Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. I have already tried to format this hard drive and eventually had to return it as it did not work on mac or windows. For mac users, buying an external hdd already formatted for your system makes getting started much easier. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Windows 7 forums is the largest help and support community, providing friendly help and advice for microsoft windows 7 computers such as dell. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Format external drives to mac os extended before using with. Aug 30, 2019 how to format an external hard drive on windows.
Formatting your toshiba hard drive for mac is important, as it makes the hard drive best suitable for the mac by formatting it. Back up windows 7 computer to external hard drive easeus. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. 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 macs time machine, you must format it to be entirely mac compatible. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows. Want to format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Such a scenario arises if you want to use a macbased disk with a windows computer, you would need to reformat it using a windowscompatible file system that would be the fat32. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Windows will warn you that formatting a hard drive is irreversible, but you already knew that.
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. Follow the best 2018 tip here to simply backup windows 7 filescomputer to external hard drive so to free up computer disk space with simple clicks on your own now. The computer recognizes it but there is no way to access the files. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. Open or repair corrupted hard disk without formatting in. Do you need a simple guide to backup windows 7 computer files and data to external hard driveusb. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. 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. Click start button and search commond, then rightclick one it and afterward press run as administrator. Nov 28, 2009 windows 7 forums is the largest help and support. 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. Rightclick on the external hard drive in the volume tab. Takes its juice, its power from your mac, along its usb cable and that means youll need enough battery power in your macbook pro or air to drive the seagate drive.
Although it is possible to format a drive as exfat from disk utility on. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. This will give you the screen with all the partitions on the drive. This article shows you how to format an external hard drive via different methods, and you can follow these methods to format external hard drive for pc, mac or linux. Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. When i modify a file and put it into an external hard drive, date modified section does not change. I listed all possible ways to tackle with how to open my external hard drive without formatting in windows 10, 8, 7 etc. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. To deal with the raw external hard drive issue, there might be the need to format the drive to turn the raw files to ntfs.
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. Insert the drives usb cable into one of the thin, rectangular slots in your computers casing. Besides, you can use it to manage your hard drive partitions such as resize partition, delete partition, split partition, merge partitions, etc. Connect the raw external hard drive to your pc step 2. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Apr 16, 2020 to format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. If this is the case for you, rightclick the drive you want to format and click initialize disk. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Give your settings a final lookover and click apply. Click the link to know how you can do this without any additional software. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs.
If youre going to be using the drive with a version of windows prior to windows vista, youre going to want to go with mbr. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. Enter a volume name, select the exfat format, and click the apply. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. If want to reformat hard drive with other file system, you can use other third party software. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. How to format the hard disk drive in windows 7 computer. Because the external hard drive has been assigned to the virtualbox machine, it is the only drive that will be listed. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. 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.
Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. If your computer runs windows 7 or previous versions, youll need a windows disk to perform the format. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. To format your external drive hard drive in windows which works with both platforms, first plugin your drive with windows machine. One way to do this is to convert the raw hard drive to ntfs using the cmd command method. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drive s format on windows and mac computers. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087.
The simple and easy steps to formatting your seagate drive on your mac 1. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Detailed tutorial about how to format hard disk windows 7. How to open an external hard drive without formatting in. Oct 22, 2018 formatting a hard disk drive hdd in an external hard drive enclosure is done the same way like an internal drive. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. How to share an external hard drive between mac and. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. Add or delete partitions to your hard drive without formatting in windows 710. All options, including format, is greyed out except to delete volume. While its convenient to purchase the hard drive that will work with your computer right out of the box, most external hard drives can also be reformatted so youre not limited to your initial choice. Make sure that your external hard disk drive is connected to the computer and follow these steps to format it. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp.
Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. I need to know how to format it on a mac for both windows and mac compatible devices as well as know what the formatting will do in regards to file size restriction etc. How to fix raw external hard drive without formatting. Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. Simply connect the external drive via thunderbolt, usb, firewire or esata to your computer, turn on the power and then use the native disk utility of the operating system or a 3rd party program. 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. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc.
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. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the formatting option for pc. How can i format this drive in windows 7 home premium. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. Hi guys, i have an issue with my external harddrive.
Formatting the hard drive takes care of any fragmentation issues as well and also speeds it up. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. Boot with the windows 7 dvd, proceed as if you were doing an installation but when you get to the right screen, choose custom installation. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Aomei partition assistant is such a great simple tool for formatting external hard drive for mac and windows.
A second portion appears, slicing the pie graph down the middle. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to repair corrupted external hard drive without losing. Before formatting the hard drive, remember to recover all data. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. You reached here means your query how can i open my hard drive without formatting is resolved.
Before formatting any type of hard drive, we recommend that you should form a backup of all the crucial files present inside the storage device. Learn how to use boot camp on an external drive and what you need for an external windows drive, such as disk utility, terminal, boot camp assistant. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Your seagate external hard drive unless its one of seagates desktop drives. How to secure a zoom meeting 7 settings you should change duration. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on. 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. 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. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers. Mar 31, 2020 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. While you have bought this drive, you will find the drive already formatted for your mac or windows system. 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.
People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. Thus, when you are planning to use the same hard drive on any other os, particularly macos, it is always suggested to format your hard drive for mac. This post shows detail information about how to format a hard drive in windows 1087 and for mac. 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.
Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Before i go any further in backup my files, i want to format it based on a mac since its primary os. Formatting an external hard drive will delete any information on the device, likewise reformatting your system will essentially bring your mac back to. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Restart your mac with the external windows drive 1 close any apps. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive.
But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to reformat seagate portable external hard drive. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Windows 7 has its builtin utility disk management that can be used to format hard drive. How to format a mac drive in windows 7 microsoft community. 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. This would have changed your raw drive into ntfs file system and the data you have stored in it can be used again. External hard drive is accessible in mac but not in windows 7. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. Different os has different default file system, and windows default file system is ntfs, os x nfs plus, and linux ext family.
Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. While it works fine on my mac, windows 7 cannot seem to let me browse the files on the drive. Jul 26, 2019 a new hard drive has to be formatted with some specific file systems before being used in windows 7 operating system os. This will prompt a new window asking you to select a partition style for your disk. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. How to partition hard disk in windows 710 without formatting.
Simple delete the partition with the mac files and folders on it, then recreate the partition and format it. If its an external hard drive, you can format it with exfat, which doesnt have the limits and it compatible with both windows and os x. Apr 14, 2020 how to partition hard disk in windows 7 10 without formatting. Then click the second partition, name it mac, and change its format to mac os extended journaled. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of windows. Apple mac machines support a different file system. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.
How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. In this way, when the disk is loaded upon restart, the pc will prompt a message asking you whether you want to reformat the drive. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Will formatting an external hard drive erase everything. At this situation, you should format the hard drive to the other file systems. Formatting windows 7 hard drive will erase all the data on the drive and rebuild a file system. External hard drive not showing up in windows 7 heres the. Fat an ideal file system to use for usb flash drives or external hard drives that are. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. Formatting an external hard drive for macwindows use. The drive was originally used on a windows machine. Windows 7 disk management only allows you to format a partition with only but two three if it an external hard drive file systems, ntfs and fat32.
Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer. Jan 14, 2020 formatting can be done on almost every kind of storage device like a hard disk drive, usb flash drive, external hard drive, and an ssd. 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.
How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. Formatting hard drive windows image from shutterstock. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Formatting a hard disk drive hdd in an external hard drive enclosure is done the same way like an internal drive. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive.
But the method 3 is the best for all type hard drive issues. Hard drive get damaged and become unrecognized or inaccessible in windows 1087. Feb 21, 2012 looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. Simply connect the external drive via thunderbolt, usb, firewire or esata to your computer, turn on the power and then use the native disk. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac. Add or delete partitions to your hard drive without formatting in windows 7 10. Now, click on the top partition, name it windows, and change its format to msdos. To format hard drive from bios, you have to change the settings to boot automatically from disk. Sometimes you may need a formatted hard drive for special purposes to use with certain applications or operating systems. For example, if the external hard drive has ever been formatted to ext in linux or hfs in mac os, it is not showing up in windows 7 because different operating systems support different file systems. If your unable to transfer files onto your mac from an external hard drive, in this video i show you how to format your external hard drive to work with both mac and a windows pc. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. How to transfer files from external hard drive to a mac.
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