Format external hard drive to ntfs from fat32 using disk management. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition it services. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Formatting a hard drive is the best way to start from scratch on a geeky project. Insert the drives usb cable into one of the thin, rectangular slots in your computers casing. If the drive is not initialized, you need to initialize the external hard drive. Use minitool partition wizard to recreate in minitool partition, not initialized hard drive will be shown as unallocated disk space. Whats the difference between fat32, exfat, and ntfs. But what happens if that drive becomes corrupted, and you have to reformat it to make it accessible again.
Generally, you can format external hard drive to ntfs via disk management, file explorer and command prompt. Here are the following most common reasons why would you like to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac under mac os extended journaled. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Youll want to do it before you sell your machine, for sure, but its also one of the steps you take when you. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. Readwrite microsoft ntfs files on your mac for free. Need to use a usb drive on both a windows pc and a mac. Disk management not only allows you the opportunity to change the format of the hard drive to ntfs, but it also assists in assigning a new letter of the usb, helps create multiple partitions, and keeps a thorough check on the health of the hard drive in focus. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. This process wont actually convert the file system. Hi, i have a seagate external usb hard drive that i formatted for use with a mac computer. For instance, if you select an option ms dos fat, it will well suit with windows as well as mac. How to format a windows disk drive for a mac i get this question a lot i have an external hard drive that is ntfs formatted windows format, and i want to reformat it for my mac hfs.
Os x can default read ntfs disks, but not write to them. And two ways are offered here for xbox one external hard drive format ntfs so that you can use the drive normally in windows pc. How to format usb drives to ntfs on a mac with tuxera disk. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. Tuxera disk manager makes it super easy for flash drives. This is simple to do and means the data on your drive usb stick can be read and written on both macs and pcs.
From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way mac s do the formatting on some larger drives, though, so give it a try and if your windows machines dont like it, just format the drive with windows. How to format a disk to ntfs using mac os x ask different. 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. Two ways to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. How to format an external hard drive for xbox one minitool. The hd came formatted ntfs not really sure what that entails and there was a ntfs for mac software that was included. How enable ntfs writing on mac write to ntfs drives. You can use a mac to format a usb flash drive with the ntfs file system. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in. When you cannot formant external hard drive to ntfs for some reasons, you can try aomei partition assistant standard instead.
When youre reformatting a hard drive, windows will ask you what format to use. The tutorial and screenshots below are based on macos sierra. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Connect the external hard drive to your pc and then launch disk management. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Typically, an external hard drive that works on a windows pc uses an ntfs file system. So the first step you must do is move all of your important data to your pc mac, or to cloud storage service.
This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. For instance, windows retrieves, stores and formats any flash drive or external hard disk using its default format, that is. Youre changing the format of a disk, such as from a pc format fat, exfat, or ntfs to a mac format apfs or mac. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. How to format an external drive for mac from ntfs to mac os extended. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.
If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Ntfs partitions have a file size limit only limited by the partition size. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it.
You want to quickly and permanently erase all content from your mac and restore it to factory settings, such as when youre selling, giving away, or trading in your mac. Well show you how using tuxera ntfs for mac and tuxera disk manager. Fat32, exfat and ntfs are three file systems for external drive in windows, while ntfs is readonly on mac. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Learn how to set up or format a usb drive to the ntfs file system using your mac. The faster ssd drives on a mac may well use an apfs file system. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. How to change the format of a flash drive to ntfs on a mac. That allowed me to format a usb drive as ntfs with full readwrite access and then write the system update files to the usb drive.
In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. If you have an ntfs drive you can use macos disk utility to reformat it to fat32. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. Check if the external hard drive is initialized or not. Therefore, based on these three file systems, we have two methods to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. How do i reformat it to ntfs for use with windows 8. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac. Mac os x can only be installed on a hard drive formatted in mac os extended journaled, filesystem.
How do i reformat a mac hd to ntfs for use with windows 8. How to format external hard drive to ntfs in window1087. 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. Most mac users will be better off formatting external drives with exfat, ensuring they work well on both windows and mac os x without any extra work. Select an option in which you want to format your drive. First of all, as i said before, reformating will erase all your data that stored on the hard drive permanently. Need to reformat wd hard drive for mac if you connect your wd hard drive without reformatting, youll be unable to copy files to the disk as mac read only supports ntfs file system.
The thing is, although apple largely has support for ntfs and other windows formats, write support to ntfs drives is disabled in os x. Installed the paragon ntfs for mac using 10 day trial. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Disk management and a thirdparty format external hard drive software. How to partition an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Do you save backups of your hard drive onto an external hard drive. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility. Before that, remember to back up your external hard drive quickly with a highlyefficient data backup software since the formatting will erase all. For this reason, many manufacturers of external hard drives and usb sticks pre format their devices to ntfs. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac.
Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a mac when i plug it into my pc i cant access it. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. How to format drives in ntfs on a macin 3 easy steps tuxera. To get around this problem or prevent it from being a problem later you could format the drive as an ntfs partition. How to properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. If you have an external drive you only use with windows computers, you may wonder how to format an external hard drive to ntfs effortlessly. How to format a windows disk drive for a mac seagate blog. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it. You could save the file to an ntfs partition or a dvd.
A dialog box will be seen at the bottom of it with a round four commands. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Offline xbox update worked like a charm via usb stick. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. 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. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives.
Well show you everything you need to know about the. If your external hard drive is readonly on your mac due to its ntfs file system, you can easily fix it by reformatting the device to a mac compatible format with the builtin disk utility on mac. Before you can use it though, you need to properly format or reformat a hard drive so that it will become compatible or readable with the operating system that you are using. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. By continuing to browse the site, you agree to our use of cookies. So i recently purchased a seagate 4tb external hard drive for the sole purpose of backing up my photosvideosmusic from my macbook. If youre using an imac, you may find the usb ports on the side of your keyboard or on the back of the imacs screen.