Copy a data disk uing one optical drive using disk utility on os x how to. Formatting a hard drive means to delete any existing information on the drive and make up a file system for the drive so that the operating system can write data on the drive and read data from the drive. 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. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Support for windows 7 32bit and 64bit was released in macdrive 8 and is also included in both macdrive 9 standard and macdrive 9 pro. Easily format external hard drive on windows or mac. Want to know how to format a hard drive keep reading to bring a hard drive in your use for storage in windows a hard drive needs to be format first. I have purchased a 1tb portable external seagate hard drive and i would like to use it with both my mac and windows computer. How to format a mac external hard drive to be compatible. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Open finder, click the go dropdown menu, and select utilities. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support.
Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. 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 external hard drive get attached to your system. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. For mac, the mac os extension is the file system included in mac os 10. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. I know mac operating system doesnt fully supports ntfs formatted drive. And apfs takes the advantages of strong encryption, space sharing, disk snapshots and is compatible with ssd on new mac. You just need to mount your disk and access all of your files. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. A new hard drive has to be formatted with some specific file systems before being used in windows 7 operating system os.
If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Today im going to show you how to format any hard drive so you can use it to back up your mac as well as answer a lot of questions my clients. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. How to format a hard drive with windows 7 digital trends. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac.
This will give you the screen with all the partitions on the drive. If you wish to boot the drive on a pc or use it with older versions of windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to master boot record mbr for full windows compatibility. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Add virtual cd and dvd drives to your pc with alcohol how to. If given a choice, the two common modes are ntfs and fat32.
Stepbystep instructions to format a hard drive in windows 7, including screenshots for each step to make the process easy to follow. To format the primary drive the hard disk where the operating system resides you need to boot into the setup program on windows 7 or. How can i format a mac os external hard drive to windows using a windows pc. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. A five day free trial of macdrive is available if you would like to evaluate it before purchasing. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. The two solutions above can help you format external hard drive on windows or mac. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Different os has different default file system, and windows default file system is ntfs, os x nfs plus, and linux ext family.
Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Plug the disk into a windows vista sp1 or windows 7 computer. To use it, download hfs for windows here and install on your pc. About how to format external hard drives for both macs and windows pcs, and what is the best format for using usb external drives on mac. With the drive selected in disk utility, click partition. Repair a power mac g5 remove the superdrive how to. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on. 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. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Has the ability to retrieve lost data from a secondary hard.
When you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. 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. Not just hard drives, but removable usb drives, too. Its possible to format your external hard drive with windows and without a mac but without erasing the disk isnt possible and you will have to keep back up if you want your data and you will need a thirdparty tool or software for that. Is a version of macdrive available which supports windows 7. Once the set up is complete, mount your drive and it will be visible on file explorer. How to format the c drive with windows 7 with pictures. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Want to format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Guide how to format hard drive from usb with bootable.
In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. 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. If you dont have access to windows installation media, but you do still have access to a working copy of windows 10, windows 8, or windows 7, you can create a system repair disc or recovery drive depending on your version of windows and then boot from that and format c from there. 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. Create a windows installation disk and boot your pc from it. Windows can read and write to ntfsformatted drives. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. To format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in windows, mac, and linux. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to format a mac drive in windows 7 microsoft community. Securely format external hard drive on windows and mac with super eraser.
Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. If you dont want to use the ntfs file system, you can replace it with a different one, such as fat32. Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
How to install the microsoft windows operating system. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Click your hard drives name in the window near the bottom of the screen. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. To restore a windows 7 or vista computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the computer or an original windows 7 or vista installation disc. The system tells you what key to press during the restart, so pay attention to your screen and be quick at pressing the right key. With macdrive 9 standard, you can access, manage, and even create and format disk drives for apples mac os from inside windows explorer. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. It is a quick way to format external hard drive on mac. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac.
Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. The formatted files erased by disk utility also can be recovered by free mac data recovery software. It allows for recovery of lost data like photos, documents and videos from a hard drive that has been corrupted or formatted accidentally. It is recommended to choose the compatible format that the system lists. Data rescue is excellent hard drive recovery software for mac os. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac.
If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. If you dont see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into start. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. The hard drive will be erased, and windows 8 will be reinstalled. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Formatting windows 7 hard drive will erase all the data on the drive and rebuild a file system.
How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use.
Format hard drive on windows 7 or earlier versions step 1 restart your computer and press f8 or del key to enter the bios settings. Has bootwell feature that makes recovery of macs main hard drive easy and fast. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. I will leave windows instructions below for the benefit of windows users. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. All data has to be put in a file format that the operating system can read off the hard drive. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Other than using the thirdparty tool, you can also format your hard drive from usb with the help of windows installation disk, which, as you will know, is relatively more complicated than using a bootable format tool as shown in method 1 step 1.
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