Mac can read all the file system formats including windows. But to get a hard drive to be compatible with both mac and pc, you have to. Ntfs format hard disks can be connected to mac os but the drive will run with readonly permission which means you can only copy from hard disk but cant add or. Formatting a hard drive on windows is largely the same whether youre using windows 10, 8, or 7. That makes using the drive a bit troublesome on mac machines. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. If your external hard drive is working, your computer will. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. After realizing that you can reformat wd hard drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac os x and still can be used under windows, it is time to check out how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc in windows successfully.
How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. After you select the drive, click the erase button at the top of the window, and then select msdos fat from the format menu. How one can reformat an exterior drive for mac techdata. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to format external drives on mac what you should. That said, our guide splits the external drive in half.
So if your external hard drive already has important files on it, make sure to back them up before proceeding. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. You format the drive for either windows or mac via the app, settings, manage music. Partition a hard drive for macos time machine and windows. But its a little different if youre formatting the primary drive vs. 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. You will learn how to format the external hard disk which has deafult ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc.
But unlike other electronics on the market, its possible to reformat an external drive to work wi. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. However, fat32 has a maximum 4gb file size limit whereas exfat can work with. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Learn how to format an external hard drive, ssd, or a usb flash drive on mac for both mac and windows. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. 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.
External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. How to reformat an external drive for mac warehouse.
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. One primary section capable of storing files larger than 4gb, and a secondary section capable of sharing files between macos and windows 10. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state drives ssds provide one of the easiest ways to transfer files between separate computers without accessing the.
If the external hard drive is pre formatted for mac, disk management will list 3 partitions and you will not be able to delete the health efi system partition because its a protected partition. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. 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. Formatting your drive will erase all the existing files on it. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. How to make external hard drive work with mac and pc youtube. 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. What hard drive format works on mac, pc, and chromebook.
Because fat32 supports only up to 4 gb large files, it should be used only with flash drives. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. However, this format doesnt support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4k videos and so on between macs and windows 10. 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. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Rather than use a mac formatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs.
How to format an external hard drive for windows 10. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. Most of the external hard disks and flash drives are formatted for microsoft windows operating systems. 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 to external drive formatted in. If youve just bought yourself a shiny new external drive and cant get it to work on your mac, its possible that the drive isnt compatible with macos. If you want to format a blank external drive from a mac computer, launch the disk utility, located in the applications utility folder. I explain the differences between the formats afps, mac.
Its the most secure, robust file system that a windows user could wish for. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. To extend the life of your storage drive, its a good practice to always put it on a flat and stable surface and away from heaters, humidifiers or air conditioners. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so.
Connect your external hard drive to a windows computer. Ntfs has quite a lot of strong advantages, which may actually make it a good format choice for certain external hard drives, depending on the circumstances. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. Best external drives for mac and pc interchangeable 2020. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Select the mac partition we created in windows 10, click erase on the menu bar, choose mac. Want to format your external drive for mac and pc compatibility. In the disk utility inspector window, you will see all your drives and attached storage. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities.
The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. One primary section capable of storing files larger than 4gb, and a secondary section capable of sharing files between macos and windows. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. This means its the format of choice for system drives on windows computers. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods.
How to format external drives to work on macwindows. How can i format a mac os external hard drive to windows using a. Leo laporte answers lees question about drive formats and how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac, windows, and chromebook. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Check out this stepbystep tutorial we created earlier. Select the mac partition we created in windows 10, click erase on the menu bar, choose mac os extended.
As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Apfs launched as a alternative to mac os prolonged, the brand new file format provides improved effectivity and reliability, though it comes at a value. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Fat32 is popular but the 4gb filesize limit makes it inconvenient, for instance, when you want to make a bootable macos sierra usb drive which the system file takes about 8gb of. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. 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. Apple mac machines support a different file system.