How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Formatting the drive will permanently erase all the data and files stored on the hard drive forever. Only then reset it to apfs and dont change it to mac os extended. Help with formatting new hard drive in ibook g4 macrumors. You can format a drive using the disk utility in mac. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. If you want to connect backup plus desktop to a mac as well as a windows pc, you can install special software that allows macs to read and write files to ntfs hard drives similar to windows pcs. Hi all, i have having problems in regards the process of formatting my external harddrive. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi.
How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Jun 02, 2017 in this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. Never should have bought such a small hard drive in the 1st place. As it is mentioned above, after formatting a hard drive, all data on the hard drive will be erased. Dec 29, 2015 in this guide were using exfat instead of fat32, another filesystem that both windows and mac can read and write to, because fat32 has a maximum 4gb file size limit whereas exfat can work with. Formatting a hard drive will take a while and wait for it patiently. For this you will need an usb drive or a blank dvd.
Many macbook air and retina macbook pro ssds come with kits that help you transfer the contents of the old drive to the new one, open your computer, and keep the old ssd around as an external. I would like to format my external hard drive so that i can edit in on my macbook pro. But, the formatted data by disk utility can be recovered by data recovery software. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Do i really need a macspecific external hard drive. Heres what we understand on the question of apfs or mac os extended if your mac shipped with its hard drive already apfsformatted.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. They are great for backing up data, creating extra storage space on your computer and. Apr 23, 2020 with your external hard drive plugged into your macbook air, you can use time machine to browse through your files to find what you want to restore. Macbook hard drive stopped working, how to fix it without. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. This is a great thing to do when you first purchase a drive or when you are looking to. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Time machine, however, gives you the possibility to create an automatic backup of the data on your hard drive before formatting it. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. You just have to reformat your hard drive and reinstall a clean version. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. The timeline on the right side of your macbooks display will show the date and time of each backup, allowing you to slide through the list and find the correct or most recent backup to restore from. How to reformat my hard drive using my macbook air quora.
Upgrade your 202017 macbook air hard drive to an ssd for 16x the capacity and 5. 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. Right click on your toshiba external hard drive icon and pick get info from the menu. With your external hard drive plugged into your macbook air, you can use time machine to browse through your files to find what you want to restore. Its indeed confusing when reformatting your macs hard drive when using macos high sierra, mojave, catalina and above. When you buy a mac, do they give you a copy of the os on disc like buying a windows pc. You can find your specific model inour configurator. How to and why you might want to partition your macs hard. Macbook air retina, inch, 2020 macbook air retina, inch, 2018 2019 macbook air inch, early 2015 2017. If you see the drive is ntfs then youll either need to reformat the drive or use a ntfs driver.
Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Under the volume scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. In addition will also need to turn on the power switch if you are using an external drive. If you want to leave the mac in an outofbox state, dont continue with the setup of your system. Recover lost data from not working macbook hard drive. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup any data or files you want to save before formatting. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. If i put in a new hard drive, will i have to reinstall an operating system. Sep 17, 2019 right click on your toshiba external hard drive icon and pick get info from the menu.
Formatting in hfs mac os extended or fat32 or ntfs3g can be done with the mac os x disk utility. This is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it will be the. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. Across the top you should see the options first aid, erase, partition, raid and restore. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Oct 18, 2019 the best way to restore your mac to factory settings is to erase your hard drive and reinstall macos. However, the partition option remains greyed out for my hard drive and when i place the cursor over the greyed out partition. How to erase and install you can use os x recovery to erase your computer using disk utility. Rightclick or controlclick the drive s icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info. Oct 09, 2019 this wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Before formatting the stopped working macbook hard drive, please back up as much of your data as possible. Format mac hard drive with time machine formatting an external hard drive with time machine is as easy as formatting it with disk utility. External hard drive macbook air inch, early 2015 2017. Select the hard drive and click erase, then disk utility will help you format and erase the hard drive or device. If you have done all this, you have successfully erased all of the data on your macbook pro hard drive. This holds true for both internal and external hard drives. Lacie 2tb mobile drive external hard drive usbc usb 3. 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. Or, you can follow the steps as below to recover lost data from the not working hard drive and fix the issue without losing data.
Hold, before getting started the tutorial, keep in mind that apple mac computer and apple notebook including macbook pro, macbook air, macbook, etc. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. How do i unlock my apple macbook air with my pen drive. Tips to fix mac doesnt recognize external hard drive on. Im able to physically swap out the drive, but i have no idea how mac software works. Time to decide whether to keep or replace your mac laptop or desktop. I took the hard drive out and formatted it on a mac to mac os extended. The macbook air use a special ssd blade that is specific to the macbook air. Highlight the physical drive you wish to reformat and on the menu at the top to the right select erase. My hard drive in my macbook completely broke a few weeks ago didnt have much on it thankfully, so i bought a new hard drive and replaced the old one. This wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. It is quite simple, one of the reason i love apple. Each physical drive is shown with the partitions of that drive nested below.
For example, you plan to backup dvds to mac hard drive or store other files and need to format an external hard drive for macos to extend storage space. But dont worry there is a way you can make your own. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual optional formatting. Formating the hard drive lets take a look at how we can erase all of the data format the hard drive successfully. Formatting your macbook pro will erase all personal contents from your computer. I have been asked to replace a hard drive in a macbook. Aug 02, 2018 hold, before getting started the tutorial, keep in mind that apple mac computer and apple notebook including macbook pro, macbook air, macbook, etc.
Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. First of all you will need your installation dvd which came with your macbook pro when you purchased it and insert it into your mac. Now select your macs internal hard drive to reveal more information about it. You will see three options, you can choose the mode 2 erase hard drive to help you formaterase hard drive on macbookmacbook airmacbook pro. There is an ssd compatible for the year of your macbook air, please check before ordering. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. Your advice on formatting the external hard drive is rather insightful. Mar 29, 2019 formatting your macbook pro will erase all personal contents from your computer.
Now im not too sure how to set this new hard drive up as in putting an os on it and formatting it correctly im not concerned with getting any of my old data back on it, i just want to set. How to partition a mac hard drive, ssd or create an apfs. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. External usb hard drives are lightweight, portable and inexpensive. How to use toshiba external hard drive on mac solved. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Jan 03, 2009 i installed a new hard drive into my wifes older ibook g4 since the hd that came with the machine was only 30gb and was maxed out shortly after we added some applications and photos. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. I am trying to partition my harddrive so it can be read on both mac and pc. The two hard drive formatting software for mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under mac os. The best way to restore your mac to factory settings is to erase your hard drive and reinstall macos.
If you can see all of these options except for partition, you have selected the wrong disk in the lefthand column. The first step to formatting your drive for mac and pc format is to connect both the data and power cable to a mac. After macos installation is complete, the mac restarts to a welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. 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. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Nov 03, 2017 how to format external hard drive on mac, macbookair. How to format external hard drive on mac, macbookair. This wd easystore 5tb portable hard drive has usb 3. There may be occasions when you need to format mac hard drive. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system.
Any external hard drive will work with pcs or macs, as long as the connectors are there firewire, usb, etc. I installed a new hard drive into my wifes older ibook g4 since the hd that came with the machine was only 30gb and was maxed out shortly after we added some applications and photos. How to and why you might want to partition your macs hard drive. Your first step to using your toshiba external drive on your mac is to plug your toshiba drive in. Apple mac upgrades ram, ssd flash, external drives and more. Youll see the drive s file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. So i tried it with the macbook, which was already running 10. In this guide were using exfat instead of fat32, another filesystem that both windows and mac can read and write to, because fat32 has a maximum 4gb.
It doesnt matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can reformat any way you like. Macbook air inch, early 2015 2017 macbook air retina, inch, 2020 macbook air retina, inch, 2018 2019. 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. You can reformat a hard drive on mac os x by using disk utility.
Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. I could access it through the desktop but i needed the password to run it. For example, you plan to backup dvds to mac hard drive or store other files and need to format an external hard drive for macos to extend storage space you are selling your mac computer and formatting mac startup disk drive to make it clean and new without any personal data. The new hard drive is an 80gb hard drive i bought online. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. In disk utility select your macs internal drive, making sure to click on the drive and not the volume beneath it. Click on the erase button to start erasing the external hard drive or usb. First of all, just download and install aweeraser for mac on your macbookmacbook airmacbook pro, and run this software from launchpad.
Copying data on mac to external hard drive with this format will make copying much longer. After du loads select your hard drive this is the entry with the mfgr. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. In the lefthand side inside of disk utility you will see a list of all the connected hard drives. How to factory reset a macbook air or other mac with macos. How to format external disk for macbook a apple community. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine.
Macbook, ipad with miniled displays are delayed until 2021 report. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Need to replace a hard drive in a macbook ask different. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. How to format macbookmacbook airmacbook pro with aweeraser for mac. Mar 31, 2020 its indeed confusing when re formatting your macs hard drive when using macos high sierra, mojave, catalina and above.
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