How to format an external drive in os x make tech easier. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Oct 25, 2015 how to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive with windows 10 7. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat. Jul 15, 2009 format a drive for mac os x and windows. 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. How to encrypt and password protect an external hard drive using mac os high sierra.
Format a drive for mac os x and windows sign in to comment. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Unlike windows in file explorer, mac os x and macos do not include a format drive option in the finder. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Ntfs windows nt file system readwrite ntfs from native windows. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
In disk utility, of os x utilities, select the partition in the lefthand column that you created in the previous step preparing to erase. You can use this format if you share the drive between mac os x and windows computers and have no files larger than 4gb. But, if you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead. How to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive on windows 10. Rightclick on the icon for your external drive on mac desktop, then select get info. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window. Format a flash drive for both mac os x and windows youtube. How do i use disk utility to reformat my hard drive. Click on disk utility then continue first of all to get your macs hard drive. Mar 15, 2018 once youve gotten all the data off the macformatted drive, youll probably want to format it with the exfat file system. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus.
Whether you are planning to make a clean installation mac os x or you need much larger file to store more files, in both cases you will need to format your hard drive. So, if you want to format a flash drive connected to a usb, firewire, or thunderbolt usb type c or not on a mac you need do the following procedure. As niel noted, mac os extended is the best choice, as long as theres no reason for the drive to be accessible from a windows. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. Starting with os x lion, apple did away with dvds and other media as a method of installing software and switched to a download model instead. Launch disk utility, located in applications utilities.
There are several reasons you might need to install a new copy of macos or os x on the hard drive in your mac or macbook. In disk utility on your mac, erase and reformat a storage device to use with a mac. A word of caution, the mac os x has unix at its core. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Jan 02, 2016 formatting a drive on your mac is quite easy.
Even so, its still easy to create a usb installation disk for os x lion if you want to install lion on a freshly formatted hard drive, if youre in an emergency booting situation, or if you need to repair your macs hard drive. You can format an external drive in os x using disk utility and terminal. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with.
Feb 21, 2020 its a universal format that is compatible with mac os xmacos, windows, linux and dos systems. In this tutorial i will go through all steps you need to follow in order to format your entire hard drive or just a. Power on the computer while holding down the option key. By default, they format disks with the maconly os x extended file system. 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. Fortunately, there are also several ways to do it, ranging from internet recovery to installation discs. If it says guid partition table, you can format the drive by selecting mac os x extended journaled in the format popup menu, giving the drive a name, and then clicking erase. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write. Jul 05, 2017 macs support a variety of file systems. Choosing the best format to work between macs and pcs with a flash drive. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.
Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support asean. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Nov 01, 2011 choosing the best format to work between macs and pcs with a flash drive. Locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. Even so, its still easy to create a usb installation disk for os x lion if you want to install lion on a freshly formatted hard drive, if youre in an emergency booting situation, or if you need to repair your mac s hard drive. To readwriteformat ntfs from mac os x, here are some alternatives. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Feb 08, 2020 rightclick on the icon for your external drive on mac desktop, then select get info.
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 part 3. If you selected the drive name instead of its description you wont see the scheme. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x. How to access mac osx extended formatted hard drive in. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. There is one keyboard item that is reserved for unix exclusively. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. The usb drivers come with the fat format by default.
How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. Formatting hard drive in any operating system is not a complicated procedure, and its the same with mac os x. Both windows and mac os x have full readwrite support for exfat drives without any additional thirdparty software. Os x can default read ntfs disks, but not write to them. By default, they format disks with the mac only os x extended file system. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Next to name you will see untitled 1 where you can name the drive.
To format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on win mac respectively. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra. Select the seagate drive on the left that shows the capacity 3. Sep 06, 2019 there are several reasons you might need to install a new copy of macos or os x on the hard drive in your mac or macbook. How to erase a disk for mac partition a physical disk in disk utility on mac file system formats available in disk utility on mac format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac encrypt and protect a storage device with a password in disk utility on mac.
Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. You should now be able to format the drive as mac os extended with journaling on or off. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. 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. Tutorial how to format hard drive on your mac os x the. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Once youve gotten all the data off the macformatted drive, youll probably want to format it with the exfat file system. Apfs apple file system this is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it will be the default if you are using that. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume.
How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Select the partition tab on the right hand side of the disk utility window 4. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. Click on disk utility then continue first of all to get your mac s hard drive. If you move a hard drive between the two operating systems, heres what you need to know. Give the drive a descriptive name and leave the default settings. How to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive with windows 10 7. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Select erase and ensure that the format is mac os extended journaled.
Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. Readwrite fat32 from both native windows and native mac os x. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a. Open disk utility applicationsutilitiesdisk utilities 2. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive.
183 771 880 680 572 1326 75 1274 74 1140 713 1356 198 248 940 396 1107 1404 1343 1458 1161 676 768 119 970 1059 1341 1134 846 1244 920 538