Open disk utility by clicking finder applications utilities and finally click disk utility. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. 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. My old hard drive crashed on my macbook pro mid 12 and i bought a new hard drive to use. I did have to buy a special screw driver to get the brackets off my old hard drive and onto the new one. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. This is a great thing to do when you first purchase a drive or when you are looking to.
How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. Just install it, and mac drives will show up like any other drive. Dec 22, 2019 how to format external hard drive mac. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. For instance, you might wish to format as sd card, pen drive, external hard disk, etc. The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os. There may be occasions, however, when you want to reformat your mac s hard drive. How to format a macbook pro without losing your data. But before you can do anything, you need to make it clear that the hard drive you want to wipe or format would be an external hard drive or an internal hard drive. How to properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. Since yesterday my mac will boot and then shut down. There are three common filesystems that are used today.
Jul 19, 2019 ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. Highlight your macbooks internal hard drive from the list on the left side of the window. Sometimes you want to wipe out all the data thats on a hard drive or solidstate. Click the current volume scheme drop down menu and choose one 1 partition. Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Owc ben m recently, some owc customers have reported experiencing a situation where their new ssd will not show up in disk utility in high sierra. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. Formatting an external hard drive or internal hard drive partition. Apr 14, 2020 the corruption not only happens to external hard drives but also to internal mac hard drive and other external devices. To access other files on the internal hard drive normally, you can try the following solutions. Formatting the hard drive or partition scheme will recreate a new hfs file structure on the hard drive, which will be free from cryptic errors. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. You cannot format the whole hard drive doing so would erase your operating systembut you can format a portion of the hard drive after c.
Youll want to do it before you sell your machine, for sure, but its also one of the steps you take when you. My hard drive in my macbook completely broke a few weeks ago didnt have much on it thankfully, so i bought a new hard drive and replaced the old one. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. I have been using the new hard drive for over a month without any trouble. 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. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Formatting actually re formatting a solid state drive ssd is a quick and simple process to restore the drive to a clean state, similar to when the drive was new. How you format a mac hard dr ive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Disk utilitys left pane show the storage devices connected to your mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Select the disk from the menu, select your language, then choose disk utility from the utility dropdown menu and proceed to reformat it to the right settings. I am considering formatting this drive as exfat so that both windows 7 and mac os can both read and write to this drive without the.
Drives with diskutil section and read about formatting and reformatting. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer internal ones or external ones connected via usb. Turn on your macintosh notebook computer or desktop system and login. If you are looking to sell or donate your old drive, you will want to not only reformat your drive, but also erase all the data in a separate action. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them.
Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Jan 03, 2020 make sure that formatting your macbook pro is exactly what you are going to do, because formatting is such operation will erase all of the data you have saved on the hard drive. Before you can use it though, you need to properly format or reformat a hard drive so that it will become compatible or readable with the operating system that you are using. Here, we will introduce you to how to format hard drive in windows 10 with windows builtin disk management tool, a partition manager, and command lines. Insert the mac os x install disc and restart your computer while holding down. Arrived on time and fit perfectly in my late 2009 macbook pro with a failed hard drive. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. As complicated as that might sound, its not really difficult to format a hard drive in any version of windows. In disk utility on mac, you can erase and reformat storage devices to use with your mac. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain lion from an external drive.
Heres how to format a dr ive using a mac including how to format a dr ive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. If the drive is internal, it should already show up in the finder. There may be occasions, however, when you want to reformat your macs hard drive. A solid state drive is primarily used on mac machine. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Open disk utility, select the drive not the macintosh hd volume, open the erase tab, set the format to mac os extended journaled, and press the erase button. The corruption not only happens to external hard drives but also to internal mac hard drive and other external devices.
Click on the erase option from the four options available in the main window. For example, you plan to backup dvds to mac hard drive or store other files and need to format an external hard drive for macos to extend storage space. Formatting your toshiba hard drive for mac is important, as it makes the hard drive best suitable for the mac by formatting it with the osspecific file system and drivers. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Although disk utility should always be tried first, a macs terminal can be used to format the drive in. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. If you dont want to lose data from your hard drive, export the data or back it up before continuing. Thus, if you wish to format ntfs on mac, then you must be using an external storage unit. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc.
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. Choose the hard drive that you want to format or reformat. Although disk utility should always be tried first, a mac s terminal can be used to format the drive in these cases. Feb 04, 2015 i have some issues with the new hard drive i am currently installing. It can recover lost data when the hard drive is not showing up, not recognized, not mounted, not readable. Glad to hear you were able to upgrade your macbook air. But when it comes to format internal hard drive for mac, things are getting a little more complicated. Simply follow the instructions below to install the latest compatible version of macos or os x on your new hard drive. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window. In this tutorial, i will show you how to reformat the hard drive in your mac and reinstall os x for that factory fresh finish. How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra.
You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. It is very annoying to have it connected through an usb, so i am wondering if there is any way for me to change the internal format of the hard drive through an usb connection. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows. The internal hard drive is not showing up but mac boots up. It is quite simple, one of the reason i love apple. If you cant see the internal hard drive but you can start and use your mac normally, the good news is that your macos volume is fine. Now, how can i reformat and install os x from the installer placed in the external hard drive. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. This wd easystore 5tb portable hard drive has usb 3. This seagate 2tb internal hard drive is compatible with multiple versions of windows for convenience.
There will be an opportunity to click an options button to save existing files. Click on the disk utility option and then click continue. I have just saved necessary files and also the installer for os x 10. However, formatting isnt meant you will lose the data permanently, with certain data recovery software will help get back formatted data. How to format a hard drive on macos macos sierra or earlier the builtin disk manager tool on mac disk utility can be used to format mac hard drive without any other third party tools. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it.
Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. How to format new internal hdd on macbook pro ask different. Sep 06, 2019 so, it doesnt matter if you want a clean slate on a secondhand macbook or if you replaced the drive in your ageold machine, weve got you covered. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. How to fix a corrupted external hard drive on macmacbook. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Internal hard drive not showing up apple community. How to erase and install you can use os x recovery to erase your computer using disk utility. The format is not used for the internal hard drives in mac. Now im not too sure how to set this new hard drive up as in putting an os on it and formatting it correctly im not concerned with getting any of my old data back on it, i just want to set.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Insert the mac os x install disc and restart your computer while holding. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. As formatting will delete all the data on the hard drive, make sure that you have successfully backed up your files to another safe place before windows 10 disk format.
Aomei partition assistant standard is great partition formatting freeware, which offers you more file systems to choose during formatting. 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. Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps and the os. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. Formatting mac drives has changed in the disk utility app included. This wikihow teaches you how to format your computers builtin hard drive. To use my old external hard drive without formatting it, on my new mac. To fix a corrupted external hard drive on mac, the solutions are categorized into without formatting and by formatting. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Enjoy ample storage space with this seagate 2tb internal hard drive. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. I did use utility disk again and i saw my internal hard disk there, although no errors there when checking the ssd. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all.
The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Because now the hard drive is running as an external hard drive and the format is exactly how it should be for me to install the operating system. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain lion from. Formatting your macbook pro involves reinstalling os x, and can be useful when your computer runs slow or malfunctions due to the installation of adware or faulty software, you accidentally installed an. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. It allows you to format partition to exfat, fat32, ntfs, ext2 and ext3 and ext4 on external hard drive, internal hard drive, usb flash drive and sd card. 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.
In this article, we will introduce 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac to help you securely format hard drive usb flash drive or memory card on a pc or a mac. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac. How to format hard drive and fix disk format errors on mac. If you want to format a hard drive or usb flash drive on your computer, disk formatting tool is the best choice. Formatting a hard drive is the best way to start from scratch on a geeky project. To format a hard drive on your mac, follow these instructions.
The problem is that i can not erase and format the hard drive to work with the operation system in the disk utility. I have backed up all my data i dont have enough hard drive space to make a time machine backup. While you have bought this drive, you will find the drive already formatted for your mac or windows system. I dont have enough hard drive space to make a time machine backup. If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. A hard drive format refers to how the operating system stores the data on the drive. I accidentally deleted my mac hard drive and my mac wont.
For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. So i went to mac os utilities and went to disk and accidentally deleted my 3tb hard drive. How to format your hard drive seagate support asean. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Thus, when you are planning to use the same hard drive on any other os, particularly macos, it is always suggested to format your hard drive for mac. How to fix internal hard drive not showing upmounting on mac. However, if you want to use the mac to format your external hard drive to exfat, youll face the problem that the external hard drive may not be compatible with the windows pc. You will find that os x is very stable in comparison, it defragments its hard drive on an ongoing basis and it does not get bogged down with additional software in the way that a windows machine does. Apr 09, 2011 hi i have an ssd which has two partitions. To format a hard drive means to erase any information on the drive and to set up a file system so your operating system can read data from, and write data to, the drive. Consequently, users will be unable to open the external hard drive nor access the files on it. Disk utility can be used to format external drives as well. If your mac doesnt work, you can do this using a second mac and an external hard drive caddy.
How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. The sata iii interface delivers transfer speeds of up to 6gbps for prompt data access, and the 3. How to format an external drive for mac launch disk utility. Os x, windows, and linux all use different hard drive formatting for normal system operations. 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. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. The simple reason you might want to completely wipe your macs internal drive is that it has encountered one serious error or another. Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on mac. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows machine. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Using an external hard drive on mac without formatting. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Chances are, you want to format the whole drive, so you should select the drive itself, not any of its partitions. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive.
Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch. There may be occasions when you need to format mac hard drive. So you figured, fine, ill just get an external hard drive. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. If youve all set, follow steps below to format internal startup disk and mac external hard drive, hdd, etc. How to fix a corrupted external hard drive on mac macbook. Today im going to show you how to format any hard drive so. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. Further, the disk manager utility will allow the user to create, resize, add partitions on the hard drive with hfs, fat or ntfs file systems.
1360 202 1285 1146 816 242 1241 523 615 931 788 223 687 627 224 123 688 1333 125 439 59 1118 1247 864 65 262 1191 1443 1177 657 1215 968 1208 990 627 1023 821 143 1126 548 688