On mac computers, all of this can be done with the disk utility app. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. For example, here wed type select disk 2 finally, type clean and press enter. Or you just want to use an external hard drive on your mac exclusively this is how youll format it so that the mac can read it. 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.
Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. When you need an exact copy of an external hard drive on your mac a clone copy of your external drive to another external hard drive may be just what you need. Local backups to an external hard drive or another computer on your network. From the window, choose the file backup option to backup files from external hard drive. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Dec 29, 2019 the drive size is somewhat irrelevant. 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. Users can download the trial version from the website and follow the steps to create a backup file. Backups are not readable from explorer, so you must use easeus todo backup to view the data. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Apr 04, 2015 or you just want to use an external hard drive on your mac exclusively this is how youll format it so that the mac can read it.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. If you have an external drive you only use with windows computers, you may wonder how to format an external hard drive to ntfs effortlessly. To see storage information about your mac, click the apple menu in the topleft of your screen. Which external hard drive for backup and which backup. A new window will pop up asking which file system youd like to format the external drive to. How to format external hard drive to ntfs in window1087. When you format your external hard drive, it should be formatted for mac os extended.
How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. Since most external hard drives are formatted for pcs, before the backup of your mac begins you need to format the hard drive for macos. Thus, having an external hard drive will help you to save your files. If the disk you selected isnt formatted as required by time machine, youre. I installed easeustodo program on windows 7 with a my passport essential external hard drive to f, and now on windows 10 that drive is full and i. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. Time machine will prompt you to reformat the drive which will erase all files on it. Oct 18, 2019 when you connect an external drive directly to your mac, you might be asked if you want to use the drive to back up with time machine. Plug in your external hard drive via usb, firewire, or thunderbolt, depending on your drive. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. In most cases you can use your external hard drive to copy data from one. To format an external hard drive, plug in the device into system or a wall outlet. Every mac user should own a good external hard drive or two.
By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Plugged the drive in to one of the three xbox usb 3. How to format an external hard drive focus photo school. Developed by microsoft, this modern file system is optimized for situations where the ntfs file system is not a feasible solution, and the file size. By default, they format disks with the maconly os x extended file system. For time machine backups, its good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your mac. Moving data between two systems using an external hard drive. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Backup external hard drive to another external hard drive.
If you read my previous post about how to format an external drive for mac, you know that i bought a 2tb seagate expansion external hard drive and managed to create two partitions on the disk one for mac backup purposes, and the other for personal use in this article, im going to show you how to back up your mac data to an external drive. Western digital my passport ultra features cloud storage and 256aes encryption. All drives and volumes on your mac will be listed in disk utility. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard.
However, the new external hard drive comes as formatted drive, but, if you think the external drive should be formatted as another format filesystem. Which external hard drive for backup and which backup program. Copying the files from your mac to an external drive allows you to save data on your own terms. This is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. The drive should automatically mount on your macs desktop if the finder preferences are set to show external drives. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and securely. Be sure to doublecheck this you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. As youll see, however, knowing how to back up a mac to an external hard drive doesnt have to be intimidating.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Apr 21, 2020 i have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. To create backups with time machine, all you need is an external. Seagate backup plus slim for mac 2tb external hard drive hdd usb 3. So the first thing you want to do is connect the external hard. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. After all, my current macbooks ssd has far less capacity than the spinning hard drive i was using a decade ago. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Download the best free hard drive format tool and format hard drive. Here is how to backup your macs most important data to an external hard drive for long term. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Jan 10, 2020 to format an external hard drive, plug in the device into system or a wall outlet.
Many seagate and maxtorbrand drives include backup programs, and you. First, connect the seagate external hard drive with your mac. If the external hard drive is pre formatted for mac, disk management will list 3 partitions and you will not be able to delete the health efi system partition because its a protected partition. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. How to format an external hard drive on windows formatting a hard drive on windows is a simple affair, especially if you leave everything as default.
Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. Most users dont have a habit of classifying data, files on their hard drives. A timeline of backups is shown so its really easy to choose a particular. Takes its juice, its power from your mac, along its usb cable and that means youll need enough battery power in your macbook pro or air to drive the seagate drive. The best program for seagate external hard drive recovery many people choose to divide their seagate external hard drives into different partitions and this could apply to your case. Regardless of brand or model, the very first thing that you must do when you buy a brand new external hard drive is to format it properly for your system. Whether youre selling your computer, trying a new operating system, or setting up an external drive for backups, sometimes you need to completely erase and format a hard drive. By default, the 4tb hard drive uses the ntfs format for windows pcs, but theres a help file included on the drive that provides information for mac users so that you can reformat the drive and.
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. How to recover lost data from seagate external hard drive. More specifically, you can doubleclick the backup file to open it in easeus todo backup, where it looks like windows explorer and is just as easy to use, but you have to have the program installed in order to open the backup. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. You can have the option to copy or backup the files into another drive or platform or use recovery software right after formatting.
Three tricks to solve external hard drive showing read only on mac. Jul 05, 2017 macs support a variety of file systems. Go to system preferences and click on time machine. When you connect an external drive directly to your mac, you might be asked if you want to use the drive to back up with time machine.
It is the fastest way to format an external hard drive device under mac os. This command erases the entire selected disk, including all its files and partitions whether. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. The simple and easy steps to formatting your seagate drive on your mac 1. Click your hard drives name in the window near the bottom of the screen. Best 4 free hard drive format tool download easeus.
This works perfectly for my mac with the time machine program as a back up for all of my files. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers operating system, as well as fix any nonphysical errors on the drive itself. Backup and sync can be scheduled, and the app supports external or network drives, as well as cds or dvds. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press commandi.
Here are the steps to create a back up of your seagate hard drives data with macs time machine before you reformat seagate drive. 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. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. External hard drives with backup software best buy. Oct 14, 2019 two methods to format external hard drive to ntfs. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Select that disk and click the erase button, the one highlighted in red in the screenshot below. In this case, your mac will see the storage device as different disk drives, each with the ability to format and erase data as well as recover it. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. So if you are formatting a drive that has already been used, be sure to copy any files you will ever want to see again onto a computer or backup drive. Youll need a drive that is at least the same size as your macs internal drive.
People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Find your external hard drive in the list of drives. So, for example, you might have a 2tb internal drive you want to backup and it only has 250gb of space used. It was easy to move existing game data from the internal drive to the external drive. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. If you dont see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into start.
How to format an external hard drive and remove errors. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. As a result, many of you may have valuable data saved in the hard drive which you tend to format. You can encrypt your backups for additional security. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Youll need a drive that is at least the same size as your mac s internal drive. By default, they format disks with the mac only os x extended file system. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. 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.
Backup your mac to an external hard drive yet setting up a backup of your mac can be frustrating since most external hard drives must be formatted before being used. I was able to easily format, register the hard drive. Theyre an essential part of a good backup strategy, and theyre handy for storing files you dont have room for on your internal drive. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Backup templates let you include data from itunes, photos, mail, contacts and your documents folder. If the drive is not formatted, you may get a message saying that the drive. Although the best way of creating a bootable drive is to create a clone copy of your mac s internal drive its boot drive, and this article will tell you how. With storage quite cheap these days, aim to use a drive thats two to four times the size of the drive youre backing up. How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube. An encrypted backup is accessible only to users with the password. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to format external hard drive on a mac latest version.
Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. If you are transferring data from an os 10 system to an os 9 computer, or trying to access the data through os 9 with a drive formatted through os 10, you will need to have installed os. Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. Moving data between two systems using an external hard. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. Jan 23, 2020 i hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Select encrypt backup disk recommended, then click use as backup disk. Reformatting will erase any old data that you have on the drive. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. 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. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
What matters is how much data is on the drive to be backed up. For that, you might buy a new external hard drive and you connected with your mac computer or windows pc. So if youre on a mac, and you want to format an external hard drive. After plug in hard drive into the system, you will get option to open windows explorer and by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your hard drive get attached to your system. Your seagate external hard drive unless its one of seagates desktop drives. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. If you are transferring data from an os 10 system to an os 9 computer, or trying to access the data through os 9 with a drive formatted through os 10, you will need to have installed os 9 driverswhen you erase the drive. Best 6 external hard drive backup software for 2020. Whenever you are ready, follow these guides on how to fix the read only external hard drive on mac. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.
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