Best external drive for mac and pc interchangeable. Best external drives for mac and pc interchangeable 2020. However, there are instances that not unless that your flash drive is build to use for your mac, you will not be able to format it. Mac users may be looking to cheaply expand their hard drives capacity, in which case external hds come very much in handy. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. When you use a hard disk drive, time machine will take a while to back up your mac. Format hard drives, and look after them with the indispensable disk utility tool. Wd 4tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive, usb c usba wdbp6a0040bbkwese. Unfortunately, its very much not a straightforward process to format c. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting.
Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Click on the erase option from the four options available in the main window. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Mar 29, 2019 how to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. 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. The max transfer speeds provided by usb is is 20 gbs. Unfortunately, mac does not label their drives with letters like other computer systems do. For example, folders named homework and homework are two different folders.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the western digital my passport 4tb, which is a mechanical hard drive. New hard drives will come with the proper connection cords to ensure compatibility. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Its much simpler to format any drive thats isnt running the operating system such as the c. The usb drivers come with the fat format by default. You can use lacie setup assistant to format your lacie hard drive when it is first connected to a computer mac or windows. The reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. 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. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x.
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. The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. Usbc this is a newer form of usb connection that delivers more power and slightly faster speeds for mac users. To do this, you can take the assistance of disk utility, which is a dedicated system component in mac. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. We can configure os x to automatically mount the drive in the future to save having to do this every time you want to access something. When you format your hard drive, you can clean internal as well as external storage media. Mac computers are capable of formatting any storage device internal or external such as hddssd, usb flash drive, and external storage. Copy a data disk uing one optical drive using disk utility on os x how to. If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to. Once os x finds a network drive, you will be able to connect to it and access the resources you have permission to access.
If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. We think it offers creatives the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price for both mac and pc users. Its not much larger than the size of a cd case, so it fits snug in your computer bag without taking up a lot of room. In this article, we have put together five of the best external hard. Plug the drive into a usb socket if you have a recent macbook or macbook pro that only has usbc connectors, youll need a usbc to usba adaptor.
Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. 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. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. How to format a write protected usb on pc or mac with pictures.
Even if the mac is unable to mount the storage, following this method will enable you to format the storage. If youre erasing your startup disk, you might be prompted to enter your apple id. This wikihow teaches you how to restore your windows or macos computers hard drive to its original factory settings. Jan 04, 2012 how to format an external drive for mac compatibility.
Means if one want to transfer movie or any stuff greater than 4gb it cant be done in this format. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Wait patiently or do something else during the process. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Enter a name, select the format and scheme, and click erase. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Gtechnology 1tb g drive mobile ssd rseries storage previous gallery image. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well.
Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Its 2019, and if youre not backing up all your data in multiple places, youre not being as safe and secure as you possibly can. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window. However, if you want to use part of the drive for os xs time machine backups, you should do this from the mac, since theres.
Compare portable, usb, desktop and external lacie hard drives and shop online. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. In this tutorial, we explain how you can format a hard drive.
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. Best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc image credit. How to format pen drive on mac just like windows, mac also allows a seamless solution to do pen drive format. Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. This drive is preformatted just for you, offering a high transfer rate for fast file access and connects easily via usb c. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. 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 share an external hard drive between mac and windows. It is time to learn how to format your external hard drive or other external drives to a common file system for mac and windows. Choose one of the following apfs formats for mac computers using macos 10. The other formats microsofts ntfs and apples mac os extended dont work well on the other operating system. Then a progress bar will show how the formatting of your usb drive is going and how long it will take to complete. 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.
Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer.
Its usually at the bottomleft corner of the screen. Some people may want to format a storage because they want to clean hard drive mac and others might want to install fresh os x. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. 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. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Aborted lacie setup assistant while it was formatting. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. You can format an external drive in os x using disk utility and terminal. Mounting is the technical term for opening the drive to use it. Additional disks are generally used for data storage and data transfer, such as an external usb hard disk, memory card, or a thumb drive. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. To format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on win mac respectively.
Lacie rugged usbc user manual optional formatting and. From all above, you can have a general idea of fat32 and exfat file system. To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. 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. Plug the drive into a usb socket if you have a recent macbook or macbook pro that only has usb c connectors, youll need a usb c to usba adaptor. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x. In this post, youll learn how to format an external drive to a mac compatible file system and recover files from a reformatted hard drive. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. After formatting, click done and your usb drive is ready for new. You cant format the c drive like you can format another drive in windows because youre within windows when you perform the format.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive. On mac computers, use the finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. Developed by intel in collaboration with apple, thunderbolt technology transmits data and display signals in both directions at the same time using the same cable. Dec 19, 2017 the reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. Add virtual cd and dvd drives to your pc with alcohol. The my passport for mac drive includes usb c and usba cables, so you can save tomorrows content with the mac computers of both today and yesterday. When you format c, you erase the operating system and other information on the c drive. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. Wd 4tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Jul 05, 2017 in the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system.
Or it might be that you bought a drive to use with your mac only to discovered it is preformatted for windows. Select your external hard drive or usb flash drive from the list on the left. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt toms. Begin by connecting the storage device to your mac, and then launch disk utility using spotlight. Aug 27, 2019 in todays technology, if you buy a usb hard drive, you can just simply use it directly using your mac. May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. Then you can choose one of the hard drive and format it by click on format button.
If youre just using the drive for your linux computer, select ext4. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Jan 15, 2019 its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. In this tutorial, we learn how to find the c drive on a mac computer. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to choose from. But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. Dec 29, 2015 you can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. How to format a startup drive for a mac if you want to format a drive that will be used as your mac s startup disk, the procedure is a little different from formatting it for use as a secondary.
How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. To format as a mac disk, choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled.
If you want to format a hard drive or usb flash drive on your computer, disk formatting tool is the best choice. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Create a bootable usb drive for ubuntu using mac or windows how to. Click on the erase option from the four options available in. Apples branded playableburnable cddvd drive is the perfect complement to your imac or macbook pro unless you have a late 2016 or newer macbook pro, in which case youll need the usbc to usb adapter. Plug the drive into a usb socket if you have a recent macbook or macbook pro that only has usbc. Gtechnology 1tb g drive mobile usb c portable hard drive previous gallery image. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. 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. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple.
How to format hard drive and fix disk format errors on mac. Jan 02, 2016 formatting a drive on your mac is quite easy. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. How to format an external drive for mac launch disk utility. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Lacie setup assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with your computer. But before you click the format disk button and erase all the contents of the macformatted drive, consider the alternatives. If you want to use the drive to transfer files between linux, mac, and windows computers, as well as most devices that support usb storage, select fat. External hard drives use either spinning disks or solid memory to save your files. Uses the apfs format and is casesensitive to file and folder names. Since windows isnt equipped to understand any of apples file systems, it will try to convert them to a usable file system.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. As mentioned before, macs can only read ntfsformatted hard drives by default. In this tutorial, i will show you how to reformat the hard drive in your mac. Backing up your data is probably the most critical thing you can do, and even if you used cloud storage to back up data, you should always have a safe hard copy on a hard drive. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Feb 27, 2018 before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility.