How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. For instance, you might wish to format as sd card, pen drive, external hard disk, etc. Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. You can apply the thirdparty solution to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 explorer or disk management. How to format a disk or drive in windows 10 format is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solidstate drive, or usb flash drive for initial use to accept windows files.
To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing data. 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. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Mar 19, 2020 how to format a hard drive in windows follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac. If you are not comfortable with the previous method.
Apr 17, 2020 to format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Now, click on the top partition, name it windows, and change its format to msdos. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with windows computers. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. By default, macs use hfs, while pcs use ntfs, which are not compatible with each other. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility posted by ant on march 11th, 2012 43 comments if you have an external hard drive or usb flash drive that youd like to use on both macs and windows pcs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing. Usb drives and external hard drives use the windows fat32 to format for compatibility.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. You can format it using windows builtin tools or third party partition formatting tool. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. Apple now uses apfs or the apple file system and windows uses the ntfs file system for its internal drives. Connect your external hard drive to your windows 10 pc. Feb 08, 2012 to partition and format your drive, you can use windows builtin tool called disk management. How to wipe a hard drive in windows 10 and macos techradar. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Jan 27, 2019 mac instructions above will now work for exfat. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed.
How to format a mac hdd to win ntfs using win 10 microsoft. 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 part 3. From all above, you can have a general idea of fat32 and exfat file system. You can format the drive on your mac or windows computer. To do this, search cmd in the windows 10 search box, rightclick on the command prompt search result and select run as administrator. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. If you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. If you want to save larger files, youll need to create a second, dedicated space using a format optimized for macos. If you are a personal user, you can try its professional edition.
Then click the second partition, name it mac, and change its format to mac os extended journaled. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Dont forget to check out all of the hard drives and storage solutions. For instance, it allows you to delete partition, resize partition and wipe partition etc. If you move a hard drive between the two operating systems, heres what you need to know.
Apr 14, 2020 finally, an exfat partition will be created on your external hard disk so that it could be shared between mac and windows pc. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32 gb or less. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt.
Format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt run the command prompt as administrator. I thought it would be pretty helpful if you made a video showing how to format a disc to run on all oss using mac os x. 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 use diskpart to clean and format a drive not. You will learn how to format the external hard disk which has deafult ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. A complete solution do you wish to format hard drive for mac and pc, but cant find a solution. Here well take how to format hard drive using cmd on windows 10 as an example to show you to detail steps. How to format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt. This is because the ps4 uses a format not recognised by windows. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. Read this stepwise tutorial and learn how to format hdd for mac and windows like a pro.
How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. 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. 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. Starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. After disk management opens, which might take several seconds, look for. To use it, download hfs for windows here and install on your pc. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10.
To format hard drive for mac and windows without data loss, we suggest using minitool partition wizard and its convert ntfs to fats32 function. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. These steps will show the process using windows 10, but will be similar for windows 7 and 8. How to format ps4 hard drive for pc in windows 1087. It is time to learn how to format your external hard drive or other external drives to a common file system for mac and windows. As both windows and mac provide native solutions to format hard drive, you should avoid using any unreliable thirdparty tool.
Dec 02, 2019 windows cant read mac drives as they both use different file systems. Click the format popup menu, then choose one of the following. How to use the format command to write zeros to a hard drive. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Nov, 2019 a system repair disc can be created from any working windows 7 computer and can then be used to write zeros to any drive using the included format command, including the primary drive, no matter what windows operating system is on the computer. Here, you will learn three ways to format a hard drive in windows 10 by using disk management, a partition management software and diskpart in command prompt. Follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. Click the scheme popup menu, then choose master boot record. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac. 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. Mac can read all the file system formats including windows. The latter requires to you to use a command line interface, while the former uses a graphical user interface. May 29, 2018 its not a tough task to format your drive with common file system for mac and windows. If youre planning on just using the drive in windows, select ntfs. You can select to use a fat, fat32, exfat, ntfs, or refs file system when formatting. 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 first step in repurposing a windows xp computer is to reformat the hard drive, and this is how it should be done. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt toms. Jul 15, 2009 format a drive for mac os x and windows. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions.
Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. If you dont know how to format a hard drive or an external hard drive, youve come to the right place. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. To format a hard drive using diskpart, you need to follow the commands below carefully.
How to quickly make a mac os x bootable usb on windows. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Then i would suggest you to search for a third party software which directly converts the to ntfs format for windows operating system. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
At this point, you can proceed to the next section to format your mac backup partition. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. 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. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the chances of file. Sep 23, 2019 however, if you find yourself on a scenario where your device imac, macbook pro, air, mac pro or mini is not responding and you happen to have a windows device, then you can still be able to make a usb bootable installation media for your mac os x to reinstall the operating system using the recovery assistant. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it using. Open the disk management tool by rightclicking this pc manage disk management. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Aug 22, 2019 how to format hard drive on mac and pc. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac.
How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. 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. If you want to share files that you have backed up between mac and pc, now please transfer these files back to external hard drive. A system repair disc can be created from any working windows 7 computer and can then be used to write zeros to any drive using the included format command, including the primary drive, no matter what windows operating system is on the computer. Disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Jul 19, 2019 ntfs is a commonly used file format for windows systems and external devices. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac.
You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. For example, in the screenshot below, the mac formatted drive is disk 2. 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. How to partition and format your hard drive in windows pcworld. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Give your settings a final lookover and click apply.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. In general, windows builtin tools disk management and diskpart can format drive to exfat easily. I will leave windows instructions below for the benefit of windows users. If youre looking to dualboot with linux or run windows boot camp, you can format the partition as msdos fat, however, these programs. Plug the disk into a windows vista sp1 or windows 7 computer. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window.
Thus, if you wish to format ntfs on mac, then you must be using an external storage unit. In this video i help you guys convert your mac only external hdd into a windows compatible one. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways. If youre just using the drive for your linux computer, select ext4. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Windows cannot see the mac drive since its in the hfs format, windows uses ntfs, and the only common format. While formatting, you would be asked to pick a file system for the disk. Disk fixer how to use diskpart to clean and format a drive not working on windows 10 if your computer has a drive issue, it could just be a logical problem, which you can quickly fix using. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. A system repair disc does not install windows 7 and you will not need a product key to use a system repair disc.
May 02, 2015 old windows xp desktops and laptops can be turned into offline media centers for a family room, play computers for a childs bedroom, recipe holders for the kitchen, etc. Nov, 2019 if you dont know how to format a hard drive or an external hard drive, youve come to the right place. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to convert mac only external hdd to windows compatible. Nov 19, 2015 now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in windows, mac, and linux. But its a good idea to also create a third partition on your disk that both macos and windows 10 can use. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Format external hard drive with windows builtin tool. Though the default hard disk file system also known as format of windows and mac are different, there should be some ways to format an external drive for both mac and pc. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Once the set up is complete, mount your drive and it will be visible on file explorer. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom.
To make it work in windows youll need to remove the existing partitions and create a new partition that is recognised by windows. If you want to use the drive to transfer files between linux, mac, and windows computers, as well as most devices that support usb storage, select fat. In fact, aomei partition assistant can provide you with more functions. Jan 17, 2019 starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. You just need to mount your disk and access all of your files. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. You can repartition and format your hard drives in windows using the disk management tool. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. The format is not used for the internal hard drives in mac. Connect the hdd to a mac and format the drive as fat32 and then connect the same mac hdd to windows and convert it to ntfs. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. Plug in your external hdd to the usb port of your computer then go to my computer find your external drive rightclick it and select format. Therefore, make sure that the file system is supported by your mac or windows.