The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. A solid state drive is primarily used on mac machine. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. Installing mac os x on blank hard drive using internet recovery. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. If this is really your hard drive, then this step should recreate your macintosh hd volume. Run mac os x on an appletv with an external hard drive how to. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at the same time and type in disk utility to. How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for.
Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as. Apfs also isnt compatible with time machine at this time, so youll have to format backup drives as mac os extended. How to format a hdd from ntfs to apple os x file system. Aug 30, 2016 this is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. Format a drive for mac os x and windows sign in to comment. This will format hdd on mac and you will be able to use it as new. Just a car has its own system and a bus has its own system. Because fat32 supports only up to 4 gb large files, it should be used only with flash drives. There is no disk for me to select when it apple community. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x.
Jan 02, 2016 formatting a drive on your mac is quite easy. How to install and run mac os x from an external hard drive. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Windows uses nt file system ntfs and mac os x uses os x.
Formatting hard drive in any operating system is not a complicated procedure, and its the same with mac os x. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Here are the three solutions to format a hard drive under macos 10. In this article, we will introduce you a few tools you can use for formatting hard drive under macos 10. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide.
How to wipe your mac memory and reset to default settings. Create a bootable install usb drive of mac os x 10. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Feb 07, 2016 erase mac hard drive and reinstall os x. The usb drivers come with the fat format by default. Jul 15, 2009 format a drive for mac os x and windows. How to format a hdd from ntfs to apple os x file system quora. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. How to access mac osx extended formatted hard drive in.
Luckily, you can install the mac os from the apple server or the recovery partition in your drive whenever you want. Choose mac os extended journaled partition for the volume format. Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you. However, when we connect a ntfs formatted disk to mac, mac os x doesnt allow us to write files to the drive neither edit files, though it can read a ntfs drive. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using.
Although the erasure process is a bit difficult, the tool to format the hard drives is builtinto the macos. Make sure to select the parent hard disk in the sidebar. Installing mac os x on blank hard drive using internet. Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a. Similarly each operating system works on different file system and it is unique. Remember that you should not install the application on the formatted drive. However, os x and windows both can read and write to a format called fat32, which used to be. After you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. And forget about reading an apfs drive from windows. May 09, 2008 these are instructions on how to format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility. 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.
Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a name for the drive. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support canada. Os x can default read ntfs disks, but not write to them. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Launch disk utility, located in applications utilities. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. If you selected the drive name instead of its description you wont see the scheme. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. You can format an external drive in os x using disk utility and terminal.
The command line approach to disk erasure in macos is a bit different and it requires precise syntax to insure that you are erasing the proper disk, making this method of erasing any disk only. If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you may also consider the exfat files system. The volume representing your startup disk is macintosh hd, unless. Format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility iclarified. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. When you have the need to format a hard drive under macos 10. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os, a task which is typically performed through the disk utility application from the gui.
This is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it will be the. But before you can do anything, you need to make it clear that the hard. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Select disk utility from the utilities window in macos recovery. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. In this tutorial i will go through all steps you need to follow in order to format your entire hard drive or just a. Once the formatting process gets started, your data on the hard drive will be removed. Instructions for installing an internal drive as a bootable or a storage drive in macos x. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility.
Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Click on it to select, make sure the partition map scheme is guid partition table. While os x can read and write to fatbased filesystems, ntfs is read only on. Jan 24, 2016 each operating system has their own file system. Tutorial how to format hard drive on your mac os x the. These discs are available for os x snow leopard, os x lion, and os x mountain lion. 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. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. The msdos fat32 or exfat volume formats are compatible with windows computers.
Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Ntfs, fat, and all derivatives of fat are only for msbased operating systems. If your mac is from 2012 or earlier, there was an installation disc in the original box. Jul 28, 20 also the other format option mac os extended casesensitive, journaled in the dropdown would allow you have same name files or folders in the same location with a mix of case like red and red, this is popular in the linux disk format and also possible on osx but not the default on osx shipped disks.
Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. If you are wondering how to wipe a hard drive or format disk terminal mac you are just at the right place. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Unlike windows os, mac os doesnt provide quick format tool. These are instructions on how to format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility. Mar 16, 2020 it is very wellknown that reinstalling the operating system deletes every data and setting on the system. Currently, if you only have a mac computer with macos high sierra or above and couldnt find a windows computer to use our windows version, you can still try to install and run mac os x 10.
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 recover data from formatted external hard drive on mac. Read only ntfs from native mac os x to readwriteformat ntfs from mac os x, here are some alternatives. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. If theres an older mac you need a drive to work with, apfs is a bad choice for that drive. Sep 20, 2019 if theres an older mac you need a drive to work with, apfs is a bad choice for that drive. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Switch over to disk utility iirc, should be in one of the menus, see if the hdd device is there. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Feb 11, 2017 if so, what happens if you try to erase it. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as describe.
Click on disk utility and select quit disk utility. You should get a drop down that gives you a place to enter a name macintosh hd, a format that says mac os extended journaled, and a scheme called guid partition map. Locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. Help, restored macintosh hd to os x base apple community. With my external hd still empty, i went to utility disk, selected erase, changed the format to mac os ext journaled and selected guid partition map under the scheme option then i erased.
When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window. The disk utility application is located in the utilities subfolder. This howto shows you the steps using disk utility in os x 10. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer.
Make sure that the sidebar in disk utility shows the name of your startup disk. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Step one if your hard drive is an external drive, connect it to the computer. If youre unable to use internet recovery mode or create a bootable usb installer, you can still use a mac os x installation disc. Actually, most external hard disks could be compatible with mac and pc as long as you format them correctly. Ive ordered a usb to sata cable to format the drive from another mac, but can i format the drive, as os x extended journaled, in windows. Make sure you choose mac os journaled extended when setting up.
Whether you are planning to make a clean installation mac os x or you need much larger file to store more files, in both cases you will need to format your hard drive. Its easy to use only if you know the right way to do it. If you move a hard drive between the two operating systems, heres what you need to know. The mac os x extended volume format is optimal for macs. With these solutions, you can easily format a hard drive under macos 10. In disk utility, of os x utilities, select the partition in the lefthand column that you created in the previous step preparing to erase. When the application is open, select the files you want to retrieve from the formatted drive. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk utility.
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