The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. A new hard drive has to be formatted with some specific file systems before being used in windows 7 operating system os. For this reason, a macformatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a windows computer. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. To format the primary drive the hard disk where the operating system resides you need to boot into the setup program on windows 7 or. Which mac file system is best for an external drive. Boot camp assistant guides you through installing windows on your mac. Neither mac os nor windows recognize each others volume formats. To do this on windows 8 or windows 7, press the windows key once, type. Using apples free disk utility app, you can easily format the drive, give it a label, or even partition it and create multiple volumes from a single. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with windows computers.
Formatting the drive will permanently erase all the data and files stored on the hard drive forever. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. How to install the microsoft windows operating system. Open file explorer and locate your drive in the sidebar. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
What disk utility looks like in lion through yosemite. File systems compatible with windows include fat32 and ntfs why not. And you can be confident that apple hasnt changed the way you format an external drive on a mac. Run the command clean to wipe the disk of partition and volume formatting. 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. With macdrive 9 standard, you can access, manage, and even create and format disk drives for apples mac os from inside windows explorer. 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. Ntfs is built for windows operating system therefore it is not supported by mac. Both operating systems use different formats for reading and writing to a hard drive. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities.
How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. 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. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. The format will run and this can take a while, when it is finished a window will appear saying format complete and that is how to format a hard drive in windows 7. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32 gb or less.
How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. How to format a mac drive in windows 7 boot with the windows 7 dvd, proceed as if you were doing an installation but when you get to the right screen, choose custom installation. If you dont see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into start. Even if your external hard drive doesnt come preformatted in fat32, you can format it yourself using either a mac or windows pc. You can format a drive using the disk utility in mac. Format ntfs drive on mac the second task is how to format ntfs drive on mac.
How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. A windows pc cannot see, read, write to that file system. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Plug your drive into the computer and, if necessary, into a wall outlet.
Stepbystep instructions to format a hard drive in windows 7, including screenshots for each step to make the process easy to follow. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. 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. You will need to format a hard drive in some specific situations like when your hard drive has a raw file system, windows reports disk not formatted, or your hard drive is infected by a virus. In this video i help you guys convert your mac only external hdd into a windows compatible one. 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 easiest way to add storage to your mac is to buy an external hard drive. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. The hard drive will be erased, and windows 8 will be reinstalled.
I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. 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. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. If you need to expand your storage space with an external hard drive and you use both mac and pc, youll likely run into a few obstacles. Click your hard drives name in the window near the bottom of the screen.
Format is the process of preparing a partition for data storage by deleting all the data on it and set up a file system for the drive. This wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. To format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. This file system is specifically for mac systems and windows cant read this file system.
For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. It is recommended to choose the compatible format that the system lists. 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. For earlier versions of the mac operating system, screens may be slightly different. Click continue and boot camp for mac will automatically locate the iso file on your system. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting.
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. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Can a windows computer read a macformatted hard drive. Click options, select master boot record, and click ok.
How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Select the formatted hard drive location for recovery after selecting the recovery scenario, you need to specify the location for scan. Yes, connecting an external hard drive or usb flash key to a mac will generally read and work fine as is because the mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a windows and mac machine, formatting it to be entirely mac compatible. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices.
Whether you have mac os sierra, high sierra or mojave the way you format your wd elements drive for mac is the same. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Cant access mac hard drive on windows 10 microsoft. Then super eraser for mac will help you format and erase the selected hard drive device.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side.
How to format a mac drive in windows 7 microsoft community. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. This mode wipe hard drive will help you format a selected hard drive device and erase all data from it. 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. You just need to select the hard drive you want to format, and then click on wipe now button. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Click the link below to download the 5 day free trial of a great utility macdrive install that, then restart your pc, start the utility and connect the drive, you will then have access to that mac drive like any other pc hard drive. The only hard drive format that can be reliably used by both is called fat32, or msdos fat as its called on mac computers. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. With the drive selected in disk utility, click partition.
Different os has different default file system, and windows default file system is ntfs, os x nfs plus, and linux ext family. Click the format popup menu, then choose one of the following. Once you have it, your first task is to pick a suitable file system for that drive depending on your intended usage. Exit the installation and reboot into windows as usual. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Installing new 4tb hard drive with gpt wont format i am trying to install a new 4tb hdd, to be used as extra storage windows installed on different hdd on my windows 7 system. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. To restore a windows 7 or vista computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the computer or an original windows 7 or vista installation disc. Then proceed to highlight your computers hard drive.
Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. For this case, it is advisable to install programs called ntfs 3g, which works in, handy with macfuse. In order to format c youll need to boot an operating system from another source this can be a cd drive, flash drive. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup any data or files you want to save before formatting. To share that drive between a mac and windows pc you need software. And apfs takes the advantages of strong encryption, space sharing, disk snapshots and is compatible with ssd on new mac. It just securely formats your mac hard drivedevice and permanently erases all the data. Formatting windows 7 hard drive will erase all the data on the drive and rebuild a file system. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. I understand as my new hdd is over 2tb needed to be converted from mbr to gpt to work.
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. If your formatted hard drive is an internal drive on windows or mac, you need to select deleted files recovery to recover all files. How to format a hard drive with windows 7 digital trends. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Click the scheme popup menu, then choose master boot record. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on.
Not just hard drives, but removable usb drives, too. Windows cannot natively access a mac formatted drive. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. To launch the boot camp assistant, go to applications utilities folder. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Want to format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. For mac, the mac os extension is the file system included in mac os 10. Because the file system on the wd passport for mac external hard drive is a mac os extended journaled file system.
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