok. Mac tutorial formatting external hard drive neek247.
I am using this as an external drive in a firewire 800 enclosure. The disk utility gives no options for formatting under the erase. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. Perfect format to choose if you plan to use this external drive with multiple computers or if needed to. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. Windows operating systems will support fat 32, ntfs file format. I bought the 2tb version and it does work with the ps4 current version 4. Including how to format a drive to be used on a mac and a pc and how to repair a corrupted hard drive. Click on the apply button and click on the done button when it is activated. Ntfs is a file system that is optimal for windowsbased computer. How to resolve mac external hard drive read only error. To expand the storage capacity of your mac, you can connect one or more external drives, including solidstate or traditional movingplatter mechanisms as well as flashmemorybased thumb drives.
How to format an external hard drive for mac duration. How to format or partition an external hard drive on mac. Solving readonly conditions for external hard drives cnet. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Formatting an external hard drive for macwindows use. Mac os extended journaled is the native file system your mac uses. What can you do when mistakenly formatting a hard drive. How to manage disks and volumes with os xs disk utility the. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. If you have a mac you should format the drive for your mac first thing, before you start using it. Many windows external drives are formatted to ntfs by default, and macos doesnt include an ntfs driver.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled. But in order for the computer and drive to talk to one another, the drive has to be formatted. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive.
If that is the purpose for the new drive then click on the yes options button. You should know that only a toshiba drive formatted as mac os extended journaled. Aug 30, 2016 this is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Dont bypass this, if you will use the drive with your mac only.
Heres what to do if your device is not detected in windows and mac. Methods to recover read only external hard drive on mac. How to remove read only on mac external hard drive without formatting updated on april 4, 2020. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc.
External hard drives back up your most important files, but what. Whether youre selling your computer, trying a new operating system, or setting up an external drive for backups, sometimes you need to completely erase and format a hard drive. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. If the external hard drive is not erased correctly and has formatting errors, then macos may mount the drive but may not allow writing data on to it. Open the disk utility and select the external drive. Proceed based on whether youre erasing your startup disk or some other disk. Moving files from mac formatted external hard drive to pc i have an external hard drive where i moved all of my mac photos to. Mac tutorial formatting external hard drive youtube. What to do when your external hard drive wont show up. How to recover from external hard drive readonly error on mac. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. New report advises macbook users to charge their laptops on the right side of. Solving read only conditions for external hard drives.
In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac. This is not hard to do, and will take you only about a minutes effort. Though some companies sell macformatted drives, and charge extra for the feature. But dont forget to back up your important data in the drive. How to format hard drive for mac and pc on windows. Every major version of the operating system provides a dedicated solution to format hard drive as well as external. Not only is the caldigit tuff a rugged hard drive designed to survive extreme. I tried to set up a larger partition with guid using disk utility but it didnt work. Connect the raw external hard drive to your pc step 2. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac.
How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Another common cause for the external hard drive read only problem on mac is the formatting errors of the storage device itself. One of them is that you might purchase a new usb flash drive which is preformatted for windows os and you will be unable to use it on your mac. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. 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. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Using an external hard drive on mac without formatting. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. The drive was originally used on a windows machine. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drive device under mac os.
Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. Now, im trying to format it so that i can use it on pc instead of mac. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. Learning how to format an external drive on mac is necessary for numerous reasons. If you see a warning says the device is only being mounted in read only mode while connecting, your hard disk is diagnosed to have formatting errors that prevent you from writing files to it. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. I received a replacement 750gb external hard drive from western digital. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. Its possible the drive just isnt formatted for the. How to fix your external hard drive being read only on mac is your external hard.
You can format a hard drive or usb flash disk specifically so that it will. I would really like to know what the best solution is in formatting external hard drives to run on my. Also when we buy a new usb or hard drive, it often comes with windows compatible not the mac so formatting it even needed in this case. 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. When i modify a file and put it into an external hard drive, date modified section does not change. Be warned that formatting it will erase any data on the drive, so only.
At first it said it didnt support it but after i restarted my ps4 it worked. Where, i am seeing instruction links, for mac operating system, for as far back as mac os x 10. If youre not sure, eject and disconnect each drive, then only. As mentioned before, macs can only read ntfs formatted hard drives by default. Well show you everything you need to know about the. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. When formatting a hard drive with disk utility, make sure to select the correct drive. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Whether youre selling your computer, trying a new operating system, or setting up an external drive for backups, sometimes you need to completely erase and format a h ard drive. If you just bought a brand new external hard drive and would like to format it so that it.
1349 1571 618 1455 1315 213 1100 1071 615 1246 212 804 576 831 1460 355 1471 1083 1270 1496 530 1065 858 1496 620 916 511 651 505 742 1457 870 971 1285 391 396 1079 698 535 600