How to format a external hard drive for mac

#How to format a external hard drive for mac how to
#How to format a external hard drive for mac mac os
#How to format a external hard drive for mac Pc
#How to format a external hard drive for mac windows

This will open a small pop-up window with a warning that erasing the drive will delete all data stored on it and that it canвЂ™t be undone. For the best result, select the disk (the highest option in the external tree). You can find this on the left-hand side of the screen under External Hard Drives.

Click the external hard drive you want to format.

Then click View in the top-left corner of the window and select Show All Devices.

This will open the Disk Utility app, where you will find all the internal and external drives that are connected to your Mac.

Go to Spotlight Search, type in Disk Utility, and click the first option.

Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work.

Connect an external hard drive to your Mac.

Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. Note : If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it.

#How to format a external hard drive for mac how to

HereвЂ™s how to do that: How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac So if youвЂ™re trying to connect an external hard drive to a Mac, you might have to format the drive before you can use it.

#How to format a external hard drive for mac windows

Learn more about repairing disks on a Mac.Most external hard drives are designed to work for Windows computers. If a hard drive is beyond Disk UtilityвЂ™s aid, it may need reformatting or service. While you can select and repair individual volumes (partitions) for troubleshooting purposes, selecting the entire drive will test and repair both the drive and each individual volume. Sometimes hard drives run into disk issues which are easily resolved with theFirst Aid feature.

#How to format a external hard drive for mac Pc

Consider using ExFat for generic PC and Mac storage or FAT for universal compatibility with most electronic devices. That means that while macOS can read NTFS drives, it is unable to write data to them without third-party software. MacOS cannot natively format a drive to the NTFS format for Windows.

Apple Partition Map: For older PowerPC-based Mac computers.

Drives cannot exceed 2TB and are limited to 4 partitions

Master Boot Record: For MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT.

GUID Partition Map: For all Intel-based Mac computers.

ExFAT: Windows compatible general storage.

MS-DOS (FAT): Windows compatible general storage individual files cannot exceed 4GB each individual partition cannot exceed 2TB 4 partitions maximum per drive does not work for Time Machine backups.

#How to format a external hard drive for mac mac os

Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted): Mac format case sensitive to folder names password protected encrypted partition.

Example: Folders named вЂњAudioвЂќ and вЂњAUDIOвЂќ are two different folders.

Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): Mac format case sensitive to folder names.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted): Mac format password protected encrypted partition.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled or HFS+): Mac format.

APFS (Apple File System): Latest Mac format for macOS High Sierra or later (10.13+).

Learn more about which format to use from Apple:

For PC and Mac compatibility, select ExFAT (format) and Master Boot Record (scheme).

Enter a Name, select the Format and Scheme, and click Erase.

(optional)Select a single volume to keep the drive format and only erase that volumeвЂ™s data.

Select the external hard drive (left sorted Internal, External, and Disk Images) and click the Erase button.

In the window that appears, double-click the Disk Utility app.

Click the Go menu and select Utilities.

Bus powered hard drives: connect either directly to your computer to an active hub (has power supply).

Connect the hard drive to your computer, power it on and launch Finder.

If you have an extra drive, you can also use the Restore feature to erase it and then replace its contents with the files from the drive you want to backup. The simple way is to copy them by dragging the files from one drive to the other.

Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up (copy) to another drive. Learn more about erasing hard disks on Mac from Apple. If youвЂ™re not sure, eject and disconnect each drive, then only reconnect the drive you want to erase. When formatting a hard drive with Disk Utility, make sure to select the correct drive. Reformatting a hard drive is often done just to erase all of its contents. Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. On Mac computers, use the Finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. Rename volumes Format an External Hard DriveД®xternal hard drives use either spinning disks or solid memory to save your files.