Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. What format for my external drive allows use with mac and. Repair a storage device in disk utility on mac apple support. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. Jul 28, 20 all external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box. Connect the empty external hd to your mac and launch disk utility. Note that formatting an sd card or micro sd card will erase all data on the card, as well as set a file system format for the sd card. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. So now that youve decided to format your drive, youll need to know how. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click.
So you might want to use other applications to format your external storage devices. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. Disk utility does not show apfs format apple community. Mar 16, 2020 whatever the reason is, the inbuilt disk utility is the only thing you need to carry out the task. If you run first aid on a volume, disk utility verifies all the contents of that volume only. Disk utility is use to erase, format or manage internal disks and external storage devices. May 09, 2008 these are instructions on how to format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Open the disk utility app on your mac using one of the following methods, depending on the type of disk or volume you want to erase. Disk utility is free and included with every copy of the mac os. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with your computer. How to use macos sierra disk utility to partition, erase drives. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. How to use disk utility in macos sierra formatting.
Disk utility is a utility application proprietary to macos that is used to both format and manage internal and external disks. Aug 22, 2019 just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk utility. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at the same time and type in disk utility to find the program. The usb should be ready to use for both windows and mac without the use of thirdparty software. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. How to use macos sierra disk utility to partition, erase drives wednesday, october 12th, 2016 author. It is an easy to use utility that you should become familiar with as a way to maintain the vital data stored on your hard disks. Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as macintosh hd. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac in the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices.
How to use your macs disk utility to partition, wipe, repair. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. And while the various cloning apps have a lot more features, if you dont have access to thirdparty apps, using disk utility will create a perfectly usable clone, although it may require a few more steps and lacks some nice features, such as automation and scheduling. Downloading center solutions for macpc data and file transfer. Click the scheme popup menu, then choose master boot record. Format hard drive in windows 10 with easeus management software easeus partition software is a popular disk partition management tool that is available for all hard disk related jobs such as format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem, convert mbr to gpt without data loss and vice versa. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Paragon mac toolbox advanced partitioning for mac hard. If youre checking your startup disk or startup volume, restart your computer in macos recovery, select disk utility in the macos utilities window, then click continue. I know that i could buy snow leopard and give it a fresh install, but is there anyway i can download just the disk utility. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these fields.
In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Posted on november 3rd, 2015 by kirk mcelhearn if you need to format, partition, or otherwise work with hard drives on a mac, apples disk utility is the tool you use. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Before mac os x panther, the functionality of disk utility was spread across two applications. Thus you will want to copy or backup any data on the sd card that you wish to preserve. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. Disk copy was used for creating and mounting disk image files whereas disk utility was used for formatting, partitioning, verifying and repairing file structures. In this tutorial we look at formatting disks via the gui app called disk utility and its equivalent command line tool diskutil.
Feb 27, 2018 before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. Disk utilitys view option shows devices, not just volumes now click the erase tab. Formatting for exfat using disk utility apple community. However, the formatted data can be recovered by data recovery software. Fortunately, your mac comes with all the tools youll need to do this, making it super simple for you to erase and format that drive for your needs. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. We will use disk utility for mac and disk management.
Using thirdparty software for formatting andor encryption is not a problem. This article will show you how to choose the best format for usb drive on windows mac linux and format usb for mac and windows. Jan 26, 2010 i noticed it doesnt have imovie and idvd like it should, but that isnt a big deal. Jul 04, 2017 but those arent nearly as useful as disk utility, an app that many mac users would use if they knew you could format hard drives with disk utility. I can confirm the msdos fat option on mac disk utility is not the same as fat32,as i wasnt able to use the card formated that way in a device that required ing sd card formatter app solved the issue. Resizing partitions on mac the disk utility included in all versions of mac os x provides basic partitioning functions, enabling creation, formatting, or deletion of a partition. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat. I just noticed it also doesnt have disk utility as well. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write. Apr 17, 2020 to format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
On the web i have seen several warnings that if one formats an external hd for exfat using disk utility, it will still not work on windows. If you dont plan on using the drive for time machine, skip steps 5 to 11 below and continue with step 12. Its a very easy process and well take you through each of the steps below. Step 1 connect the external hard drive you want to format to your mac, then start the disk utility app that you can find under applications utilities. The mac community was the only one with no worthy alternatives to boast, and this is what the new paragons hard disk manager for mac is going to change. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. Select the hard drive and click erase, then disk utility will help you format and erase the hard drive or device. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard drive under mac os.
Fat32 format works on both windows and mac but the problem is you can only work with the files with maximum size 4gb. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Step one if your hard drive is an external drive, connect it to the computer. But if you intend to use it afterward, you must gather up some additional information about the mac file format too. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive.
In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. 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. If youre checking your startup disk or startup volume, restart your computer in macos recovery, select disk utility in the macos utilities window. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. However, fat32 has a maximum 4gb file size limit whereas exfat can work with files as large as 16eb. Usb disk storage format tool by authorsoft corporation is a free utility that allows you to easily format your usb flash drives. Thus, many users would like to use exfat instead of fat32 to make external hard drive for mac and windows interchangeable. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Initially external disks may be formatted for windows and after you connect it to your mac it appears in the device list in the finder, but is a read only disk meaning that you cant write to it in its current format. Mar 15, 2018 when you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. The release date of usb disk storage format tool for mac is unknown and we cannot say for sure if it will be released at all. Mar 03, 2020 as you can see, exfat is the only file system that works with all versions of windows and macos and does not have any max filesize or partitionsize limits.
How to manage disks and volumes with os xs disk utility. The disk utility included with mac os x is powerful, and it should handle all the functions you need it to perform. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Using another format makes the usb drive unreadable on windows computers. With the drive selected in disk utility, click partition. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility iclarified. The biggest decision you have to make before you format mac is to choose the right file format. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with windows computers. We hope that this overview of disk utility illustrates the benefits that it can afford mac users. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. Disk utility is a smart hard drive format tool built in mac system. But luckily, there are file systems well supported by both mac and windows pc, and they are fat32 it might be called msdos on mac and exfat.
Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. All you need to know to use disk utility on your mac. This applications readonly nature isnt necessarily a bad thing. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. This version allows you to fully test the application engine, the disk access routines and the graphical interface under windows.
Enter the amount of space you want to set aside for time machine. How to use disk utility in macos sierra formatting external hard drive basics. The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as disk utility. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. Format hard drives with disk utility in macos apple gazette. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. Download bootdisk utility create bootable usb disks with your favorite mac osx distribution and latest clover bootloader by turning to this lightweight application. 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 were after. At the end of september, the rocket yard gave you the scoop on the new version of disk utility that is now in macos sierra. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. 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. But you can open hfsexplorer, read a mac formatted drive, and copy the files to your windows pc without paying a dime. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the partition tab.
You should go ahead and format your storage drive with exfat. All contemporary support articles in the disk utility thread states that i can format a disk including an external hdd by using disk utility and create apfs as the format. The when the disk is selected in the finder bottom left symbol with the crossed out pencil means that the disk can only be read not written to. May 07, 2009 the right way to format windows disks using a mac. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. The ability to zero all data multipass formatting on a. Select your usb flash drive on the sidebar, choose erase. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. Name the usb drive, choose the msdos fat for format, master boot. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
In this tutorial, well show you how you can format a usb flash drive using the disk utility built into your macos operating system. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. If you want a hd that truly works on both platforms windows and os x you need to format it to exfat from within windows. Downloading center solutions for macpc data and file. This process also works with external hard drives, internal. Macdisk is a 32bit application and runs under all recent versions of windows vista and 78 included, even 64 bits. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Dec 21, 2018 this tutorial will show you how to format an sd card or micro sd card in macos with the disk utility app. Start up from macos recovery, then choose disk utility from the macos utilities window. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. The applications primary use is to format hard drives with disk utility. If you want to erase your startup disk or startup volume. Therefore, its perfect for a usb flash drive or external disk, especially when you need to save files more than 4gb in size.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. The exfat format supports virtually any size hard drive and file, unlike the outdated fat32 format. Its tucked away in the utilities folder, which is found inside the applications folder, but is easy to locate using spotlight which you trigger. How to erase a disk for mac partition a physical disk in disk utility on mac file system formats available in disk utility on mac format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac encrypt and protect a storage device with a password in disk utility on mac. Macdisk is an utility for reading, writing and formatting apple macintosh magnetic media on an ibm compatible pc, without any hardware modification of the computer and without any addon. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Just run it on your mac, it will show all the hard drives and external devices on your mac. Its a bit like the disk management tool built into windows, but more capable and, thanks to recovery mode, easier to access from outside the operating system. Using disk utility, i can only format the drive to a nonencrypted fat32 or exfat. To learn how to format in mac your hard drive, follow these steps.
159 517 1261 171 771 1178 73 526 760 682 62 583 1143 733 47 1259 565 48 578 1084 1552 909 482 783 427 1351 256 73 1540 633 853 1350 1224 74 596 1051 1188 1302 1293 624