

- How to format external hard drive mac os x for free#
- How to format external hard drive mac os x how to#
- How to format external hard drive mac os x for mac os x#

Click on the Partition tab, and remove remove all the partitions for that drive (careful here, you cant hose your boot partition, but any others are open season). Using an external drive to install Mac OS X Mountain Lion can save some time if you have to install the operating system on multiple computers. See what the disk identifier is (for example, 'disk3'). Next, I will show you how you can do that, using the Disk Utility, a tool that comes installed with your Mac OS X. If the drive is going to be used only with your Mac and with other Macs, then consider using Apple's Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) format, and only use FAT32 if you intend to use the drive with a. MS-DOS fat32 format with Disk Utility Go into Disk Utility, right-click on the drive you want to format, and select Info. Don’t Format the Drive (Yet) When you connect a Mac-formatted drive to Windows, you’ll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it. Then, you can use the drive in macOS or OS X as a regular hard drive. Wait for the process to complete and let the macOS erase data on the drive and reformat it by FAT32 or ex-FAT format. Often switch between a Mac and PC Want to use one USB flash storage device for both The thing is that by default, these platforms use different file systems discs are formatted differently. But in order for the computer and drive to communicate with one another, the drive has to be formatted with the correct file system.
How to format external hard drive mac os x how to#
Learn how to format a hard drive on a PC or Mac. A drive can be used on any type of computer - PC or Mac. Therefore, if you want to use a NTFS formatted external drive on your Mac, you might want to change the format to FAT32, because it is a file system that is compatible with all types of computers (Windows, Mac or Linux-based). Rename the drive, select the 'Volume Format' drop-down list and choose 'MS-DOS (FAT)' or 'ex-FAT File System'. Formatting your hard drive is recommended if you're selling your computer or setting up an external drive.
How to format external hard drive mac os x for mac os x#
Possible solutions/options: NTFS for Mac OS X (10 Days Trial): I use this one, and it does the job very well. Normally, hard drives used on Windows-based systems are formatted using the NTFS file system and, while Mac computers can read and copy data from this type of hard drive, they can't write it on them. OS X can default read NTFS disks, but not write to them. Nowadays, external hard drives are a common solution for storing and transferring large amounts of data from one computer to another. But, if you want to use an external hard drive on your Mac that was mainly used on a Windows computer, you might encounter a problem.
How to format external hard drive mac os x for free#
How to Convert External Hard Drive to FAT32 on Mac OS X for Free Using Disk Utility
