Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. Heres how you can check the format of thumb drive on mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac.
Windows uses ntfs and mac os uses hfs and theyre incompatible with each other. This process wont actually convert the file system. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. 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. Store and access files on the go with this 2tb wd my passport portable hard drive for mac. Open the acronis true image 2020 software and click back up your whole mac will be preselected as the source. Formatting the drive will permanently erase all the data and files stored on the hard drive forever. Well i have an external hard drive that was formatted in ntfs on an xp machine not too long ago.
So stay on the move and safely take along your documents. Seagate backup plus is preformatted exfat for compatibility with both mac and windows computers. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Seagate backup plus slim 1tb external hard drive portable hdd black usb 3.
To format such a partition, you have to go through a complete wipe out of your hard drive. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Unformat mac hard drive recover formatted hard drive on mac. 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. Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Chances are that it might be of an ideal format beforehand. When you use a hard disk drive, time machine will take a while to back up your mac. Youll find my article on how you format the wd elements hard drive here. Be absolutely sure you have your files off the drive and that youve selected the correct drive you want to format. Acronis true image 2020 enables a full mac backup in just a few quick clicks. When youre done, the drive should work on both windows pcs and macs with no problem. To see storage information about your mac, click the apple menu in the topleft of your screen.
Apr 21, 2020 i have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Oct 09, 2019 this wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Click over and in a few minutes youll have the formatting all done. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo.
Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. Whenever you are planning to format your toshiba hard drive for mac, its always suggested to take a backup of the drive you are going to format. If your mac drive has an efi partition, follow the steps to format it. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Backing the hard drive up to an external hd is tricky, though, which is why weve put together this guide on how to backup a. Click on the erase button in disk utilitys toolbar, then configure the name, format, and partitioning scheme of your backup disk. Jan 17, 2019 rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. It has been working great on windows 7 for a couple of weeks. Best way to format external hard drive used for backup. The backup software keeps you covered against accidental data loss, and password protection prevents unauthorized access to your.
After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. By default, the 4tb hard drive uses the ntfs format for windows pcs, but theres a help file included on the drive that provides information for mac users so that you can reformat the drive and. Dec 29, 2015 windows will format the drive as exfat and youll be able to use the drive on both windows and mac. External usb, thunderbolt, or firewire drive connected to your mac. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the drive click cancel.
Even though mac computers are capable of reading hard drives that are formatted for windows, if you intend on using your external hdd as a bootable disk or want to use it to backup files with your mac s time machine, you must format it to be entirely mac compatible. To use time machine to make a backup of your mac, you need any of these types of storage devices. When you want to wipe the backup plus drive clear of everything on it. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on.
How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Dec, 2019 you dont need to format the hard drive every time you can choose a filesystem while formating the drive so the hard drive or usb drive work on both mac and pc. From the popular slim drives to the ridiculous capacity and mobility of the portable drives, you can always rely on the backup plus family. Its the most affordable portable drive we cover in either the 2 tb or 4 tb capacities. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows. For instructions on how to format a dr ive in mac os 10. But its a good idea to also create a third partition on your disk that both macos and windows 10 can use.
Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to your mac. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. How to backup a mac to an external hard drive using acronis true image. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Jan 02, 2017 select the mac partition we created in windows 10, click erase on the menu bar, choose mac os extended journaled in the format list box, then click erase. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. One hurdle youll face is that, by default, these platforms use different filesystems. These usbc hard drives can back up or beef up your mac s storage usbc is the future, and grabbing an external hard drive is a great way to store backups, music, movies, files, and more. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive.
An encrypted backup is accessible only to users with the password. Windows will format the drive as exfat and youll be able to use the drive on both windows and mac. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. Mac owners have good machines, with plenty of battery life and power. Then select disk utility from the utilities window and click continue. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. 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. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Select encrypt backup disk recommended, then click use as backup disk.
Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives. 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. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. You can set the name to whatever you like, but set the format to mac os extended journaled and set the scheme to. 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. Im usually change hard drives to a bigger capacity ones and sold the old ones to others. As youll see, however, knowing how to back up a mac to an external hard drive doesnt have to be intimidating. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next step. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows 10. To set up your wd elements drive to work on your mac youll need to format it for mac. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. When you want to change an ntfs file system to exfat so that you can share your backup plus between a mac and a pc. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag.
When the application is open, select the files you want to retrieve from. To see the size of a specific file or folder, click it once and then press commandi. For time machine backups, its good to use a drive that has at least twice the storage capacity of your mac. How to check the pen drive format a lot of users choose to format pen drive to change its format. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Its necessary and good for your data because the process of formatting your toshiba hard drive to be used on mac also includes erasing of all the data from the drive. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. 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. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. At this point, you can proceed to the next section to format your mac backup partition. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and securely. Backup your mac to an external hard drive yet setting up a backup of your mac can be frustrating since most external hard drives must be formatted before being used. This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into.
How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. You dont need to format the hard drive every time you can choose a filesystem while formating the drive so the hard drive or usb drive work on both mac and pc. You can format a drive using the disk utility in mac. 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. External hard drives with backup software best buy. Rightclick on the icon for your external drive on mac desktop, then select get info. Once you plug in a hard drive and set up time machine, it will work automatically in the background, continuously saving copies of all your files, applications, and system files i. Yet when you connect a mac formatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. Here are our favorite usbc hard drives for your mac. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. The sidebar now shows your disks devices and any containers. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup any data or files you want to save before formatting. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. If you also have the same requirements, then consider checking the existing pen drive format first. The application will first quickly scan some easytoget files on the formatted hard drive.
This is secure than the simple partition and you cant right click and format the drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. A stepbystep guide to backing up mac to an external hard drive step 1. First, back up the data on the mac formatted drive if you have anything important on it. Remember, this will erase all the files on the drive. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Choose view show all devices from the menu bar in disk utility. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. Most of the times the mac drives are formatted with an efi system partition.
Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. How to format a hard dr ive for mac that would be sold to another person. Is there a way to completely format or erase the data from hard drive so it cannot be recovered by another user. When it comes to mac backup, clearly acronis true image beats time machine. When you connect an external drive directly to your mac, you might be asked if you want to use the drive to back up with time machine. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. The drive is mounted in a sturdy metal case, and the 4 tb case is a little thicker than the 2 tb version. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. How to backup a mac to an external hard drive in 2020. Just today it wont let me access the drive and it is telling me that i will need to format the drive before. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.
The seagate backup plus portable is also a bargain. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual optional formatting. Yet when you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. You can set the name to whatever you like, but set the format to mac os extended journaled and set the scheme to guid partition map, then click the erase button. Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. External drive connected to an airport extreme base station 802.
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