#Windows format external drive for mac how to#
#Windows format external drive for mac mac os#
#Windows format external drive for mac install#
#Windows format external drive for mac Pc#
#Windows format external drive for mac windows 7#

If youвЂ™re using a Mac, Disk Utility is the application that is going to be used to format the drive. Now, youвЂ™re done! You can now copy all your files back onto the external drive.

Once that is selected you can give your external hard drive a name if you would like to and then you can click Start to format the drive, this will permanently delete all the information and files on the external drive so ensure you have copied all your data off the drive before formatting вЂ“ you are responsible for the data on your device so make sure it is in a safe place. In this utility, click the dropdown menu for File system and select ExFAT, this is a drive format that is compatible with both macOS and Windows for reading and writing data, for more information on ExFAT take a look at these resources.

Then type in вЂњDisk UtilityвЂќ.Д¦) Change theВ Partition LayoutВ from Current to 1 Partition.Д§) ClickВ Options ,В Select Master Boot Record, and click OK.ДЁ) Name the hard drive with a name of your choice.ДЎ1) At last press Apply, then click on Partition.To format your drive, firstly right click on the external drive listing in Explorer and then select the Format from the dropdown list of options, this will then open the disk formatting utility in Windows.

#Windows format external drive for mac how to#

How to format an External Drive in WindowsДЈ)В Right click on unallocated or any other disk partition and select вЂњ New Simple VolumeвЂќДҐ)В Assign your external hard drive with any letter.Д§) Follow the instructions and at the end click вЂњ FinishвЂњДЎ) Connect your external hard drive to the Mac.Дў) Open Disk Utility.В You can do this quickly by pressingВ CMD and the spacebar at the same time.

#Windows format external drive for mac install#

To do so you also have to install third-party software like Paragon HFS+ for Windows.

#Windows format external drive for mac windows 7#

Windows 7 canвЂ™t read nor write files to external drives that are formatted as HFS. But we advise to just format it to вЂњFATвЂќ file system as itвЂ™s less time consuming and easier. So in the end, itвЂ™s possible to make your NTFS external hard drive compatible with Mac. To make your Mac compatible writing on NTFS you have to get and install a third-party driver. Macs that run Snow Leopard or Lion can read data from drives that are formatted as NTFS. The default file system for Windows is NTFS (New Technology File System).

exFAT вЂ“ a newer file system optimized for flash devices and has improved performance overFAT32.

FAT32 вЂ“ a file system normally used on USB disks.

This is one of the most widely recognized file system formats.

#Windows format external drive for mac mac os#

The resulting FAT32 file system will be compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, and Windows including Windows 10 back to 95.

#Windows format external drive for mac Pc#

Once you have done with formatting, your external hard drive will be able to write and read files from both a PC and Mac. Many still choose FAT32 over exFAT despite its slower performance, as itвЂ™s also compatible with Linux Os and is supported on many gaming consoles. If you have to work with large video clips, games or any other kind of massive files, FAT32 may not be the best choice.

FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit, but exFAT can work with files as large as 16EB, thatвЂ™s more than you will ever need. However, each of these filesystems has their own pros and cons. You can format your external hard drive in both вЂ“ exFAT and FAT32. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for OS XвЂ™s Time Machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through Mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible with вЂњTime Machine BackupsвЂќ.В And you can only do this with exFAT as with FAT32 Mac OS XвЂ™s Time Machine backup wonвЂ™t work. You can format your external hard drive from either the PC or Mac. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with Mac and Windows. However there is a simple solution вЂ“ you can format the drive to FAT32 or exFAT that performs better than FAT32. Windows uses NTFS, and Mac OS uses HFS, these file systems are not compatible with each other. 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 вЂ“ discs are formatted differently.