Depending on how you started recovery mode, you may be presented with the option to start disk utility right away, as seen above. Click the erase button and let the drive format this is the point of no return. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. For more security, consider turning on filevault encryption when you. The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os.
Buying an external hard drive for your mac is not all that different from buying one for your windows pc, except for one very important complication. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. They are great for backing up data, creating extra storage space on your computer and transferring large amounts of data between two or more computers. Some people may want to format a storage because they want to clean hard drive mac and others might want to install fresh os x. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. This small compact ssd drive from samsung comes with both a usbc to usbc cable and a usbc to usba, meaning its perfect to use with your macbook or mac. Click on the partition button and wait until the volumes mount on the desktop. Here then are the best external hard drives for mac of 2020 in order of ranking. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Select the volume you just created this is the subentry under the drive entry from the left side list.
Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. This method uses the utilities which can be run only on the mac os. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Wd my passport for mac best overall the western digital 2tb my passport for mac is the perfect 2tb portable external hard drive for mac users. But some mac users might need to erase them from the command line on mac os. External usb hard drives are lightweight, portable and inexpensive. For example, here wed type select disk 2 finally, type clean and press enter. You can start dragging and dropping files into the drive, or copy files to your macs internal hard drive. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Need to replace a hard drive in a macbook ask different. Select disk utility and choose the hard drive you wish to format, click the erase tab, and then pull down the format menu and select mac os extended journaled as the type, name the drive if you wish. Support recovering data from hard drive under data loss situations including mistaken deletion, improper operation, formation, hard drive crashes, etc.
When prompted, select the mac os extended journaled format. 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. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. Mac secret trick how to clone mac hard drive with disk utility hdd sdd macbook pro imac 20102019 duration. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost.
Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Since formatting an external hard drive will erase all of its files if you wish to save them you must back them up copy. However, i dont see how this could stop you from erasing the drive in disk utility while booted from recovery drive. Most users use disk utility to erase a disk or hard drive. My hard drive crashed on my imac took it to computer repair they installed new hard drive, tried to recover data but could not, when we presented the imac to the apple store they told me i would have to buy back my old hd from them um hello no way, so thats why we went to another place that works on macs, so apple said i had lion on the mac, i. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Its fast 540 mbs read and write speeds are more than enough to transfer any file. With a solidstate drive ssd, secure erase options are not available in disk utility. Heres how to format a dr ive using a mac including how to format a dr ive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. Could you post a screen shot of what you are seeing that shows your drive is locked. To set up your wd elements drive to work on your mac youll need to format it for mac. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. If possible, back up your mac using an external hard drive or cloud storage system prior to formatting your disk to avoid personal data loss.
If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Formatting your macbook pro will erase all personal contents from your computer. Select the hard drive and click erase, then disk utility will help you format and erase the hard drive or device. 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. To format an external storage device, connect it to one of the ports on your mac. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. After you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. Your first step to using your toshiba external drive on your mac is to plug your toshiba drive in. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats.
Dont forget to follow the additional steps if youre selling a macbook with. Click on disk utility then continue first of all to get your macs hard drive wiped. 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. Disk utility is a smart hard drive format tool built in mac system. If you want to make use of your macs thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a. Make sure to select the parent hard disk in the sidebar. Click on the disk utility option and then click continue. How to wipe your mac and reinstall macos from scratch. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Select your startup drive on the left typically macintosh hd, switch to the erase tab and choose mac os.
You just have to reformat your hard drive and reinstall a clean. Its possible when you installed macos that you auto selected to encrypt your drive. Yet when you connect a mac formatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. The good news is the disk utility built into the os x comes in handy, like a visual assistant making the process easier. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. How to connect external hard drive to macbook pro wikihow. The reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. Weve shown you how to securely wipe a hard drive with your mac, and doing so in recovery mode isnt really different from doing so within macos. This command erases the entire selected disk, including all its files and partitions whether. Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left.
Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. 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. Here are our favorite usbc hard drives for your mac. Right click on your toshiba external hard drive icon and pick get info from the menu. You should use this button to eject the hard drive every time you want to disconnect. 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. So please back up your important files before you run super eraser for mac to format. To do that, the only thing you need is a bit of precise syntax to make sure that you are erasing the proper disk. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. If you need to erase everything on macbook pro, only formatting the.
If not, at least give a full description of what you are. Turn the drive on, and make sure it appears in the finder. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. If you need to remove the hard drive with os files, you can use method 2. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. Format your macbook pro using any of the methods in this article if a flashing question mark displays onscreen after starting up your mac. Click over and in a few minutes youll have the formatting all done. Heres a tutorial on how to format a drive on a windows computer. How do i unlock my apple macbook air with my pen drive. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Here ill show you how you can erase and format a disk using the command line.
This means your macbook is unable to locate its system software, and cannot start up without your attempting to recover or perform a clean install of os x. Its ready formatted for use on mac, time machine ready and small enough to fit in your coat pocket. These usbc hard drives can back up or beef up your macs storage usbc is the future, and grabbing an external hard drive is a great way to store backups, music, movies, files, and more. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac apple. The hard drive will operate just like a hard drive on any other computer with folders that can be broken into subfolders and even more subfolders within that. Permanently deleted files from the external hard drive on mac, like using commandshiftdelete to empty the trash, or optioncommanddelete, known as delete immediately to bypass trash. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. If you desire encryption, then select mac os extended journaled, encrypted format instead. 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. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the drive click cancel. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Files were unknowingly hidden somewhere, and you lost the entrance. Be sure to doublecheck this you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use.
Format the external hard drive using disk utility or other thirdparty disk formatting tools. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take. Highlight your macbooks internal hard drive from the list on the left side of the window. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved. Youll find my article on how you format the wd elements hard drive here.
There is an eject button next to the device in files. Recover photos, audios, documents, videos, archives and other files on mac. Doubleclick the drive on your desktop or select it from the left frame of a finder window to view the contents of the drive. If the drive is internal, it should already show up in.
Just run it on your mac, it will show all the hard drives and external devices on your mac. 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. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd. 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 reformat my hard drive using my macbook air quora.
Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. If you see the drive is ntfs then youll either need to reformat the drive or use a ntfs driver. If you read my previous post about how to format an external drive for mac, you know that i bought a 2tb seagate expansion external hard drive and managed to create two partitions on the disk one for mac backup purposes, and the other for personal use in this article, im going to show you how to back up your mac data to an external drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to erase everything on macbook pro hard drive befre. Now in this interface, you will see a format option.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Use the disk utility application to erase the drive.
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