Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. The exfat format supports virtually any size hard drive and file, unlike the outdated fat32 format. Open the start menu and search for disk management. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. When you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. 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. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different. How to use same external usb or hard disk with mac and.
Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as macintosh hd. You can do that by typing disk format or disk management in windows search or going to control panel administrative tools create. Plug your hd into the mac and open disk utility, which can be accessed by searching for it in spotlight. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external. Out of the box, windows can not read or write hfs drives, and macs are unable to write to ntfs drives. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive.
Formatting the disk you can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. Format external hard drive with windows builtin tool. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. Right click on the partition and select delete volume this will remove the partition. In general, windows builtin tools disk management and diskpart can format drive to exfat easily. I thought it would be pretty helpful if you made a video showing how to format a disc to run on all oss using mac os x. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the formatting option for pc. For most reasons to erase, you should erase the disk, which also erases all volumes on that disk.
But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both 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. But luckily, there are file systems well supported by both mac and windows pc, and they are fat32 it might be called msdos on mac and exfat. During the installation of os, the macos installer will automatically decide whether to use apfs or mac os extended for the disk. There are specific thirdparty systems, like digital camcorders, and sony playstation 3, which need the drives to be formatted in either fat32 or exfat format to perform read from and. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. 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.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. So how we can format ann sd card correctly on man and windows. Format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format so to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Simply rightclick its icon from my computer and from the context menu, click on the format option. You can also use the fat32 format on mac for usb drives if you wish to use it on both mac and windows. 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. Connect your external hard drive to your windows 10 pc. Open the disk management tool by rightclicking this pc manage disk management. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these fields. Connect the hdd to a mac and format the drive as fat32 and then connect the same mac hdd to windows and convert it to ntfs.
Windows quick formatting is easy to get started but with limited functions. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. Seagate backup plus slim user manual optional formatting. It is time to learn how to format your external hard drive or other external drives to a common file system for mac and windows. How to erase and format a disk in windows 10, 8 or 7 read this article to learn about the difference between quick and full format, the file system you should choose when formatting a disk, how to use the windows builtin tool to format disks, create or delete partitions. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. Alternatively, you can search in spotlight for disk utility and click on it. This article will teach you how to format the usb flash drive so both mac s and pcs can read them.
Seagate backup plus is preformatted exfat for compatibility with both mac and windows computers. As both windows and mac provide native solutions to format hard drive, you should avoid using any unreliable thirdparty tool. In this article, we will explain how to use same external usb or hard disk with mac and windows. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windows mac. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. From all above, you can have a general idea of fat32 and exfat file system.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Choose a file type and formatting option and click on the start button to format the disk. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat. Though there are many ways you can transfer data from windows to mac and vice versa, using usb or hard disk is the easier way. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Always back up your data before repartitioning or formatting a disk. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. To format your wd elements with a partition for mac and pc 1. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Windows will format the drive as exfat and youll be able to use the drive on both windows and mac. Therefore, make sure that the file system is supported by your mac or windows. Format wd elements for mac and pc have your drive for both.
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. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. Your whole drive is now formatted as mac os extended journaled file system. Paragon disk wipe allows you to create a bootable usbflash drive or external hard drive that will help you to completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or just clean free space. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive.
Windows also lets us format an external device like sd card, pen drive, etc. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. Select the search result and the disk management utility will launch. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. Be careful using these instructions to ensure you are formatting the correct disk. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Rightclick on the start button and select disk management on the popup menu.
The partition you want to share with both mac and windows you partition as exfat. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. However, mac and windows use different file formatting systems that will not allow you to save files. When formatting a disk for storage use between mac and. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. The fat32 format can be read and written on both os and hence it is the most versatile format for use. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine 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 a ntfs drive.
The latter requires to you to use a command line interface, while the former uses a graphical user interface. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. How to format drive for mac and windows computer technician blog. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Once you have formatted your western digital elements drive 2. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive.
To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows 10 backups. While formatting, you would be asked to pick a file system for the disk.
Go to the applications folder on your mac s hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. This applications readonly nature isnt necessarily a bad thing. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or.
Format an sd card on mac first, make sure your sd card is connected. But you can open hfsexplorer, read a macformatted drive, and copy the files to your windows pc without paying a dime. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. How to erase and format a disk in windows 10, 8 or 7. Select the mac drive from the list of drives make sure this is the drive you want to work on, if you do it for the windows formatted drive in the list, it may cost you a lot of important data. Generally, there are three ways to initiate the task windows quick format by rightclicking or using disk management, windows diskpart command, or a free thirdparty hard drive format tool.
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