#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC HOW TO#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC MAC OS#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC PC#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC PLUS#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC WINDOWS#

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC MAC OS#

However, if your external hard drive is for use with Macs only, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) would be the best option since it’s compatible with all Macs. Using exFAT, you can store files of any size and use them with computers made in the last 20 years.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC WINDOWS#

If you want to use your external hard drive with Mac and Windows computers, the best format to use is the exFAT. You can also drag the white dots at the edge of the circles to change the size of each partition.Īdditional FAQs What Is the Best Format for a Mac External Hard Drive? Select a name, format, and size for each partition.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC PLUS#

To create a partition, at the bottom of the pie chart, click the plus (+) sign.

Select your external hard drive, then choose “Partition” from the top menu.

With your external hard drive plugged into your Mac, access “Disk Utility.”.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC PC#

This is ideal if you use a Mac and PC and want to transfer files between both operating systems via your external hard drive.

Once your drive has been formatted (see the steps above), you can partition it into two formats. It will also help protect your drive if it’s infected with malware since it would be contained in one partition section. A partition offers dedicated space for a bootable backup of your OS or your Time Machine backup files.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND PC HOW TO#

How to Partition an External Hard Drive on a Macīy partitioning your external hard drive, you can have separate drives for Mac, PC, and other operating systems.

Now select the “Erase” button and wait a few minutes as your hard drive formats.

At the “Scheme” option, choose “GUID Partition Map.”.

To use the drive with both Mac and Windows, select “ExFAT.”.

For compatibility between newer and older Macs, choose “Mac OS Extended (Journaled).”.

For a Solid-State Drive, choose “APFS (Apple File System).” This option might not be available if you haven’t formatted the drive before, so choose another one, then reformat it into APFS if needed.

Add a name for your hard drive, then set its format:.

At the top of the pop-up window, select “Erase.” Then proceed to fill in your external hard drive details.

To be sure you’ve set the top level, click the right-pointing arrow on the left of the drive icon. Be sure not to select your external drive’s lower level, as this will cause formatting problems.

Click on the first level of your external drive.

In the pop-up on the left, your external hard drive should appear in the list under your Mac’s internal drive, under the “External” heading.

Choose “Utilities” then “Disk Utility.”.

From the “Finder” window, select the “Applications” folder from the left pane.

Select the “General” tab, then check that the “External Drive” checkbox is checked.

If it doesn’t, try opening “Finder.” Then choose “Preferences.”

Once connected, a drive icon should appear on your desktop.

Plug your external hard drive into your Mac.

If you’re using a MacBook to format the drive, ensure it’s either fully charged or connected to a power supply to ensure it doesn’t turn off in the middle of the process.

The system disk must have the MBR partition style if you’re running a 32-bit version of Windows. The only disadvantage with GPT is that only 64-bit versions of Windows can be on the system disk (the hard drive that Windows is installed on).

GPT (GUID Partition Table) is the newer partition style that has become commonplace with more modern computers, which use UEFI instead of BIOS to boot your system.

The BIOS/UEFI is what loads all of the primary drivers, hard drives, as well as your Windows OS. While older Windows PC’s (that have a BIOS) run perfectly fine, it’s becoming obsolete on new PC’s (which use UEFI).

MBR (Master Boot Record) is an older partition style that has been around for quite some time.

While GPT is often used for hard drives with more than 2 TB of space, there are other advantages, as well. Neither Apple File System nor HFS+ works with Windows, however.

When you format a hard drive on Windows 10, you are prompted to choose GPT or MBR as the partition style. Any drive formatted with HFS+ will work just fine with a Mac thats running High Sierra or later. What’s the difference between GPT and MBR?

Volume Label: Enter the name you wish to label the drive as.

Select the Format of the drive volume with the following settings.

Right-click the space that says Unallocated, select New Simple Volume…, and then follow the on-screen prompts.

MBR for hard drives with a capacity of less than 2 TB.

GPT for hard drives with a capacity larger than 2 TB.

When assigning the drive letter, be sure that it’s different than that of hard drives that are currently in use.

In these cases, they get formatted and are assigned a drive letter.

Some external USB hard drives don’t have the option to be initialized.

Right-click the disk that says Not Initialized or Offline, then select Initialize Disk or Online.

Click the Windows icon, type Disk Management, then click Create and format hard drive partitions.

Format external hard drive for mac and pc