The previous defunct hd was also fat32, which i did not realize upon receiving and using. It can format your hard drive and erase all the data on your hard drive, beyond the scope of data recovery. Nowadays, external hard drives are a common solution for storing and transferring large amounts of data from one computer to another. I just bought a 300gig harddrive and bought the external casing separate. Apfs also doesnt work with time machine, so you should format any drive you want to use for backing up your mac using mac os extended. How to format an external drive in os x make tech easier. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. Using apples free disk utility app, you can easily format the drive, give it a label, or even partition it and create multiple volumes from a single. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility.
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. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Jan 07, 2005 how do i format an external harddrive. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Many hard drives come preformatted with special utility software that largely is not needed, and may even be problematic or limiting at times. Apr 14, 2020 however, when we connect a ntfs formatted disk to mac, mac os x doesnt allow us to write files to the drive neither edit files, though it can read a ntfs drive. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. How to format or partition an external hard drive on mac. How to set up an external hard drive for use with os x cnet. You can use this format if you share the drive between mac os x and windows computers and have no files larger than 4gb. Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility. Feb 08, 2020 the problem is that on macos, you cant work with files saved on an ntfs drive unless you use a paid app like paragon ntfs for mac. Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help. Because fat32 supports only up to 4 gb large files, it should be used only with flash drives.
How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Western digital my passport ultra features cloud storage and 256aes encryption. To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. The simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. How to install and run mac os x from an external hard drive. For instructions on how to format a drive in mac os 10. How to format an external drive for mac from ntfs to mac os extended note. The problem is that on macos, you cant work with files saved on an ntfs drive unless you use a paid app like paragon ntfs for mac. Using your usb drive to boot mac is not as simple as you think.
Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. So if you want your external hard drive to be backward compatible with both oss then you. Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so. Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac. You can easily burn a bootable image of os x on a dvd by using disk utility. Ill also be using a time machine backup drive to backup this external ssd, so im not sure if using the apfs system on the new ssd would interfere with the backup drive.
Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. This is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. For more advice about installing macos or mac os x read how to update the mac operating system and how to install old versions of os x on a mac. When trying to save large files in final cut pro, the hard drive would save numerous files with none over 2gb in size. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the drive click cancel. How to recover data from formatted external hard drive on mac. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows.
If you already used your external hard drive on a pc, be sure to back. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Click on the view button in the upper lefthand side, change to show all devices. There are two ways you can install os x on to your external hard disk. 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 format an external hard drive for mac os x youtube. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. For instructions on how to format a dr ive in mac os 10. I have a back up of all my data i know it erases data when reformatting. Nov 02, 2012 how to format an external hard drive for mac duration.
Exfat should basically only be used on drives that need to work with both windows and macos computers. This mode is only available on apple computers made after 2009 that were running os x lion or later. How to access mac osx extended formatted hard drive in. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. How to format hard drive for mac compatibly in os x disk. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Install, boot, and run mac os x from an external hard drive. Mac os x can only be installed on a hard drive formatted in mac os extended journaled, filesystem. How to convert external hard drive to fat32 on mac os x for. Next, we will head over to the mac, where we will need to prepare the mac portion of the external hard disk for use with the macos. Pick the drive you wish to use to start up the mac.
However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Apfs apple file system is only for newer macs running macos. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac. Sep 20, 2019 apfs also doesnt work with time machine, so you should format any drive you want to use for backing up your mac using mac os extended. One of the major limitations of this format is that its not able to write files larger than 4gb, which can be quite a setback. If you do not see the scheme option, then you have selected the volume and not the drive. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Best format for an external hard disk apple community. It should only take a minute or two for the drive to be erased and reformatted.
Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a name for the drive. Mar 25, 2018 i have recently bought a my passport external hd. Here are the following most common reasons why would you like to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac under mac os extended journaled. Or perhaps you are setting up an external drive for backups. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and. To change the volume format, click on the chosen format and select another. Jan 31, 2016 this will demonstrate how to format a hard disk to be completely mac os x compatible, the entire process is handled through disk utility as demonstrated with an external hard drive attached to a. But, if you want to use an external hard drive on your mac that was mainly used on a windows computer, you might encounter a.
In order to get started and partition your external hard drive, follow the simple instructions below. The tutorial and screenshots below are based on macos sierra 10. Msdos fat is the most popular format amongst external hard disks, as its both readable and writable by nearly all operating systems, windows and os x included. You have to format the usb drive and insert the proper operating system, which is os x. Jan 02, 2016 msdos fat is the most popular format amongst external hard disks, as its both readable and writable by nearly all operating systems, windows and os x included. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. I received a replacement 750gb external hard drive from western digital. Format a flash drive for both mac os x and windows. Force an external mac drive to mount via command line terminal commands in mac os x. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Select the nonindented entry for your seagate drive. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device.
How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Sep 06, 2019 the simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. How to convert external hard drive to fat32 on mac os x for free using disk utility. If you want to permanently erase data on the hard drive, you can try the solution 3.
Yet when you connect a mac formatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. How to install macos on an external drive macworld uk. The mac os x extended volume format is optimal for macs. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Best for external drives shared with windows computers. You need to prepare your usb drive beforehand for this specific purpose. They might be different if your mac has a different version. 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. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Note that when it finally boots into os x, that is the version running off your external drive. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog.
If the only format showing is msdos, click on the option button on the bottom of the window and choose the selection referring to apple. If you selected the drive name instead of its description you wont see the scheme option. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. The easiest way to add storage to your mac is to buy an external hard drive. How to set up an external hard drive for use with os x. I need to reformated my wd 1tb external hard drive and was wondering what is the best file format to use ms dos fat32, mac os extended journalled etc all i store on it are all my videos, tv shows, and backups of all my work, documents etc, but i dont use it with time machine. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips.
You should create multiple partitions on your external hard drive, in order to have enhanced file organization. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. Macs can only read but not write to a ntfs file system. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Apfs apple file system this is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it. I dont want to download any 3rd party side to run it. Which mac file system is best for an external drive. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Now i need to format the harddrive and i need detailed instructions since im not very computer literate.
The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. This is very easy to carry out, and only requires a few moments of your time. If your mac is from before 2009 or never had os x lion, click here to jump to the next section. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Where, i am seeing instruction links, for mac operating system, for as far back as mac os x 10. Select the drive you want to format and click erase button. Mac os extended journaled will be the best format to choose for the external drive. Yet when you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x.
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. Once you have it, your first task is to pick a suitable file system for that drive depending on your intended usage. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. I want to convert the hard drive s format so that its compatible with mac. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. While os x is installing, your computer will restart a couple of times.
Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as. The usb drivers come with the fat format by default. If youre erasing an external drive, make sure that its connected. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Readwrite fat32 from both native windows and native mac os x. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. Where and with working to reformat my new hd, i have been directed to base support and then knowledge base answer id 3865.