It seems the system does not recognize the windows g drive. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. Give your settings a final lookover and click apply. How to format a new or second hard drive in windows 10 formatting a drive may vary in terms of different operating systems, like windows and mac. Mar 15, 2018 rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. Jul 25, 2016 i have bounced around the web trying to get instructions for formatting this portable drive for windows. Dec 05, 2019 rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Out of the box, windows can not read or write hfs drives, and macs are unable to write to ntfs drives. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. I have an old external 1 tb hard drive id like to format for use with apple time machine backup.
It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windows mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Aweeraser is the outstanding one among the 5 disk formatting tools. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all. I have bounced around the web trying to get instructions for formatting this portable drive for windows. Please backup your data off the hard drive that is being. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos is the formatting option for pc. To format hard drive for mac and windows without data loss, we suggest using minitool partition wizard and its convert ntfs to fats32 function.
For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. One of the things holding back a potential hackintosher from trying to hackintosh or install macos on their pc is that they have only one hard drive and that hard drive already has windows. Mac os x uses the hfs plus file system, while windows uses the ntfs file system. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a.
Format a drive for mac os x and windows sign in to comment. For example, you might want to reformat a new or used removable storage device to make. How to format internal and or external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. How to format a windows disk drive for a mac seagate blog. Apple mac machines support a different file system. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. 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. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Formatting an internal or external drive under windows 7 or windows 10. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central.
Aug 30, 2019 plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state. 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. 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. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. 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. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. 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.
That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. 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. How to format a mac formatted drive to ntfs for it to work on windows 10 and other versions of windows that read ntfs. You can format external hard drive or other external drives with exfat or fat32 file system for mac and windows, so that both mac and windows computer can read and write it. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows central. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
Then you format your own drive dont worry all this formatting only takes a few minutes. Rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. Select the unallocated drive listed, click new, click apply then ok. Im not very computer savvy, so i want to ask some specific directions. Fortunately, there is a file system actually two, ill explain that you can format your flash drive to be fully compatible with mac and pc. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions.
Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. 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. 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. Right click on the partition and select delete volume this will remove the partition. When i try to copy the files from the mac to the windows drive, the computer does not allow as the files do not move.
In other words, you can access the drive and transfer data without any hassles. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. 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. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. Windows will format the drive as exfat and youll be able to use the drive on both windows and mac. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc.
For example, you might want to reformat a new or used removable storage device to make sure it. Aug 16, 2019 on windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Then click the second partition, name it mac, and change its format to mac os extended journaled. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. The top 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac can help you securely format hard drive or external device under windows mac os. Open file explorer and locate your drive in the sidebar.
Now, click on the top partition, name it windows, and change its format to msdos. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windowsmac. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. 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.
Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. Although in principal, formatting means to erase existing data and free up space for utilization, the procedures are not exactly the same for mac and windows. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems.
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. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Feb 12, 2019 how to format a mac formatted drive to ntfs for it to work on windows 10 and other versions of windows that read ntfs. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. 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. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need.
How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Please backup your data off the hard drive that is being formatted. That one trick the options screen is what usually catches people up when trying to change a drive from a windows format to a mac format. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. Macos extended if you primarily use mac with a secondary exfat partition, or ntfs if you mainly use windows 10 with a secondary. Nov 22, 2019 i have an old external 1 tb hard drive id like to format for use with apple time machine backup. This will help you format the drive for exfat so that it can be used on both platforms.
How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. The problem is that the disk is currently formatted as ntfs and is not readable with time machine. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac youtube. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows.
How to format new or second hard drive on windows 10mac. You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems. Even though most people associate formatting with system. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. The problem is that the disk is currently formatted as ntfs and is not readable with time. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read.
On windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios. 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. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Select your external hard drive or usb flash drive from the list on the left. To format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on winmac respectively. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp.
Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. This will split the drive into multiple partitions, select the primary partition then click next. 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. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
Apr 29, 2020 follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. The top 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac can help you securely format hard drive or. Jan 17, 2019 rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Plug your drive into the computer and, if necessary, into a wall outlet. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and.
If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. After formatting, the data will be permanently lost. 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. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to.
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