Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. How to format a mac hdd to win ntfs using win 10 microsoft. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. The system tells you what key to press during the restart, so pay attention to your screen and be quick at pressing the right key. Today, we will talk about how to format or reformat ssd on mac. How to format toshiba harddrive for mac apple community. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. Cant access mac hard drive on windows 10 microsoft community. Here are two outstanding mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on. You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a. 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. 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. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. The best partition scheme for a drive that will be used for both mac and windows is to format it exfat, and its actually easier to do it in.
But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Hard drives set up for use on windows machines only will often use ntfs, while. Then i would suggest you to search for a third party software which directly converts the to ntfs format for windows operating system.
How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. Rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. To use hfsexplorer, connect your mac formatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. Sep 26, 2018 need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.
Be absolutely sure you have your files off the drive and that youve selected the correct drive you want to format. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. 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. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. To format a hard drive for windows, open the file explorer and click on this pc. 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. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. 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.
To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. How to format internal and or external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Keep in mind that you can only format storage devices that are currently not in use. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b.
For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a. In this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the. You do not want to format the drive though for mac. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. 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. That puts you in a peculiar pickle, limiting any shared file between the. Meanwhile, the ntfs system used by windows 10 supports large files, but this format cant be read natively by macos. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. The format is not used for the internal hard drives in mac. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. For a windows computer to be able to read a hard drive, it needs to have a file system format that is compatible with windows. But to get a hard drive to be compatible with both mac and pc, you have to choose the.
Format hard drive on windows 7 or earlier versions step 1 restart your computer and press f8 or del key to enter the bios settings. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. File systems compatible with windows include fat32 and. 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. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux.
Need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under mac os. May 21, 2018 in this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc.
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. Jan 17, 2019 rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. However, this format doesnt support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4k videos and so on between macs and windows 10. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. If the hard drive you want to format is connected to your pc, it should be there.
Mar 12, 2018 mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos is the formatting option for pc. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. Jul 19, 2019 ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. For instance, you might wish to format as sd card, pen drive, external hard disk, etc. 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 convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. Click the file menu and select load file system from device. But to get a hard drive to be compatible with both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat.
Nov 19, 2015 now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in windows, mac, and linux. Similarly, macs can use different file formats that are not recognized by windows, although some formats are universal, like. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in windows, mac, and linux. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state. Format external drive usb flash drive mac os x windows. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos is the formatting option for pc.
Mar 15, 2018 to format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Converting the files on your drive is possible, but it certainly wont be easy. Unlike windows os, mac os doesnt provide quick format tool. Remember, this will erase all the files on the drive. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. 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 format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice.
To create a partition or volume the two terms are often used. 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. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with windows and mac os may have misled you into thinking you could actually use one hard drive. That puts you in a peculiar pickle, limiting any shared file between the two. Ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Continue below to format an external hard drive or learn more about disk management. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive.
If you run into the issue of not having enough space format it to be the ex fat as. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. You can run easytouse mac disk formatting software to easily format internal ssd or external ssd under mac os.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard drive so make sure you. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. For example, in the screenshot below, the mac formatted drive is disk 2. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. 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. The latter requires to you to use a command line interface, while the former uses a graphical user interface.
Create and format a hard disk partition windows help. Rightclick on it and select the format option from the context menu. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. 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. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. If you run into the issue of not having enough space format it to be the ex fat. In addition, a backup program designed for the mac is generally not able to restore to a windows pc. 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. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard. Thus, if you wish to format ntfs on mac, then you must be using an external storage unit.
In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. 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. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Mar 31, 2020 meanwhile, the ntfs system used by windows 10 supports large files, but this format cant be read natively by macos. Cant access mac hard drive on windows 10 microsoft. 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. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Can a windows computer read a macformatted hard drive.