Its made of a hard shell plastic material, so it isnt going to feel as sturdy as apples. How to format an external drive in os x make tech easier. This process wont actually convert the file system. Im wondering if someone can tell medirect me to instructions on how i can format an external hard drive on os9. Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. Insert the windows 7 or windows 10 dvd into the dvd drive and boot the pc. This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into. Seagate backup plus slim 2 tb portable external hard drive for mac.
Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. Even though mac computers are capable of reading hard drives that are formatted for windows, if you intend on using your external hdd as a bootable disk or want to use it to backup files with your mac s time machine, you must format it to be entirely mac compatible. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Unformat mac hard drive recover formatted hard drive on mac. May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain. In conclusion, we have introduced four methods to format a hard drive and one way to format a hard drive for mac. And we usually perform formatting in our usb or external hard drive when we want to get rid of viruses, or we want to clean the disk as it was when we purchased it. You can format a drive in os x using two applications. There are various reasons why you might need to format external hard drives. How to write to an external hard drive on mac os x.
Now, im trying to format it so that i can use it on pc instead of mac. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Use the apple external superdrive on almost any mac mac os x. Some people may want to format a storage because they want to clean hard drive mac and others might want to install fresh os x. Mac and windows, you shouldnt need to do any formatting to get the. Feb 21, 2012 looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc.
How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. I have this model cddvd drive for my mac computers for multiple. Using this option, we can have single 1tb drive to manage all our tasks. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. The good news is the disk utility built into the os x comes in handy, like a visual assistant making the process easier. They suggest i verify that my dvd player can readplay ntsc formatted dvds prior to.
Apr 16, 2020 in conclusion, we have introduced four methods to format a hard drive and one way to format a hard drive for mac. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. I have just saved necessary files and also the installer for os x 10. The original mac floppy disk format was mfs, for macintosh file system, and it is only used for 400k singlesided floppies the only kind of floppy drive supported by the original macintosh, the mac 512k fat mac, and the lisa 2 a. The disk utility gives no options for formatting under the erase. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac.
Get the best external hard drives for macs in 2020, and expand your mac s storage without paying a premium. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. With macos, you get a builtin way to back up your files. If i get an external super drive will the system know to use that instead of going for the bad internal dvd drive to boot up from the installation dvd. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. If you purchase an external hard drive as an addition to expand the storage space of your computer, most likely you would need to format it. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application.
Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. I had information from a broken mac backed up at best buy, but because my mac broke, now i only have a windows computer. Safekeep all of your music, photographs, movies and more. Once you enter in the command, youll get a list of your connected external hard disks to your mac. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Thus, before formatting external hard drive on mac system, if users forget to back up its data then they think that there is no substitution for backup. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
Join the millions of satisfied customers with one of seagates most popular and trusted portable drives. Jun 07, 2017 reconnect the superdrive directly to the display when you no longer need to start the computer from the superdrive. Open the disk utility and select the external drive. I have backed up all my data i dont have enough hard drive space to make a time machine backup. How to fix external hard drive not mounting on mac computer. Then, you need to choose the best file system for your external hard drive and follow these steps. You may consider to delete or format your external hard drive, but you may know know that delete everything doesnt erase hard drive and formatting also does not erase data. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer. How to format an external disc drive on a mac youtube. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files.
It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup hd and external drive problems. You can even restore data from the formatted external hard drive on mac system using. To expand the storage capacity of your mac, you can connect one or more external drives, including solidstate or traditional movingplatter mechanisms as well as flashmemorybased thumb drives. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it. Also when we buy a new usb or hard drive, it often comes with windows compatible not the mac so formatting it. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Apple introduced high density hd floppy disks to the mac with the mac iix in september 1988. Blank new hard drive cant install os apple community. I bought the macbook air superdrive to watch dvds, it stays at home.
Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. Just install it, and mac drives will show up like any other drive. In case you miss anything necessary, you can also have some basic checks as following when you are unable to mount an external hard drive on your mac computer. Get help with the slotloading superdrive on your mac. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. On mac computers, use the finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. How to use mac formatted external hard drive on windows.
Its never been so easy to choose the perfect storage companion for your mac computer. This is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are. How to format an external disc drive on a mac step by step video on how to format a new external drive for an. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. Use the apple external superdrive on almost any mac 31 comments. External hard drives use either spinning disks or solid memory to save your files. And if you have any problem about minitool partition wizard, please feel free to contact us via the email email protected.
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. Basic suggestions on external hard drive not mounting problem. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Dec 19, 2017 the reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. Formatting will instantly erase complete data saved on mac external hard drive. First, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. I cant edit external hard drives on macs your business. Id also like to ensure the external hard drive will still function with osx. 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. Later, apple would unify their external drives to work crossplatform between the macintosh and apple ii product lines, dropping the name macintosh from the drives. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. Im considering ordering a dvd from the usa only available in ntsc format. These drives had a variable speed motor that allowed the mac to pack 400k into a disk that would only hold 360 kb on a fixedspeed drive.
Formatting an external drive on your mac is quite easy, though it isnt as evident and obvious as it is on a pc. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Sep 29, 2017 you can replace the hard drive, or instead remove the macs superdrive optical drive, swapping the ssd in while preserving the original hard disk. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain lion from an external drive.
Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. I want to back up my macbook pro before i send it in for optical drive replacement. After you have a recovery usb wipe the disk using your favorite tool. Trouble formatting external hard drive macrumors forums. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Follow the below instructions to format your usb or hard drive to exfat file system. Going forward, all new macs with floppy drives would have what apple sometimes called fdhd floppy disk, high density or superdrive not to be confused with the dvdburning optical drive of the same name.
You can format an external drive in os x using disk utility and terminal. It reads the mac drive and you can extract the files a. Gtechnology 1tb gdrive mobile ssd rseries storage next gallery image. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. It seems they formatted the drive to the mac format, but i have no way to access the data, at least i think. The hard drive was formatted as a boot drive before i installed it. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. I bought an external hard drive with completely useless instructions. The macintosh external disk drive is the original of a series of external 3 1.
Use the apple external superdrive on almost any mac. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Mar 31, 2020 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. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube.
Now, how can i reformat and install os x from the installer placed in the external hard drive. Finder find a disk in mojave, but are in unsupported format. The reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. Can i drag and drop entire hard drive into and external hard drive. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Can i drag and drop entire hard drive int apple community. When the disk utility recognizes it the drive is read only. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Lets take a look at different ways to remove the data from your external hard drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. From the popular slim drives to the ridiculous capacity and mobility of the portable drives, you can always rely on the backup plus family. 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. Nov 14, 2019 it helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup hd and external drive problems.
Backup your mac with a portable or desktop hard drive. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Its rare movies are so long to require a dual layer disk. The apple usb superdrive and macbook air superdrive are designed exclusively for use with mac computers that do not have a builtin optical drive. If you store these files on one external hard drive, you should use a second external hard drive for the time machine backups, and configure time.
File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. To format or reformat an external hard drive on mac, youll need the builtin disk management tool called disk utility. You can replace the hard drive, or instead remove the macs superdrive optical drive, swapping the ssd in while preserving the original hard disk. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. Plug in the superdrive directly to the computers usb port.
You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. You can resolve the problem by formatting the hard drive or usb in exfat file system, which is compatible in both windows and mac. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online.
The hard drive is already formatted in mac os extended. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. How to get data from formatted external hard drive on mac. I had changed my internal hard disk on my macbookpro8,2 15 to the. Jan 02, 2016 either way, youll want to format your drive accordingly. Will formatting an external hard drive erase everything. If you are able to fix the hard drive or ssd in your mac or an external drive using disk utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files. Replug your external hard drive to another port or try another usb cable. She has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. I have been trying to walk her through reformatting it but nothing is working. If you need to format a hard drive, try these methods. Choose 1 partition from the volume scheme and then click on options. How can i erase hard disk if superdrive is broken os 10.
Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. The deleted or formatted data is still recoverable. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. External hard drives are handy tools in storing files, data and documents.
381 1536 1110 1049 1367 395 952 1028 353 952 1356 1124 1576 1539 87 1087 34 124 253 118 1117 1053 764 1576 44 496 1324 952 770 842 471 1270 90 65 932 1211 181 19