To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between Mac and PC, you need to format an external hard drive for Mac and PC. Start the Disk Utility, located under Applications > Utilities. But writing to that drive? Click Go on the top tool bar, and select Utilities. Transferring Data From a Mac to PC via an External Hard Drive. If you need to use your drive on both Mac and PC then it’s best to format exFAT. Hard drives for Windows PC are formatted with NTFS by default, while hard disks for Mac … A drive can be formatted with exFAT using either a Windows or a Mac computer. Unlike Windows, macOS gives you the tools to format, … If you want to optimize performance, it’s best to format the drive using the computer’s native file system. I know Mac operating system doesn’t fully support NTFS formatted drive. This will open the Disk Utility app, where you... Then click View … If the hard drive you want to format is connected to your PC, it should be there. Connect the external hard drive to the computer. In this video tutorial, I show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a Mac and a PC. Enter a Name, select the Format and Scheme, and click Erase. These instructions apply only to Mac computers with an Intel processor . Currently, hard drives for Windows PC are always formatted with NTFS, while hard disks for Mac are formatted with HFS… For Mac users: G-Technology Portable External Hard Drive 2TB From the sleek design to the pre-formatting, this terabyte-sized drive is perfect for Mac users who need a little extra space and offers … The drive will now be … Reading PC-formatted hard drives using your Mac is easy enough. Find the name of the drive in the left … Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work. But make sure you save remove or disconnect from the computer. Typically, an external hard drive that works on a Windows PC uses an NTFS file system. Step 2. A new window will open, select the desired file system, keep the allocation unit size to default and check mark quick format … Step 1: Plug your external hard drive into your computer. Click the Partition button in Disk Utility's main window. The default file system in Windows is NTFS, while Mac … 2. And an external hard drive that works on a Mac is in HFS+ format. Step 2: If you have already written any data to the drive… Want to use external hard drive under both Windows PC and Mac? Formatting a hard drive for Mac isn’t rocket science, but I wouldn’t let your neighbor’s first-grader do it for you, either. 3. Go to Spotlight Search, type in Disk Utility, and click the first option. Here’s how to format a hard drive on Mac: Start up your computer … Plug in your external HDD to the USB port of your computer> then go to my computer > find your external drive > right-click it > and select format. “I have purchased a 1TB portable external Seagate hard drive and I would like to use it with both my Mac and Windows computer. Select the external hard drive (left; sorted Internal, External, and Disk Images) and click the Erase button. How to format a hard drive on Mac. This is because when you initially connect an external HDD made for Mac (to a Mac computer), you won’t be required to format … The first step to formatting your external drive for a Mac computer is choosing the right format. Insert the drive's USB cable into one of the thin, … The best news is that most devices included Mac computers can read and write from FAT32 devices. Use Disk Utility to erase (format) your Intel-based Mac computer's built-in disk (or SSD). … Method 3: Format external hard drive for Mac and PC. Well, that's a little more complicated. Step 1: Connect the external drive to the Mac. How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. On Mac: Plug your hard drive into your computer. For PC and Mac compatibility, select ExFAT (format… Format Hard Drive (Mac) 1. Keep in mind that you can only format … A drive can be used on any type of computer - PC or Mac. In this case, you should consider the hurdle that these operating systems support different filesystems. To create a new partition, click the drive in the list on the left side of the Disk Utility menu. Part 2. The instructions below are conducted on a Mac running macOS Mojave. Formatting an External Hard Disk Drive From a Mac: To put in simple words, if you want to share the external hard drive between Macintosh and Windows PC, you need to format an external hard drive for the respective system. You can format the external drive to exFAT both on a PC or a Mac. Right-click in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select New Simple Volume. Key considerations. 3. Just follow these steps below: Step 1. USB drives and external hard drives use the Windows FAT32 to format for compatibility. Just plug in the drive, then access the files you need to use. Erasing your Mac … But if I format the Seagate external hard drive to HFS+ file system, it will not be supported by my Windows computer. Next step, just click the Erase button the format the hard drive for Mac OS Devices. New Apple devices will be formatted with APFS while old Mac … Formatting is an essential step before you start using a new hard drive, an internal or external hard drive on Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista. Step 8: Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field. Format hard drive for Mac and Windows and Linux. How to Format Your External Drive on macOS Formatting and dealing with hard drive-related matters, in general, is easy in macOS. You can do that by typing "disk format" or "disk management" in Windows search or going to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Create and format hard disk partitions. Open Disk Utility. This is due to the fact that NTFS, the file system utilized by Windows PCs, has limited support on Mac. If you do not care about data, however, go ahead to format it to exFAT. Mac OS X and Windows can both read and write to disks in the FAT or ExFat format. 4. Connect the external drive or the USB drive to the MAC. This article explains about file systems and provides instruction to format a drive on Windows and Mac. Format your Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to FAT32 or ex-FAT format so to transfer the data between a Mac and Windows system conveniently. 5. Step 9: Click the Erase button. Step 3. How to Reformat in Windows. From what I understand, Windows doesn’t always like the way Mac’s do the formatting on some larger drives, though, so give it a try and if your Windows machines don’t like it, just format the drive with Windows. The ExFAT format will make the external hard drive compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux devices. Because Mac OS X Mountain Lion does not natively support writing to an external NTFS drive, you must erase your hard disk and format … Formatting a drive on Windows is quite simple. Select the external hard drive on the left-hand side. Formatting. Use the wizard to create a partition with the NTFS or FAT32 file system. 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