You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. However, fat32 has a maximum 4gb file size limit whereas exfat can work with. Well, if you are both mac and windows pc and one external hard. 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. Best external drives for mac and pc interchangeable 2020. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. 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. Right click on the partition and select delete volume this will remove the partition. From the description provided, i understand that you want to format an external hard drive. It is the fat32 format on mac and it is labeled as msdos fat. I did exactly what you said to do in order to format a lacie 160gb external hard drive to exfat for use on a mac osx 10. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc.
Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows 10 backups. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. I know mac operating system doesnt fully support ntfs formatted drive. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. 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.
Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Out of the box, windows can not read or write hfs drives, and macs are unable to write to ntfs drives. 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. Continue below to format an external hard drive or learn more about disk management. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. The faster ssd drives on a mac may well use an apfs file system. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. Unfortunately, now my mac doesnt see the hard drive anymore and my pc tells me the device is not. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. For example, in the screenshot below, the mac formatted drive is disk 2.
As we know, external hard drives are widely used to backup data or interchange files. This means its the format of choice for system drives on windows computers. Mac can read all the file system formats including windows. And if your disk uses the master boot record mbr partition scheme, some of its partitions might not be available for use with time machine. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. Sep 02, 2015 thank you for posting your concern here in microsoft community and welcome to the windows 10 family. After realizing that you can reformat wd hard drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac os x and still can be used under windows, it is time to check out how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc in windows successfully. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.
Read and write feature compatible with mac and windows os ideal for flash storage and external drives. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. At the time of the original posting in 2011, there were some problems getting a mac formatted exfat drive working with windows, it had trouble recognizing those drives. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. It appears the issue has since been fixed and disks.
Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. By using this format, you can easily share the content between mac and windows. In this post, we will discuss four methods that will enable your hard drive to be compatible for mac and windows pc. Still feeling in the dark about creating an external hard drive for mac and windows. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. How to partition, format external hard drive on mac for mac and windows, how to set up time machine. This mac propriety file system and is used in ios and mac. To open the disk management press and hold the windows. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Oct 29, 2019 this format is designed to overcome the limitation of format fat32 on mac. Time machine cant back up to an ios device or disk formatted for windows. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. 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. 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. But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat formatting options. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. 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 drive formatted in a. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. While you have bought this drive, you will find the drive already formatted for your mac or windows system. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. Mar 29, 2019 how to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. However, you need to make doubly sure that you complete a quick format. 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.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac youtube. Dec 05, 2019 rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. How to format usb drive or external hard drive on mac. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc.
You will learn how to format the external hard disk which has deafult ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to install windows 10 on your mac using a boot. Typically, an external hard drive that works on a windows pc uses an ntfs file system. Its the most secure, robust file system that a windows user could wish for. I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. The deleted or formatted data is still recoverable. Its in the cloud, and doesnt matter whether you set it up on a pc or mac. External hard drive for mac and pc with data interchangeable. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system.
How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. How to repair hard disk not detected by innovative ideas. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Oct 25, 2009 i have an external hd that was used for a windows pc, and i want to use it for my mac. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. Two ways for reformatting wd hard drive for mac and pc. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb.
After reading this post, youll know what is the best file system for your cameras sd card and what is the best format for your mac and pc. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. 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. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Apple mac machines support a different file system. Reformatting a drive on windows is a pretty straightforward process. To be able to assist you better, provide us few more details on the below questions. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. 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. I have chosen this youtube video as one of the best to view. Gtechnology portable external hard drive 2tb from the sleek design to the preformatting, this terabytesized drive is perfect for mac users who need a little extra space and offers the transfer rate up to 140mbs for accessing all your files. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs.
In the next 5 minutes read, you will master yourself in formatting a wd my passport safely and in a manner best suited for sharing your digital files between a macos and windows os. How to format hard drive for mac and windows and do partition for time machine backup. However, to use it on windows you can hfs explorer read only. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. However, this format doesnt support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4k videos and so on between macs and windows 10. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. If you format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling. Easy ways to format external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Apr 10, 2019 if you need to erase the disk manually, use the disk utility app to erase using the mac os extended journaled format. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Mac os x uses the hfs plus file system, while windows uses the ntfs file system. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. To format the drive to work with both platforms you will need use a windows computer to format the disk as exfat. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility. Format external hard drive for mac and windows youtube video. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. 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.
Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Mar 31, 2020 how to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. It is possible to reformat the drive and keep your files by formatting your drive and then using a data recovery tool to restore your information. 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. 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. 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. If you have already joined the data loss club unwillingly, then try running diy applications to recover data from mac and windows. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Aug 30, 2019 today this video will show you how to format an external hard drive on windows and mac.
As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. 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. 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.
Ntfs has quite a lot of strong advantages, which may actually make it a good format choice for certain external hard drives, depending on the circumstances. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. 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. About how to format external hard drives for both macs and windows pcs, and what is the best format for using usb external drives on mac. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator.
Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. With this method anyone can use one external drive for both your windows pc and your mac. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. How to view mac files on a windows pc online tech tips.
Macos extended if you primarily use mac with a secondary exfat partition, or. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Jan 24, 2011 but both do indeed format drives into fat32 and can both read fat32 so thats your answer. One hurdle youll face is that, by default, these platforms use different file systems. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. I look at my windows friends dropboxes and they look at my dropbox. Advertisement are you looking a way to format external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Enter a name that you want the volume to have after you erase it, such as macintosh hd. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so.
Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Ive already written about how, if your external usb drive is not recognized by windows, you might have to use the exfat file format, which both windows and mac support, however, this requires formatting the drive and copying all the data back on. Jan 27, 2019 to format the drive to work with both platforms you will need use a windows computer to format the disk as exfat. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. To format a western digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or fat32 format, you can bank on builtin applications of mac.
Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. The problem is it is formatted as windows nt file system, and only lets my mac read its contents. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Will formatting an external hard drive erase everything. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format so to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently. Lets take a look at different ways to remove the data from your external.