Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Oct 15, 2015 hi all, i recently received an external hard drive for my bday and my friend loaded a ton of pictures and movies onto it for me. I am concern about what format i should choose for it. To format usb to fat32 with disk utility will erase all data on the flash. Even if you try to format fat32 drive on mac, you might end up causing more issues. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. I am not very familiar with the format but i know windows is using ntfs or fat32 while mac has its own format. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily recoverit. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Step 2 on the left side of the utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it.
Oct 25, 2018 and it doesnt have the 32gb size limitation when to format hard drive to fat32. Dec 11, 2019 fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. The disk management program will begin to format external hard drive for mac and pc. You may need to format your usb drive to fat32 if you want to transfer files between mac and windows pc with the usb drive or use the drive for the navigationaudio system in your car. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. On this page we will tell you how to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Format external hard drive in fat32 using professional format tool. Open disk utility go to the applications folder and then to another folder, known as utilities.
Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Miniaide fat32 formatter free download and software. Turn on your macintosh notebook computer or desktop system and login. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. Select the drive you want to format and click erase button. Fat32, exfat and ntfs are three file systems for external drive in windows, while ntfs is readonly on mac. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or flash. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Here are the steps to partition an external hard drive for mac and windows pc, which is a little tricky. How to format a flash drive with a mac to fat32 techwalla. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Jul 16, 20 when you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive.
Windows 10 will go ahead and begin formatting the drive in fat32. It merits using just for the detailed information it gives you about your computers hard drive. Miniaide fat32 formatter lets you format or create fully customizable partitions in any hard drive. So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both windows and mac, you need to format it to a filesystem that is compatible with windows pc and mac. 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. Therefore, scroll down until you see a folder utilities double click on it. How to format usb drive or external hard drive on mac.
If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Oct 29, 2019 even if you try to format fat32 drive on mac, you might end up causing more issues. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus. It also supports file formats like ntfs, hfs, fat, exfat, etc.
Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Download, install and launch aomei partition assistant. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac.
Youll be able to see the progress in the white box. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. To format a hard drive on your mac, follow these instructions. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Select the quick format option, and then click the start button. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Formatting a disk using windows maxes out the partition at 32gb, but not if the formatting is done using mac os. For some mac models, the partition option would be greyed out in disk utility. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods.
How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. However, single files on a fat32 drive cant be larger than 4gb. Go finder window on you mac then click on applications the image right. Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives. Format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format so to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os. If you purchase a seagate drive, you can even get a free download of paragon ntfs for. It doesnt matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can reformat any way you like. From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way macs 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. Right click the transcend hard drive which needs formatting. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. And it doesnt have the 32gb size limitation when to format hard drive to fat32.
How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. You can format a fat32 usb drive on a mac using disk utility. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems.
A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Disk utility is a smart hard drive format tool built in mac system. Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. Before starting the formatting hard drive in mac, you have to connect your mac system to external hard drive.
Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. This will make it readable by both macs and microsoft windows computers. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc.
How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. There are specific thirdparty systems, like digital camcorders, and sony playstation 3, which need the drives to be formatted in either fat32 or exfat format to perform read from and. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Once everything is set, click the next button to continue and then the finish button to exit the wizard. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. The disk manager tool is able to list all hard drives and external devices on your mac. However, fat32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating systems. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing. Want to format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and.
Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Sep 05, 2011 very easy way to format an external hard drive into fat32 with a mac using the disk utility. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. When you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. You can also format the drive in a variety of other formats depending on your needs. How to format an external hard drive on windows formatting a hard drive on windows is a simple affair, especially if you leave everything as default. If given a choice, the two common modes are ntfs and fat32. Connect the external hard drive to mac and open disk utility. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drive device under mac os. Therefore, based on these three file systems, we have two methods to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc.
If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command. Follow the next steps to recover data after formatting. It just securely formats your mac hard drivedevice and permanently erases all the data. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Yes, connecting an external hard drive or usb flash key to a mac will generally read and work fine as is because the mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a windows and mac machine, formatting it to be entirely mac compatible. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Download verbatim hard drive formatter manage and maintain verbatim hard drives with this utility that can convert or reformat external hddss and supports fat32 and ntfs formats. Once the formatting process is finished, you can store the files in this newly formatted usb flash drive or external hard drive. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all.
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. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. So, if you have got your hands on a drive which is formatted as fat32 of any other format instead of mac os extended or apfs, then you should go through this article. From there you can choose to create the volume format as mac os extended.
It offers more than 9 tools to help you optimize and manage your mac computer. Dec 22, 2019 how to format external hard drive mac. Dec 29, 2015 the instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. Hi all, i recently received an external hard drive for my bday and my friend loaded a ton of pictures and movies onto it for me. H is the drive letter of your external hard drive in windows 10. Now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select exfat for format option and click on the erase. Any external hard drive will work with pcs or macs, as long as the connectors are there firewire, usb, etc. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as. I am planning to use it for both my mac and windows. 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.
Feb 05, 2019 download verbatim hard drive formatter manage and maintain verbatim hard drives with this utility that can convert or re format external hddss and supports fat32 and ntfs formats. Supports up to 2tb for computer internal hard disk, windows external hard drive with a xbox360 and sony external hard drive with a ps3. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Click on the erase button to format usb flash drive or external hard drive. What type of format will be readable for both system. Select disk utility, and then choose the drive to format. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. If you want to format external hard drive to ntfs file system, you need to install a ntfs for mac tool on your mac. How to format transcend hard drive for mac and windows. Now here is how to format your fat32 external drive on mac. This lee sapara with a 30 second short video on formatting a usb drive to fat 32 on your mac.
How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. I did a little search through these dorums and it seems like i ned to format the hard drive to fat32 in order to add things to it. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. You can have a drive format to fat32 on an apple mac computer using apples disk utility, which comes with macos. Formatting a disk using windows maxes out the partition at 32gb, but not if the formatting is done using mac os x. In disk utility select the blank partition you just created and click on erase. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Jul 24, 2017 in the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. I just purchased an external hard drive with 120g size. How to format external hard drive, usb flash drive on mac.
The problem windows cannot format drive to fat32 that is larger than 32gb1tb. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms. Lets see how to format transcend hard drive for mac and pc in a windowsbased computer. External harddisk fat32 format or mac for apple community. Fat32 is the most widely used file system for usb flash drives. Here, we are going to learn the procedure to format a usb drive and an external hard drive on mac. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. You may also set a direct connection to your computer. Formatting can be done with the mac os x disk utility, found in the applicationsutilities folder. However, i cant actually use the hard drive myself. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility.