People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard drive so make sure you back up your data elsewhere before starting. Dec 25, 2016 if you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external drive formatted in a file system both oss can read. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. 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. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. 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 drive to use on mac and pc. Two ways to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external drive formatted in a. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Format wd my passport for mac and pc with ms dos fat 32 or exfat file system and share digital files between mac and windows system easily. It is not as complicated to reformat an external hard drive for use with mac os x as it may look.
Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so. Do you save backups of your hard drive onto an external hard drive. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. A lot of people including you, storing important data on seagate external hard drive instead of on your pc mac hard drive. Now enter the volume label as you need and change the file system for exfat and click ok. For example, formatting typically removes most of the data on a drive, making it a quicker way to erase a large drive than simply deleting everything on it. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. How to use same external usb or hard disk with mac and.
Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac.
Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. While most external hard drives are already designed to work for windows computers, there are times when you need to reformat one.
Open disk management tool by rightclicking on start menu icon and then select disk management. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Share your experience, how do you use an external hard drive on both mac and pc. You can resolve the problem by formatting the hard drive or usb in exfat file system, which is compatible in both windows and mac. You are ready to go in a few quick measures, so you can transfer your backup data to the hard disk, keep your documents safe so give you peace of mind. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. Sep 12, 2019 what you need to do first is wiping hard drive. Connect your external hard drive to your mac, and then launch disk utility. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. In disk utility on mac, you can erase and reformat storage devices to use with your mac. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps, emails, etc. 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. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. So if you are formatting a drive that has already been used, be sure to copy any files you will ever want to see again onto a computer or backup drive. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer internal ones or external.
But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat formatting options. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. If you want your hard drive to be compatible with both mac and pc, you should format the hard drive to the file system that is supported by both of. Feb 21, 2012 looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. Format external hard drive for mac reformat external hard. If you know youre going to use a drive on both mac and windows, you. How to convert a mac formatted drive to a windows drive. If you have any files you want to save, copy them to another storage device. No matter what motivation you have, the question, how to reformat a hard drive, is much more important now. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. 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. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. If youve just bought yourself a shiny new external drive and cant get it to work on your mac, its possible that the drive isnt compatible with macos.
Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. This file system is specifically for mac systems and windows cant read this file system. Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. This is where mac reformat external hard drive might help just like the human body, your computer can have sand in its machinery throughout its running course and end up crashing everything. Thankfully, reformatting an external drive on a mac is a relatively straightforward process. Connect the empty external hd to your mac and launch disk utility. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. How to reformat an external drive for mac warehouse. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive.
The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. If your mac or pc has a windows os installed, then you wont face any trouble managing it. Fat32, exfat and ntfs are three file systems for external drive in windows, while ntfs is readonly on mac. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. There are a number of tools that can help you in this regard. Using your toshiba external hard drive to backup to. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Windows, macos, and linux can all read and write to fat32 drives without an. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows.
You can get to know how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc from this post, if you need to use a western digital external hard drive, like wd elements both under mac and pc. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a mac when i plug it into my pc i cant access it. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. Continue below to format an external hard drive or learn more about disk management. Now right click on the external drive and click on format option doublecheck the drive name and capacity to make sure you are going to format the right drive. At the time of the original posting in 2011, there were some problems getting a mac formatted exfat drive working with windows, it had. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the partition tab.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. My new drive was set up for windows when it arrived and i needed to erase and reformat it for mac os. The reason is perhaps that seagate external hard drive has been well known for a long time as one of the most reliable drives for storing data. Your first step to using your toshiba external drive on your mac is to plug your toshiba drive in. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. But what happens if that drive becomes corrupted, and you have to reformat it to make it accessible again. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. But you occasionally might need to format one yourself. Before you can use it though, you need to properly format or reformat a hard drive so that it will become compatible or readable with the operating system that you are using. How to reformat an external drive for mac cyber yard.
A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Windows cant normally read mac formatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. Today this video will show you how to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. You can use your toshiba canvio drive as a destination for your time machine backups but you can only use drives formatted as mac os extended journaled file system for a time machine backup. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your backup files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind.
Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. 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 drive name in the left sidebar, and then click on partition at the top. Apr 17, 2020 to format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. But dont forget to back up your important data in the drive into a safe place before formatting. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Since i only wanted a simple external drive that was portable and could hold all the stuff i was working on, i had no need for partitioning.
To make it clear, we recommend you stay away from ntfs if youre looking to use your external hard drive on a mac. As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. But unlike other electronics on the market, its possible to reformat an external drive to work with the operating systems of your choice. So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both windows and mac, you need to format it to a filesystem that is compatible with windows pc and mac. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps. However, you need to make doubly sure that you complete a quick format. Sep 17, 2019 right click on your toshiba external hard drive icon and pick get info from the menu. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac.
This article shows you how to format an external hard drive via different methods, and you can follow these methods to format external hard drive for pc, mac or linux. Perhaps its in dire need of releasing some data to an external backup drive. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. Jul 21, 2017 most hard drives come preformatted and ready to use these days. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. To make it compatible with both macos and windows, you need to reformat the external hard drive. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Therefore, based on these three file systems, we have two methods to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Wd 1tb black my passport portable external hard drive. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. It is possible to reformat the drive and keep your files by formatting your drive and then using a data recovery tool to restore your information. 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. To save important data on the hard drive, please backup disk beforehand. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. Sometimes, users need to use the same external hard drive interchangeably on mac and pc. Seagate backup plus slim, especially for largecapacity removable storage devices.
How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Apple mac machines support a different file system. However, you need to reformat external hard drive or internal ssdhdd if it was partitioned before. 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 with windows. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. 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.
You might want a drive that works with macs and pcs, or maybe you want to partition it, which will split it up into two different formats. Can you reformat it without losing all of your data. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. Using this option, we can have single 1tb drive to manage all our tasks. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box.
Reformatting a drive on windows is a pretty straightforward process. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Open the disk utility app on your mac using one of the following methods, depending on the type of disk or volume you want to erase. Open the start menu and search for disk management. 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. Every major version of the operating system provides a dedicated solution to format hard drive as well as external storage units. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. How to format hard drive for mac and pc on windows. If you see the drive is ntfs then youll either need to reformat the drive or use a ntfs driver.
Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. How to properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. 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.
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