Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdos. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Windows uses ntfs and mac os uses hfs and theyre incompatible with each other. The top 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac can help you securely format hard drive or external device under windows mac os. The software does not need the internet for the recovery process. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. Mar 29, 2019 you can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management.
For this reason, a macformatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a windows computer. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Aug 30, 2019 plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. 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. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select exfat for format option and click on the erase. Macos extended if you primarily use mac with a secondary exfat partition, or. 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. 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.
A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. The exfat format supports virtually any size hard drive and file, unlike the outdated fat32 format. 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. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Click on the erase button to start erasing the external hard drive or usb. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Choose one of the following windows compatible file system formats if you are formatting a disk to use with windows.
Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Select disk utility, and then choose the drive to format. You can recover almost every type of file with iskysoft crash recovery. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
But to get a hard drive to be compatible with both mac and pc, you. Command prompt is windows command processor and it is used to perform commands in the windows system. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Run aweeraser for mac choose erase hard drive select hard drive click on erase button format the selected hard drive. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. Windows formatted hard drives have either ntfs file system of an fat32 file system. You may also set a direct connection to your computer. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. As it is mentioned above, after formatting a hard drive, all data on the hard drive will be erased.
For a windows computer to be able to read a hard drive, it needs to have a file system format that is compatible with windows. Plug your hd into the mac and open disk utility, which can be accessed by searching for it in spotlight. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp.
Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. This file system is specifically for mac systems and windows cant read this file system. 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. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive. How to format a new or second hard drive in windows 10 formatting a drive may vary in terms of different operating systems, like windows and mac. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. After formatting, the data will be permanently lost. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc.
The top 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac can help you securely format hard drive or external device under windowsmac os. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. You can use lacie setup assistant to format your lacie hard drive when it is first connected to a computer windows or mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac.
Jan 23, 2020 i hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Lacie setup assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Although it is possible to format a drive as exfat from disk utility on the mac, that drive will not work with windows pcs, and thats not what. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. Apr 29, 2020 follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. 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. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Aborted lacie setup assistant while it was formatting. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Dec 22, 2019 how to format external hard drive mac. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Feb 12, 2019 but using a third party all the time for accessing a hard drive on windows is not good. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also.
Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. To use hfsexplorer, connect your mac formatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. If you are good at working with commands, then you can try to format your hard drive to fat32 using the command prompt. Turn on your macintosh notebook computer or desktop system and login. There are a number of tools that can help you in this regard. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. File systems compatible with windows include fat32 and ntfs.
When formatting a disk for storage use between mac and. 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. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. How to format new or second hard drive on windows 10mac. Please note that once the hard drive is formatted by aweeraser for mac, all the data on the hard drive will be permanently erased, cant be recovered by data recovery software or. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. The windows system uses a hard drive with a different file system than the mac systems.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. 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. For this reason, a mac formatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windowsmac. Aug 22, 2019 just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. To format a hard drive on your mac, follow these instructions. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different. Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. The two hard drive formatting software for mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under mac os.
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. Formatting a hard drive will take a while and wait for it patiently. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How to partition hard disk in windows 710 without formatting. Before starting the formatting hard drive in mac, you have to connect your mac system to external hard drive. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. Click the file menu and select load file system from device. Jan 17, 2019 rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc.
However, you can format the drive to work with both windows and mac by. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Data can be recovered from crashed hard drives offline support. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. Can a windows computer read a macformatted hard drive. File systems compatible with windows include fat32 and ntfs why not. 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.
Open disk utility go to the applications folder and then to another folder, known as utilities. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. Apr 16, 2020 command prompt is windows command processor and it is used to perform commands in the windows system. Windowsformatted hard drives have either ntfs file system of an fat32 file system. Mar 15, 2018 to use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. Want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. A user has to know how to convert mac formatted hard drive to windows formatted. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. Mar 31, 2020 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.
External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. 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. Aweeraser is the outstanding one among the 5 disk formatting tools. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windows mac. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. Although in principal, formatting means to erase existing data and free up space for utilization, the procedures are not exactly the same for mac and windows. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with.
It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. Step 1 in the windows search, look for the command prompt. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows machine. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. 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. But both of them cant format the hard drive which the mac os is installed on because the mac system doesnt allow other software to destroy the system. 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.
1577 1434 654 188 1096 243 534 776 1204 1163 1524 392 1366 658 616 1538 20 261 1110 152 378 933 636 1295 1178 62 1283 750 80 1326