
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE HOW TO#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE INSTALL#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE WINDOWS 10#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE PRO#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE PC#
Choose a format from the dropdown menu.ħ. In the window that drops down type a name for the formatted drive in the box next to Name.Ħ. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar and then choose Erase from the toolbar at the top of the window.ĥ. Once you’ve copied any files you need from the USB drive to your Mac, go to Applications>Utilities and double-click on Disk Utility.Ĥ. The process of reformatting it will wipe all the data from it.ģ. Make sure it has no files on it that you need. Open a new Finder window and click on the drive.
#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE PRO#
Plug the drive into a USB socket (if you have a recent MacBook or MacBook Pro that only has USB-C connectors, you’ll need a USB-C to USB-A adaptor).Ģ. It’s exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a Mac.
#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE HOW TO#
So, if you’ve bought a USB drive that’s formatted as Fat32, or any other format other than Mac OS Extended (also known as HFS+) or APFS, here’s how to format a USB drive on Mac. Drives formatted as Fat32 can be read from and written to by macOS, but it’s not optimal and you’re more likely to run into problems than if you use macOS’ native format. That’s because most of the computers in the world run Windows, and Windows uses a different file system, usually one known as Fat32.

However, unless it’s been designed for use with a Mac, it won’t be formatted using macOS’ preferred file system (either Mac OS Extended or APFS, depending on which version of macOS you’re running). Nowadays, when you buy a USB drive, you can use it right out of the box with your Mac.

Test it out in a free version and head over to the tips below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. This is our app that cleans old caches, system junk, and large hidden files. Then type in “Disk Utility”.Ħ) Change the Partition Layout from Current to 1 Partition.ħ) Click Options , Select Master Boot Record, and click OK.Ĩ) Name the hard drive with a name of your choice.ġ1) At last press Apply, then click on Partition.If you want to erase all unwanted files from your macOS, download CleanMyMac X. How to format an External Drive in Windowsģ) Right click on unallocated or any other disk partition and select “ New Simple Volume”ĥ) Assign your external hard drive with any letter.ħ) Follow the instructions and at the end click “ Finish“ġ) Connect your external hard drive to the Mac.Ģ) Open Disk Utility. You can do this quickly by pressing CMD and the spacebar at the same time.
#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE INSTALL#
To do so you also have to install third-party software like Paragon HFS+ for Windows. Windows 7 can’t read nor write files to external drives that are formatted as HFS. But we advise to just format it to “FAT” file system as it’s less time consuming and easier. So in the end, it’s possible to make your NTFS external hard drive compatible with Mac. To make your Mac compatible writing on NTFS you have to get and install a third-party driver. Macs that run Snow Leopard or Lion can read data from drives that are formatted as NTFS. The default file system for Windows is NTFS (New Technology File System).
#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE WINDOWS 10#
The resulting FAT32 file system will be compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, and Windows including Windows 10 back to 95.

#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE IN MAC OS X FOR WINDOWS USE PC#
Once you have done with formatting, your external hard drive will be able to write and read files from both a PC and Mac. Many still choose FAT32 over exFAT despite its slower performance, as it’s also compatible with Linux Os and is supported on many gaming consoles. If you have to work with large video clips, games or any other kind of massive files, FAT32 may not be the best choice. FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit, but exFAT can work with files as large as 16EB, that’s more than you will ever need. However, each of these filesystems has their own pros and cons. You can format your external hard drive in both – exFAT and FAT32. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for OS X’s Time Machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through Mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible with “Time Machine Backups”. And you can only do this with exFAT as with FAT32 Mac OS X’s Time Machine backup won’t work. You can format your external hard drive from either the PC or Mac. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with Mac and Windows. However there is a simple solution – you can format the drive to FAT32 or exFAT that performs better than FAT32. Windows uses NTFS, and Mac OS uses HFS, these file systems are not compatible with each other. Often switch between a Mac and PC? Want to use one USB flash storage device for both? The thing is that by default, these platforms use different file systems – discs are formatted differently.
