Format a hard drive for mac and windows

In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central.

Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. You do not want to format the drive though for mac. Format hard drive on windows 7 or earlier versions step 1 restart your computer and press f8 or del key to enter the bios settings. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. The two solutions above can help you format external hard drive on windows or mac. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.

While the program loads, it will scan the disks attached to the system and present a list. Plug your hd into the mac and open disk utility, which can be accessed by searching for it in spotlight. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. So if your external hard drive already has important files on it, make sure to back them up before proceeding. Connect your external hard drive to a windows computer. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. 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. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. While you have bought this drive, you will find the drive already formatted for your mac or windows system. 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.

How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Securely format external hard drive on windows and mac with super eraser. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Download paragon partition manager free if you have not already, then install the software. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. Therefore, it is necessary to present a tutorial guide here to format or partition a hard drive within mac os.

If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. The formatted files erased by disk utility also can be recovered by free mac data recovery software. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. The system tells you what key to press during the restart, so pay attention to your screen and be quick at pressing the right key.

You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. However, this format doesnt support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4k videos and so on between macs and windows 10. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons.

Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. 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. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. To format the primary drive the hard disk where the operating system resides you need to boot into the setup program on windows 7 or windows 10 and use it to format your drive. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. In this video i help you guys convert your mac only external hdd into a windows compatible one. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state drives ssds provide one of the easiest ways to transfer files between separate computers without accessing the. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. If your external hard drive is working, your computer will. 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. You cant format the hard disk on which windows is stored while windows is running, for the same reasons that you cant work on a cars engine while you.

Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. The best partition scheme for a drive that will be used for both mac and windows is to format it exfat, and its actually easier to do it in windows than on the mac side. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. Easily format external hard drive on windows or mac. 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 windows just right click on the drive and select format. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and.

External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. How to format toshiba harddrive for mac apple community. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.

Now you will need to select the disk you wish to format. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. This file system is specifically for mac systems and windows cant read this file system. However, you have to reformat the drive to make it functional with your mac computer. How to format a new or second hard drive on mac mac is obviously a very much different operating system from windows, let alone their features and steps to format a hard drive. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Windows can read and write to ntfsformatted drives. 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 a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system.

Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Open finder, click the go dropdown menu, and select utilities. It just securely formats your mac hard drivedevice and permanently erases all the data. Formatting your drive will erase all the existing files on it. How to format new or second hard drive on windows 10mac. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. How to format an external hard drive for windows 10. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac.

It is a quick way to format external hard drive on mac. There are a number of tools that can help you in this regard. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos is the formatting. 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. Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. You can format a hard drive or usb flash disk specifically so that it will be compatible with both mac os x and windows pc computers. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format.

Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. 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. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. 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 a hard drive for both windows and mac. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Macs may also create a protected efi partition on these drives that you cant delete with the usual diskpartitioning tools.