External hard drives are usually formatted for windows. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. Once there, give it a name and format it to mac os extended journaled. Quit out of the disk utility app, and this time choose reinstall os x and continue.
Now in this interface, you will see a format option. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Under the external tab on the left side, select the drive you want to use. How to format hard drive for mac compatibly in os x disk. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. How to format a disk to ntfs using mac os x ask different. The simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. If your mac is from before 2009 or never had os x lion, click here to jump to the next section. How to partition an external or internal hard drive in os x.
If you cant decide between apfs vs mac os extended for your drive, you should consider your use case first. Follow the instructions that appear on screen, license agreements and all, and choose the hard drive to use in. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as. When i open disk utility pertaining to the new hd i see 698. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Readwrite fat32 from both native windows and native mac os x. Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help. Apfs apple file system is only for newer macs running macos. Apfs also doesnt work with time machine, so you should format any drive you want to use for backing up your mac using mac os extended. For instructions on how to format a drive in mac os 10. The world wide geek demonstrates how to format an external hard drive for mac os x. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software.
If you do not see the scheme option, then you have selected the volume and not the drive. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. 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. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. By default, they format disks with the mac only os x extended file system. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Click on the view button in the upper lefthand side, change to show all devices. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility.
Access the disk utility by going to finder and clicking on applications. Heres a runthrough of the pros and cons of both to help you decide. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.
Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. May 21, 2020 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. Jan 02, 2016 msdos fat is the most popular format amongst external hard disks, as its both readable and writable by nearly all operating systems, windows and os x included. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility.
Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. Apfs vs mac os extended which mac disk format is best. 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. Instructions for installing an internal drive as a bootable or a storage drive in macos x.
Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Jul 05, 2017 macs support a variety of file systems. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it. The command line approach to disk erasure in macos is a bit different and it requires precise syntax to insure that you are erasing the proper disk, making this method of erasing any disk only. How to recover data from formatted external hard drive on mac. Because fat32 supports only up to 4 gb large files, it should be used only with flash drives. Aug 30, 2016 this is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. Install mac os 9 disk driver there is an option to install mac os 9 disk drivers. Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility. Windows can read and write to ntfsformatted drives. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it. You can create up to 16 different partitions on a hard drive, each one can be of different size and format, even including the msdos format for.
In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. How to access mac osx extended formatted hard drive in. By default, they format disks with the maconly os x extended file system. As a comprehensive data erasure tool, aweeraser for mac can help you securely and permanently format a hard drive or device under mac os. Heres a look at how to use disk utility to perform this function. Aug 23, 2010 how to partition, format external hard drive on mac for mac and windows, how to set up time machine duration. Choose mac os extended journaled partition for the volume format.
This will demonstrate how to format a hard disk to be completely mac os x compatible, the entire process is handled through disk utility as demonstrated with an. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. This is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it will be the. You can use this format if you share the drive between mac os x and windows computers and have no files larger than 4gb. All data has to be put in a file format that the operating system can read off the hard drive. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Snowflake shows you how to format or partition a hard drive in mac os x 10. Sep 06, 2019 the simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. Tutorial how to format hard drive on your mac os x the. The mac os x operating system is designed to make formatting the hard drive easy, quick and painless. If youre preparing a mac for resale or troubleshooting a misbehaving machine, you might opt to format your mac s hard drive. It should only take a minute or two for the drive to be erased and reformatted.
Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os, a task which is typically performed through the disk utility application from the gui. Power on the computer while holding down the option key. Install, boot, and run mac os x from an external hard drive. Msdos fat is the most popular format amongst external hard disks, as its both readable and writable by nearly all operating systems, windows and os x included. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive.
How to install and run mac os x from an external hard drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Latest mac format for macos high sierra or later 10. Apfs apple file system is only for newer macs running macos 10. If your external hard drive is not formatted for the mac operating system, you may first need to initialize it and then erase it. How to format a hard drive in mac os x dumb little man. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Its a multipurpose tool that handles formatting, erasing, repairing, and partitioning hard drives, among other things. If you already used your external hard drive on a pc, be sure to back. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map.
After you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. To change the format, you will need to use the disk utility option. Jan 31, 2016 this will demonstrate how to format a hard disk to be completely mac os x compatible, the entire process is handled through disk utility as demonstrated with an external hard drive attached to a. Select the drive you want to format and click erase button. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Here are two outstanding mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on. Os x can default read ntfs disks, but not write to them. The disk utility application is located in the utilities subfolder. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. If youre preparing a mac for resale or troubleshooting a misbehaving machine, you might opt to format your macs hard drive.
How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Being lazy and a mac snob, i didnt want to have to plug in everything to the pc only to boot if off a floppy and then format the hard drive, so i took the hard drive out of the pc and put it in an external enclosure, with plans on wiping the drive in os x. To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. If you selected the drive name instead of its description you wont see the scheme option. The newer apfs format is better for some types of drives, including ssds, while mac os extended is great for older drives and macos versions. 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. While os x is installing, your computer will restart a couple of times. This mode is only available on apple computers made after 2009 that were running os x lion or later. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device.
How to format an external hard drive for mac os x operating. Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a. If you plan on using the hard drive with a mac booting from os 9, or believe that this might be a possibility, then select the checkbox to install the mac. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. Select the drive, click erase, choose the name and format of the drive, and click erase. There are two ways you can install os x on to your external hard disk. One of the major limitations of this format is that its not able to write files larger than 4gb, which can be quite a setback. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive.
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