Under the format menu, choose the file system you want to use. That partition will also be used to store any software you install. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. From here, you can launch the disk utility application. How to format a hard drive in windows 10windows 8windows 8. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. When the wizard is finished you will now have a new drive available in windows explorer for the old ps4 hard drive.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. It just securely formats your mac hard drivedevice and permanently erases all the data. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Disk utility is a smart hard drive format tool built in mac system. In this video i demonstrate how to reformat an external hard drive in windows 88. Run mac os x on an appletv with an external hard drive how to. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. How to format a hard drive with windows 8 techwalla. 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. Im usually change hard drives to a bigger capacity ones and sold the old ones to others. Aug 17, 2018 the above command will open a diskpart window. Choose ok in the warning dialog to confirm and begin formatting way 2. With macdrive 9 standard, you can access, manage, and even create and format disk drives for apples mac os from inside windows explorer. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive.
Give your settings a final lookover and click apply. Now, click on the top partition, name it windows, and change its format to msdos. See the above section for more details on which one to pick. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities.
How to format a hard drive for mac that would be sold to another person. Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. With the drive selected in disk utility, click partition. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Not just hard drives, but removable usb drives, too. The same process applies to both hard disk drives, or hdds, and solid state drives, or ssds. To format new hard drive or partition in windows 8. 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. Apr 29, 2020 follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. The two solutions above can help you format external hard drive on windows or mac. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.
If you have multiple internal hard drives, you can select a different hard drive from the one running macos and create a single partition on that drive to use solely for. Meanwhile, there should also be support on linux and appels mac. 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. Then i had converted it into fat32 because i wanted to write stuff on it from mac. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. Keep clicking next to progress through, you can also choose a name for the drive under the volume label. Then click the second partition, name it mac, and change its format to mac os extended journaled.
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. As the disk management window appears, rightclick a hard drive and select format. Mar 15, 2018 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. Jun 30, 2018 you will learn how to format the external hard disk which has default ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. Rightclick the hard disk you would like to format, and choose format in the context menu step 3. It is necessary to format hard disk partitions for the purpose of erasing all data, eliminating computer virus and so forth. Apr 16, 2020 to format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. Install windows on your older mac using boot camp apple support. How to fix unformatted hard drives in windows 1087 easily.
Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. You may format windows 8 hard drive accidentally while performing some other action on hard drive partitions reformatting. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows. In this video i demonstrate how to reformat an external hard drive in windows 8 8. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use. After disk management opens, which might take several seconds, look for the drive you want to format from the list at. How to format a hard drive for windows 8 please put in hd and like comment subscribe download our app for android.
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. Check the format this volume with the following settings box, then click the file system box and select one of the following. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Select your startup drive on the left typically macintosh hd, switch to the erase tab and choose mac os. Remember to back up any files you want to keep before starting this. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac.
How to format ps4 hard drive for pc in windows 1087. Easily format external hard drive on windows or mac. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. How can i open my hard drive without formatting in windows. Securely format external hard drive on windows and mac with super eraser.
Has a storage limit of 32 gigabytes with an individual file size of 4 gigabytes. Before formatting a hard disk partition, make sure you have copied the useful data in it. Select your drive in the lefthand sidebar and go to the erase tab. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. Jan 24, 2020 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. If your answer is yes, you just come the right place. Nov 26, 2017 the new simple volume wizard will open. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons.
Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. This this tutorial should work just the same on windows 7. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. Sep 26, 2018 need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. Here, you can view all kinds of storage units available on your system both internal. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt toms. Mac can read all the file system formats including windows msdos, fat, fat32. Connect your external hard drive to your windows 10 pc.
When you reformat windows 8 hard drive, the old file system of the drive gets replaced by new one and all the information on. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. Create a bootable install usb drive of mac os x 10.
Create a portable, fully functional usb version of windows 8 how to. Use exfat if youre going to share files with a mac computer. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. I have this external hard disk of 500gb of verbatim. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. But the method 3 is the best for all type hard drive issues.
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 format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Jan 17, 2019 rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. In the disk management, youll see your external hard drive as partition or. Free space is needed because windows 8 will be installed on a partition of your macs hard drive reserved specifically for it. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. First of all, you should develop good habits of using computersalways use safely remove hardware to disconnect external hard drives and check virus regularly. Dec 29, 2015 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. Is there a way to completely format or erase the data from hard drive so it cannot be recovered by another user. I listed all possible ways to tackle with how to open my external hard drive without formatting in windows 10, 8, 7 etc. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. If it does not you will need to rightclick and delete the volume first.
For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. Apr 16, 2020 if your answer is yes, you just come the right place. 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. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at the same time and type in disk utility to find the program. Format a hard disk partition in computer management. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Here, easeus partition software is available for free download to help. How to format hard drive partition in windows 8 with free disk. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087.
This this tutorial should work just the same on windows 7 and windows 10. It is a quick way to format external hard drive on mac. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. 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.
How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. You will learn how to format the external hard disk which has default ntfs format, to make it compatible with mac os. Apr 26, 2020 how to fix unformatted hard drives in windows 1087 easily. If you have multiple internal hard drives, you can select a different hard drive from the one running macos and create a single partition on that drive to use solely for windows. If you have no idea how to do that, this article summarizes three methods in detail.
The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. 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. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. 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. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. 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.
If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. All data has to be put in a file format that the operating system can read off the hard drive. After deleting the volumes, or partitions, on the drive, you can format the drive and create new volumes. Free windows 8 hard drive format software aomei partition assistant helps you clean hard drive, remove virus and format ntfs to fat32 in. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Oct 18, 2019 this wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drive s format on windows and mac computers. Format external hard disk drive for mac os and windows. Oct, 2015 in this video i demonstrate how to reformat an external hard drive in windows 8 8.
I transferred movies, pictures, videos, songs, etc in it. Bootable usb hard disk format tool free download easeus. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers operating system, as well as fix any nonphysical errors on the drive itself. Open the disk management tool by rightclicking this pc manage disk management. Install windows on your older mac using boot camp apple. 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. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. To format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software.
Click on disk utility then continue first of all to get your macs hard drive wiped. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Then, you can fix unformatted hard drives in windows 1087 with three methods provided below. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. Format external hard drive with windows builtin tool. 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.
Opening disk management can be done a number of ways. You can do that by tapping the f8 or f12 key as the computer is starting it varies on different pcs. Being able to create a bootable usb flash drive and start from the disk, this program is a popular bootable partition tool that can help you format hard drive without windows installation cd. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard. But in order for the computer and drive to talk to one another, the drive has to be formatted. Jan 04, 2012 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.