You can format the drive on your mac or windows computer. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. To format a hard drive using diskpart, you need to follow the commands below carefully. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. You can repartition and format your hard drives in windows using the disk management tool. Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. I thought it would be pretty helpful if you made a video showing how to format a disc to run on all oss using mac os x. How to use diskpart to clean and format a drive not. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility posted by ant on march 11th, 2012 43 comments if you have an external hard drive or usb flash drive that youd like to use on both macs and windows pcs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing. Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. 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. Follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. How to wipe a hard drive in windows 10 and macos techradar. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp.
This is because the ps4 uses a format not recognised by windows. 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. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt. Feb 08, 2012 to partition and format your drive, you can use windows builtin tool called disk management. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with windows computers. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. 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. 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. How to format a mac hdd to win ntfs using win 10 microsoft. 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. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. The first step in repurposing a windows xp computer is to reformat the hard drive, and this is how it should be done. Sep 23, 2019 however, if you find yourself on a scenario where your device imac, macbook pro, air, mac pro or mini is not responding and you happen to have a windows device, then you can still be able to make a usb bootable installation media for your mac os x to reinstall the operating system using the recovery assistant. How to format a disk or drive in windows 10 format is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solidstate drive, or usb flash drive for initial use to accept windows files.
This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. 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. A system repair disc does not install windows 7 and you will not need a product key to use a system repair disc. From all above, you can have a general idea of fat32 and exfat file system. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need.
Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. The format is not used for the internal hard drives in mac. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Therefore, make sure that the file system is supported by your mac or windows.
Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. You just need to mount your disk and access all of your files. I will leave windows instructions below for the benefit of windows users. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. In fact, aomei partition assistant can provide you with more functions. Dont forget to check out all of the hard drives and storage solutions. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. A system repair disc can be created from any working windows 7 computer and can then be used to write zeros to any drive using the included format command, including the primary drive, no matter what windows operating system is on the computer. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x.
Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. By default, macs use hfs, while pcs use ntfs, which are not compatible with each other. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. 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 drive with compatible file system for mac and. You can format it using windows builtin tools or third party partition formatting tool.
Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. To do this, search cmd in the windows 10 search box, rightclick on the command prompt search result and select run as administrator. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Disk fixer how to use diskpart to clean and format a drive not working on windows 10 if your computer has a drive issue, it could just be a logical problem, which you can quickly fix using.
How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. How to quickly make a mac os x bootable usb on windows. Apple now uses apfs or the apple file system and windows uses the ntfs file system for its internal drives. Plug the disk into a windows vista sp1 or windows 7 computer. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way mac s 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. You will learn how to format the external hard disk which has deafult ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows.
Jul 19, 2019 ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. To format hard drive for mac and windows without data loss, we suggest using minitool partition wizard and its convert ntfs to fats32 function. A complete solution do you wish to format hard drive for mac and pc, but cant find a solution. Jan 27, 2019 mac instructions above will now work for exfat.
Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. Click the format popup menu, then choose one of the following. You can apply the thirdparty solution to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 explorer or disk management. If you are a personal user, you can try its professional edition. 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. Thus, if you wish to format ntfs on mac, then you must be using an external storage unit. Open the disk management tool by rightclicking this pc manage disk management. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt toms. After disk management opens, which might take several seconds, look for. Jul 15, 2009 format a drive for mac os x and windows. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Apr 17, 2020 to format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. If you dont know how to format a hard drive or an external hard drive, youve come to the right place. Click the scheme popup menu, then choose master boot record.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. Mar 19, 2020 how to format a hard drive in windows follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the chances of file. How to use the format command to write zeros to a hard drive. For example, in the screenshot below, the mac formatted drive is disk 2. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs 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. If you want to share files that you have backed up between mac and pc, now please transfer these files back to external hard drive. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Jan 17, 2019 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. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Read this stepwise tutorial and learn how to format hdd for mac and windows like a pro. If you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead.
You can select to use a fat, fat32, exfat, ntfs, or refs file system when formatting. Format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt run the command prompt as administrator. To use it, download hfs for windows here and install on your pc. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. In general, windows builtin tools disk management and diskpart can format drive to exfat easily. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows.
Here, you will learn three ways to format a hard drive in windows 10 by using disk management, a partition management software and diskpart in command prompt. Apr 14, 2020 finally, an exfat partition will be created on your external hard disk so that it could be shared between mac and windows pc. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. The latter requires to you to use a command line interface, while the former uses a graphical user interface. How to format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt. May 02, 2015 old windows xp desktops and laptops can be turned into offline media centers for a family room, play computers for a childs bedroom, recipe holders for the kitchen, etc. If youre just using the drive for your linux computer, select ext4. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. 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 using. Once the set up is complete, mount your drive and it will be visible on file explorer. 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.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. At this point, you can proceed to the next section to format your mac backup partition. Windows cannot see the mac drive since its in the hfs format, windows uses ntfs, and the only common format. How to format ps4 hard drive for pc in windows 1087. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing data. 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 well. May 29, 2018 its not a tough task to format your drive with common file system for mac and windows. As both windows and mac provide native solutions to format hard drive, you should avoid using any unreliable thirdparty tool. Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac. Format external hard drive with windows builtin tool. If you move a hard drive between the two operating systems, heres what you need to know. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
For instance, you might wish to format as sd card, pen drive, external hard disk, etc. Then click the second partition, name it mac, and change its format to mac os extended journaled. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. How to convert mac only external hdd to windows compatible. Usb drives and external hard drives use the windows fat32 to format for compatibility. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. If you are not comfortable with the previous method. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. Nov, 2019 a system repair disc can be created from any working windows 7 computer and can then be used to write zeros to any drive using the included format command, including the primary drive, no matter what windows operating system is on the computer. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3.
Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Dec 02, 2019 windows cant read mac drives as they both use different file systems. Though the default hard disk file system also known as format of windows and mac are different, there should be some ways to format an external drive for both mac and pc. While formatting, you would be asked to pick a file system for the disk. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. Nov, 2019 if you dont know how to format a hard drive or an external hard drive, youve come to the right place. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. For instance, it allows you to delete partition, resize partition and wipe partition etc. If youre planning on just using the drive in windows, select ntfs. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. Now, click on the top partition, name it windows, and change its format to msdos. Here well take how to format hard drive using cmd on windows 10 as an example to show you to detail steps. Connect your external hard drive to your windows 10 pc. But its a good idea to also create a third partition on your disk that both macos and windows 10 can use.
Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32 gb or less. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Aug 22, 2019 how to format hard drive on mac and pc. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. If youre looking to dualboot with linux or run windows boot camp, you can format the partition as msdos fat, however, these programs. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Give your settings a final lookover and click apply. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. If you want to save larger files, youll need to create a second, dedicated space using a format optimized for macos. How to partition and format your hard drive in windows pcworld. Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
Then i would suggest you to search for a third party software which directly converts the to ntfs format for windows operating system. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. 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.
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