How to fix external hard drive not mounting on mac computer. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first. Connect the empty external hd to your mac and launch disk utility. 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 filesystem is highly recommended, and necessary for time machine and to make disks bootable. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the partition tab. 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. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on a mac.
But if you try to use an external hard drive thats been formatted for mac os. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. The disk utility has changed, you might want to update the screen shots to reflect the new version, the partition tab is noticeably different. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Click the initialize button on a small popup screen to create your first. You can find this on the lefthand side of the screen under external hard drives. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives.
Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. By default its the disk built into your mac, named macintosh hd. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. Heres what to do if your device is not detected in windows and mac. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows.
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. First, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. Use external storage devices with mac apple support. Do not format this external hard drive before you get your data back. Accessing mac formatted wd hard drive from pc external. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. Follow onscreen prompts to choose mac os extended journaled file system and allow the disk to format. External hard drives use either spinning disks or solid memory to save your files. Use a software solution you get a piece of software that sits on your mac.
Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on mac. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted. Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. I usually use a firewire that connects into the hard drive. What to do when your external hard drive wont show up. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. Next, under the partition layout column, specify the number of partitions you want. Gtechnology portable external hard drive 2tb from the sleek design to the pre formatting, this terabytesized drive is perfect for mac users who need a little extra space and offers the transfer rate up to 140mbs for accessing all your files. External hard drives back up your most important files, but what happens when they malfunction. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Data corruption can occur as well, turning the contents into an unrecoverable mess. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch. Choose exfat as the file system in the format partition screen. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. Amazons choice for external hard drive formatted for mac western digital 2tb elements portable external hard drive usb 3. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. Usb drives and external hard drives on macos catalina are used for storing and backing up important data such as photos, videos, audios, images, notes, messages, music. How to open mac format usb devce in windows safeer techie.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch the app on your mac. If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. It interprets what is on the external hard drive so that your mac or pc can read and write to the drive.
Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between. Open the start menu and search for disk management. Do not save new things to this drive, or perform other operations like deletion, file removal, etc. Master boot record is appropriate for external drives used with a pc or boot camp. How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. Sometimes, you may want to try format directly to format your external hard drive partition to exfat for mac and windows. After the fourth year of ownershipusage, hard drive failure rates skyrocket. On mac computers, use the finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. The drives are identified in the first column of the management screen. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer internal ones or external ones connected via usb. How to format usb drive external hard drive on macos catalina.
How to format your hard drive seagate support canada. Click on the erase option from the four options available in the main window. Moving files from mac formatted external hard drive to pc i have an external hard drive where i moved all of my mac photos to. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or.
How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. While drives are sold as plugandplay, formatting prior to use will give you optimal performance and compatibility with your mac. I now have a pc with windows 10, but i cant find a way to save the photos onto my computer. Not like it is grayed out and cannot click on it, it just isnt there. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Hi, i am trying to access my wd hard drive which i have been using on my mac from my pc. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag.
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. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. However, if youre having problems accessing the files and the issue is due to formatting, you will need to connect it to a device it can be read on, and then format the files correctly for the computer you are going to use. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Options for having an external hard drive for mac and pc without formatting. Best external drives for mac and pc interchangeable 2020. However, it is not possible to format hard drive to exfat, the only option under the window of format file system is ntfs default. Formatting external hard drive hi, im trying to reformat an external hard drive i own, when i go to disk management and right click the drive their is no format option. To convert an external hard drive from apple to pc youll have to format the drive so that. Where and with working to reformat my new hd, i have been directed to base support and then knowledge base answer id 3865. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it.
Lacie rugged mini 4tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. When you get a new hard drive, it may already be formatted for windows or mac. How you format a mac hard dr ive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Click the file menu and select load file system from device. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other.
Formatting external hard drive microsoft community. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. With disk utility open, locate the hard drive you want to partition and select partition. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. And you show you the partitions under the external hdd. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. 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. Storage devices such as external hard drives can also be available. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on mac and windows computers, providing you format using exfat. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility.
Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. For the best result, select the disk the highest option in the. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to format an external drive for mac launch disk utility. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities.
External hard drives, thumb drives, usb drives, flash memory cards, and devices like ipod are examples of storage devices that you can connect to your mac using thunderbolt, usb, or firewire cables, or connect wirelessly using bluetooth. 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. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. How to convert an external hard drive from apple to pc. Where, i am seeing instruction links, for mac operating system, for as far back as mac os x 10.
692 226 1443 1200 627 792 275 577 1207 924 1517 1123 959 825 1247 329 1400 120 763 1429 1398 320 1420 1100 321 530 616 950 1157 160 1198 495 1223 1269 817 710 511 1238 1214 1076 1216 828 662