Mar 10, 2020 its often a good idea to format the drive clean so both virus and errors are wiped off into oblivion. This article shows you how to format an external hard drive via different methods, and you can follow these methods to format external hard drive for pc, mac or linux. Then you can see the drive is displayed in the software. So if it is and actual virus no it would not infect or harm a mac. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. I received a replacement 750gb external hard drive from western digital. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. If you are using an external hard drive, or even an sd card or a usb stick, make sure that it is properly connected to your computer via the appropriate port. This is totally unnecessary for a usb external hard drive if you are only going be using it to store data and not to run an operating system.
Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. And yes, after installing that softwaredriver, you can format the external hdd with ntfs as format. Best method to clean out hard drives of dataviruses for reuse. You may also want to rename your external drive here. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Choose 1 partition from the volume scheme and then click on options. If the external hard drive still doesnt work on mac after reformatting, its very possible that the external hard drive has been damaged. Open the window explorer,and select the my computerthis pc section in the sidebar, then locate your drive. This is a default file system for linux os including raspberry pi. If you want to use the external drive for both mac and pc, you can also select exfat. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Provide the required details including a name, a format, and a scheme.
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. After formatting, click on the accept button its in the middle of the menu bar to save the changes. Choose mac os extended journaled or another file system if you. Popular alternatives to mac free external hard drive data recovery for windows, mac, linux, android, bsd and more. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Install and run aomei partition assistant on your windows 1087 pc. How to format a 4tb usb external drive to use on linux. Im having a hard time getting a 4tb external usb drive to work on both linux ubuntu 14. How do you fix external hard drive wont format in windows.
If you have previously partitioned your macs hard drive in order to download a macos beta or install windows, but now you need that storage space back, you can remove the partition and recapture the muchneeded space. Why is external hard drive not mounting on macos catalina. Solved disk utilitys first aid repairing process has. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled. Format and external hard drive on mac first, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. Try repairing the file system disk using chkdsk utility. To break the encryption request a linux live cd or usb stick will do the trick. Here are the steps to partition an external hard drive for mac and windows pc, which is a little tricky. It doesnt matter how the drive is formatted out of the box, since you can reformat any way you like.
How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Select your main partition, which is the first drive on the list. You are then presented with a simple set of formatting options. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. With a tiny mistake, you may lose data or wrongly format your drive in a way that can lead to data corruption. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information. Using a 2tb wd external drive, usb 2, connected to a brand new imac. Whenever a drive is formatted in linux, it reserves about 5% of the total space on the drive for the operating system to continue using the hard drive to operate, even if it get full. There are many reasons that can cause this unusual behavior major causes which lead to unallocated hard drives include the following unexpected error while storing. The command line approach to disk erasure in macos is a bit different and it requires precise syntax to insure that you are erasing the proper disk, making this method of erasing any disk only. If the hard drive you want to format is connected to your pc, it should be there. Formatting your hard drive is recommended if youre selling your computer or. Mac free external hard drive data recovery alternatives. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive.
However, linux supports ntfs, which makes for a decent gobetween if you have both windows and linux machines. It also erases the hidden recovery and efi partitions. So, we suggest that its better to use a pc to partition an external hard drive for macos and windows. Click format and click next to proceed with the installation. After many attempts to reinstall the os, a friend of mine told me to try this. A new window will pop up asking which file system youd like to format the external drive to. After plug in hard drive into the system, you will get option to open windows explorer and by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your hard drive get attached to your system.
Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. The problems seem to be with inconsistent ability to readwrite the usb drive. Virus asking to format external hard drive super user. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Try out the following fixes to resolve some of the common reasons for hard drive not mounting issue on macos catalina. With the help of recoverit is ultimate, you can recover files from a crashed pc by. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Select the external hard drive and click erase on the top toolbar. Mac is linux based so mac not affect as windows affect but if virus is devlope. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. The previous defunct hd was also fat32, which i did not realize upon receiving and using. Managing storage devices whether they are internal hard drives, ssds, pcie ssds, or external usb devices is always a tricky task. It just securely formats your mac hard drivedevice and permanently erases all the data.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os, a task which is typically performed through the disk utility application from the gui. Oct 07, 2019 click erase to confirm you wish to erase the partition. Select your external hard drive from the top right corner it would be marked as devsdb most probably, then right click on the partition and format. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Moreover, it allows disk imaging and analyzing be performed. 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. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. In this article, i will talk about some of the basics of storage devices on linux.
Put the windows 7 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps, emails, etc. Rightclick on it and select the format option from the context menu. How do you fix external hard drive wont format in windows 10. Disk recovery software and hard drive recovery tool for.
Mac free external hard drive data recovery alternatives and. How do i protect my external disk from viruses when plugging it into a computer with viruses. After following the steps to erase a partition, you can then remove it from your hard drive. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. When trying to save large files in final cut pro, the hard drive would save numerous files with none over 2gb in size. However, to use it on windows you can hfs explorer read only. Generally, when you connect an external storage drive to your mac, it will show up in desktop, finder, and disk utility. How to format external hard drive on a mac latest version. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with.
How to format external hard drivedisk on mac using disk utility. Then, it will pop up the format partition window that you can setup. How to format hard drive and fix disk format errors on mac. External hard drive formated with linux os the external hd can be seen at devices and tested as operating properly but not seen in any other folder of my computer, so can not been open. This mac propriety file system and is used in ios and mac. However, if you want to use this hard drive on both mac and windows or any other operating system, then there are other workarounds. Once you have made sure of this, go to applications then utilities. For that, you might buy a new external hard drive and you connected with your mac computer or windows pc. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. 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. Also, the system says that all drivers are installed. The most compatible option is fat32, but as we mentioned above it has a hard 4gb limit on file sizes. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Aug 10, 2018 for my windows users, open up file explorer, find the drive you want to format on the left side, rightclick and choose format.
No need for deleting any files before that, as formatting takes care of it. Integration with deepspar disk imager, a professional hdd imaging device specifically built for data recovery from hard drives with hardware issues. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Aug 30, 2016 this is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. Open the window explorer, and select the my computerthis pc section in the sidebar, then locate your drive. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Select the file system you want to use and give the drive a name. Such integration provides rstudio with a lowlevel finetuned access to drives with a certain level of hardware malfunction. Open disk utility, select the drive not the macintosh hd volume, open the erase tab, set the format to mac os extended journaled, and press the erase button. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. How to format an external hard drive and remove errors. Select the partition you want to format to linux file system, and click format button from toolbar. How to format external hard drive disk on mac using disk utility. But then again and external hdd is not a boot device there a boot sector virus cannot be on it.
New file signatures can be added to the list of known file types by the end user. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. In the end, i just erased the drive and formatted it to a so called fat msdos format. However, for some reason i just could not get it to work reliably with any linux livecd. And if you are a mac user, save the data from your usb drive and format your usb. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. May 31, 2019 there are many reasons that can cause this unusual behavior major causes which lead to unallocated hard drives include the following unexpected error while storing. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain.
To format a hard drive for windows, open the file explorer and click on this pc. How to format an external hard drive and remove errors recoverit. Thus, having an external hard drive will help you to save your files. You can quickly recover files from external sources like usb, hard drive, sd card, ipod, camcorder, zip drive, pen drive, and camera. Follow the path applicationsutilities and click disk utility. Dec 20, 2019 fix cant mount external hard drive on mac. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Linux has its own proprietary ext formats and if you are only going to use your external drive with a linux machine, you can safely go ahead and pick that format. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. 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. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. External hard drive formated with linux os microsoft community.
Formatting can clear data fragmentation quickly and easily. You will see all disks on your computer in the main interface. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Nov 14, 2017 since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. Open the disk utility and select the external drive. How to remove a hard drive partition on your mac imore. For some mac models, the partition option would be greyed out in disk utility. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. The format window pops up and you can select linux filesystem from ext4, ext3 and ext3 from dropdown list. External hard drive formated with linux os microsoft. Even if a drive is formatted on a windows system, it can indeed still be read and used by a mac. If you intend to change the format of the disk, perhaps from exfat to apfs, then erasing your disk is necessary. How to format an unallocated external hard drive quora. If you format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling.
Matter of fact, youll be seeing this tool a lot throughout the article. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. To format an external hard drive, plug in the device into system or a wall outlet. With the help of recoverit is ultimate, you can recover files from a crashed pc by creating a bootable media to access them. Feb 28, 2011 the process will take a few minutes, depending on the size of the hard drive. Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external. I recently bought a 2tb external hard drive i was planning to use with clonezilla live. In this video, i show you how to reformat an external hard drive to be compatible for use with a mac, or for both a.
You can see the unable to format external hard drive raw marked as unformatted here. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. After recovering your important files from the raw external hard drive, you can now directly format the hard drive into ntfs. For my windows users, open up file explorer, find the drive you want to format on the left side, rightclick and choose format.
The drive was fine for me through snow leopard, mountain lion, and mavericks on my old mbp, and for the past month or so was okay on the imac. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. The windows users who are going to format external hard drive for the first time. Press a key when the message indicating press any key to boot from cd or dvd. How to fix raw external hard drive without formatting. If you want to save larger files, youll need to create a second, dedicated space using a format optimized for macos extended or windows 10. To read an ext4 drive on windows, you can ext2read and osxfuse for mac. Jan 10, 2020 to format an external hard drive, plug in the device into system or a wall outlet. How to format a hard drive or ssd to erase it forever. My son picked up a few problems downloading songs and infected the whole home network. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. Restoring your mac to factory settings entails formatting the disk too.
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