From all above, you can have a general idea of fat32 and exfat file system. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Windows cant normally read mac formatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. Besides, you can use it to manage your hard drive partitions such as resize partition, delete partition, split partition, merge partitions, etc. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with mac and windows. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. But using a third party all the time for accessing a hard drive on windows is not good. I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. By default, windows computers will choose ntfs new technology file system for you because thats the native microsoft filing system. Want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. Every major version of the operating system provides a dedicated solution to format hard drive as well as external storage units. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020.
But if you try to use an external hard drive thats been formatted for mac os. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. To put in simple words, if you want to share the external hard drive between macintosh and windows pc, you need to format an external hard drive for the respective system. Keep in mind that this process is different than formatting an external or extra hard drive. A user has to know how to convert mac formatted hard drive to windows formatted. You can format your hard drive on both windows and mac computers. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.
There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. But if you want the external hard drive to also work on a mac. However, it is not possible to format hard drive to exfat, the only option under the window of format file system is ntfs default. If you have both windows and mac computers in your office, its important to understand their different storage requirements before buying an external hard drive. If you know youre going to use a drive on both mac and windows, you should use the exfat file system, which is compatible with both. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. If your mac or pc has a windows os installed, then you wont face any trouble managing it. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. Pc youll have to format the drive so that it can be read by the windows operating. Formatting an external hard drive will delete any information on the device, likewise reformatting your system will essentially bring your mac back to. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive.
The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Some users would prefer to the features of windows ntfs file system. 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.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Both operating systems use different formats for reading and writing to a. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac.
Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard drive so make sure you back up your data elsewhere before starting. It interprets what is on the external hard drive so that your mac or pc can read and write to the drive. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. Rightclick on the external hard drive and click format. While you have bought this drive, you will find the drive already formatted for your mac or windows system. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive.
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. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. How to format hard drive for mac and pc on windows. But if you didnt foresee that, you may have formatted your drive with apples hfs plus, which windows cant read by default. This article shows you how to format an external hard drive via different methods, and you can follow these methods to format external hard drive for pc, mac or linux. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them.
From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way macs do the formatting on some larger drives, though, so give it a try and if your windows machines dont like it, just format the drive with windows. 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. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. If the external hard drive is pre formatted for mac, disk management will list 3 partitions and you will not be able to delete the health efi system partition because its a protected partition. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been. How to properly format a new hard drive on windows 10. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows machine. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Today this video will show you how to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. Use a software solution you get a piece of software that sits on your mac.
For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it. 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. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for os xs time machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible.
A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Formatted external hard drive without backup and want to recover the data. But dont forget to back up your important data in the drive into a safe place before formatting. Format wd my passport for mac and pc with ms dos fat 32 or exfat file system and share digital files between mac and windows system easily. Sometimes, you may want to try format directly to format your external hard drive partition to exfat for mac and windows.
However, naturally, disk utility cant format external hard drive to ntfs. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Using your toshiba external hard drive to backup to. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. Options for having an external hard drive for mac and pc without formatting. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting.
But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. If you work solely on a mac, but need to send files to someone working on a pc, your external hard drive needs to be set up for both operating systems. 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. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows. You cannot format the whole hard drive doing so would erase your operating systembut you can format a portion of the hard drive after creating a partition. You can use your toshiba canvio drive as a destination for your time machine backups but you can only use drives formatted as mac os extended journaled file system for a time machine backup. Windowsformatted hard drives have either ntfs file system of an fat32 file system. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. How to share an external hard drive between macintosh and. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Macos extended if you primarily use mac with a secondary exfat partition, or. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. Aomei partition assistant is such a great simple tool for formatting external hard drive for mac and windows. You can format your external hard drive from either the pc or mac. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. So if you are formatting a drive that has already been used, be sure to copy any files you will ever want to see again onto a computer or backup drive. How to convert an external hard drive from apple to pc. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to.
How to format an external hard drive for windows 10. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. So, you just bought a new external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management.
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