Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to format hard drive for mac and pc on windows. 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. 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. Your first step to using your toshiba external drive on your mac is to plug your toshiba drive in. Format external hard drive with multiple partitions easeus. 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. Seagate backup plus slim, especially for largecapacity removable storage devices. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system.
A lot of people including you, storing important data on seagate external hard drive instead of on your pc mac hard drive. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. To make it clear, we recommend you stay away from ntfs if youre looking to use your external hard drive on a mac. To make it compatible with both macos and windows, you need to reformat the external hard drive. If you see the drive is ntfs then youll either need to reformat the drive or use a ntfs driver. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. Share your experience, how do you use an external hard drive on both mac and pc. 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. In disk utility on mac, you can erase and reformat storage devices to use with your mac. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs.
Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. If you know youre going to use a drive on both mac and windows, you. It is not as complicated to reformat an external hard drive for use with mac os x as it may look. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. 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. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. 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.
How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Follow the below instructions to format your usb or hard drive to exfat file system. 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. While most external hard drives are already designed to work for windows computers, there are times when you need to reformat one.
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. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Now enter the volume label as you need and change the file system for exfat and click ok. 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. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. Every major version of the operating system provides a dedicated solution to format hard drive as well as external storage units. 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. 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. If your mac or pc has a windows os installed, then you wont face any trouble managing it.
As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. Do you save backups of your hard drive onto an external hard drive. Wd 1tb black my passport portable external hard drive. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to convert a mac formatted drive to a windows drive.
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. 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. Open disk management tool by rightclicking on start menu icon and then select disk management. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. But unlike other electronics on the market, its possible to reformat an external drive to work with the operating systems of your choice. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.
My new drive was set up for windows when it arrived and i needed to erase and reformat it for mac os. Apr 17, 2020 to format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Continue below to format an external hard drive or learn more about disk management. 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. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. Two ways to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. Sep 17, 2019 right click on your toshiba external hard drive icon and pick get info from the menu.
Windows cant normally read mac formatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. 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. Using your toshiba external hard drive to backup to. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and.
However, you need to reformat external hard drive or internal ssdhdd if it was partitioned before. Today this video will show you how to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so. Perhaps its in dire need of releasing some data to an external backup drive.
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. How to reformat an external drive for mac warehouse. Using this option, we can have single 1tb drive to manage all our tasks. Can you reformat it without losing all of your data. How to use same external usb or hard disk with mac and. 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. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been. Open the start menu and search for disk management. 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. Therefore, based on these three file systems, we have two methods to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. 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. How to properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. 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. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on 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. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. You can resolve the problem by formatting the hard drive or usb in exfat file system, which is compatible in both windows and mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Connect the empty external hd to your mac and launch disk utility. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows. However, fat32 has a maximum 4gb file size limit whereas exfat can work with. Click on the drive name in the left sidebar, and then click on partition at the top. However, you need to make doubly sure that you complete a quick format. 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. 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.
Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Reformatting a drive on windows is a pretty straightforward process. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Windows, macos, and linux can all read and write to fat32 drives without an. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. Sep 12, 2019 what you need to do first is wiping hard drive. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc.
A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. How to reformat an external drive for mac cyber yard. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. Thankfully, reformatting an external drive on a mac is a relatively straightforward process. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems.
How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. Apple mac machines support a different file system. 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. Connect your external hard drive to your mac, and then launch disk utility. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. 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. The best ways to format an external drive for 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. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. 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. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your.
To save important data on the hard drive, please backup disk beforehand. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the partition tab. 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. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Jul 21, 2017 most hard drives come preformatted and ready to use these days. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it.
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. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer internal ones or external. But you occasionally might need to format one yourself. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac.
But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat formatting options. 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. 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. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Format external hard drive for mac reformat external hard. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. No matter what motivation you have, the question, how to reformat a hard drive, is much more important now. 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.
This file system is specifically for mac systems and windows cant read this file system. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. Feb 21, 2012 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. If you have any files you want to save, copy them to another storage device.
Fat32, exfat and ntfs are three file systems for external drive in windows, while ntfs is readonly on mac. 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 for windows 10. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. But dont forget to back up your important data in the drive into a safe place before formatting. 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. But what happens if that drive becomes corrupted, and you have to reformat it to make it accessible again. There are a number of tools that can help you in this regard. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows.
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