Though, if formatting is all you want to do, there is an even easier way to go. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. 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. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos is the formatting option for pc. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. Aug 30, 2016 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. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in windows, mac, and linux. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. To use it, download hfs for windows here and install on your pc. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windows mac. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system.
Mac can read all the file system formats including windows msdos, fat, fat32. You will learn how to format the external hard disk which has deafult ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. Once the set up is complete, mount your drive and it will be visible on file explorer. How to format a windows disk drive for a mac seagate blog. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Thus, if you wish to format ntfs on mac, then you must be using an external storage unit. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32. How to use diskpart to clean and format drive not working on.
Garmin express windows garmin 235 you need to format the disk. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Create and format a hard disk partition windows help. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Change the volume format drop menu to the mac os extended journaled option. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. For instance, you might wish to format as sd card, pen drive, external hard disk, etc.
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. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Plug in your external hdd to the usb port of your computer then go to my computer find your external drive rightclick it and select format. Jul 19, 2019 ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. 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. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. Or it might be that you bought a drive to use with your mac only to discovered it is preformatted for windows. The top 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac can help you securely format hard drive or external device under windows mac os. But to get a hard drive to be compatible with both mac and pc, you have to choose the.
Best 7 free disk format tools for windows flash drive repair. Macs may also create a protected efi partition on these drives that you cant delete with the usual diskpartitioning tools. Copy a data disk uing one optical drive using disk utility on os x how to. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. In this windows 10 guide, well walk you through the steps to use the diskpart command tool to clean and format a hard drive to fix data corruption and other disk. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. If you are on an earlier operating system like windows 7, xp, etc. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. If you want to format the disk where the operating system is installed by default its disk. 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.
Downloading center solutions for macpc data and file. 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. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Under windows 2000 and higher, we dont use the aspi layer any more, but a service launched under the local system.
Some drives are even sold as macformatted drives this just means they come with the. 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. Locate your usb stick under this pc, rightclick on it and select the format option. If you are having a hard time using the command line, try the disk utility app, which is simpler and uses the gui. To create a partition or volume the two terms are often used interchangeably on a hard disk, you must be logged in as an administrator, and there must be either unallocated disk space or free space within an extended. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions.
Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. The standard utility disk management will help you format the disk, create or remove partitions. That puts you in a peculiar pickle, limiting any shared file between the two. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc.
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. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple.
May 29, 2018 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. There are several ways to format a disk bigger than 32 gb in fat32. Mar 15, 2018 when you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. Rightclick on the windows icon in the lower lefthand corner. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Dec 29, 2015 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 well. If you wish to boot the drive on a pc or use it with older versions of windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to master boot record mbr for full windows compatibility.
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 internet. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. 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. Add virtual cd and dvd drives to your pc with alcohol how to. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windowsmac. Windows will format the drive as exfat and youll be able to use the drive on both windows and mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Has worked perfectly forever now when i connect my garmin 235 i receive a message. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file. Ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. Mar 03, 2020 if you are on an earlier operating system like windows 7, xp, etc. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. 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 external hard drives for mac and windows. For example, in windows xp my computer is equivalent to this pc on windows 10. Reset the drive name and click erase, confirm the operation on the next popup window. When you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. If you are not comfortable with the previous method. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. After formatting, the data will be permanently lost.
How to use diskpart to clean and format drive not working. Chris besides the formatting difference, there is software on the pc version and no software on the mac version. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Meanwhile, the ntfs system used by windows 10 supports large files, but this format cant be read natively by macos.
In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. Format is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solidstate drive, or usb flash drive for initial use to accept windows files. Although it is possible to format a drive as exfat from disk utility on. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. 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.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. I get this question a lot i have an external hard drive that is ntfs formatted windows format, and i want to reformat it for my mac hfs. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Rightclick on the external hard drive in the volume tab.
So how we can format ann sd card correctly on man and windows. Rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. Hdd low level format tool software can repair hard disk sectors and clear partitions,mbr and all data inside the hard disk for ever. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central.
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. Create a bootable usb drive for ubuntu using mac or windows how to. Mac os x uses the hfs plus file system, while windows uses the ntfs file system. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. Format an sd card on mac first, make sure your sd card is connected. After you choose the best format for your drive, you can format or reformat the external hard drive in disk utility as it was introduced. This may be apfs, or it may be mac os extended journaled depending on how the drive is currently formatted and whether you using macos. Dec 05, 2019 rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. Out of the box, windows can not read or write hfs drives, and macs are.
How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. How to format internal and or external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Jun 30, 2018 you will learn how to format the external hard disk which has deafult ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. Mac os x users have at their disposal a handy tool called disk utility. You just need to mount your disk and access all of your files.
This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. Hdd low level format software has released many versions such as v2. How to erase and format a disk in windows 10, 8 or 7. However, os x and windows both can read and write to a format called fat32, which used to be used for windows all the way back into the msdos days. You can launch it from the app list or use spotlight. Right click on the partition and select delete volume this will remove the partition. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. With it, its possible to easily format and storage device with just a few clicks. You can select to use a fat, fat32, exfat, ntfs, or refs file system when formatting. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Out of the box, windows can not read or write hfs drives, and macs are unable to write to ntfs drives. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. The format is not used for the internal hard drives in mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp.
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 well. 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. Aug 31, 2016 to create a partition or volume the two terms are often used interchangeably on a hard disk, you must be logged in as an administrator, and there must be either unallocated disk space or free space within an extended partition on the hard disk. 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. Aweeraser is the outstanding one among the 5 disk formatting tools.
Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. Hdd low level formatting utility support many operation system ms windows xp, vista, 7, 8, server 2003, 2008, 2008r2. Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. 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. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. 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. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. The latter requires to you to use a command line interface, while the former uses a graphical user interface. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. There are several switches that you can add to the end of the format command to modify what happens.
Formatting hard drive windows image from shutterstock. Also, there are two versions of mac products freeagent go pro for mac has usb and firewire 800, and freeagent go for mac usb usb 2. Currently, hard drives for windows pc are always formatted with ntfs, while hard disks. Garmin 235 you need to format the disk garmin express. Locate and click on your ssd in disk utility and then click on erase. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. This version allows you to fully test the application engine, the disk access routines and the graphical interface under windows. Disk utility will automatically choose the format for you. The top 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac can help you securely format hard drive or external device under windowsmac os. Oct 28, 2019 so how we can format ann sd card correctly on man and windows.
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