Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Then, you need to choose the best file system for your external hard drive and follow these steps. How to install os x after formatting your hard drive. You can format a drive in os x using two applications. While drives are sold as plugandplay, formatting prior to use will give you optimal performance and. When trying to save large files in final cut pro, the hard drive would save numerous. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. I can no longer see the usb external hds 11tb and 1500gig. Open the disk utility and select the external drive. You can do this quickly by pressing cmd and the spacebar at the same time.
How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain lion from an external drive. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Sep 06, 2019 the simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. Mac free external hard drive recovery is the leading mac data recovery software specially designed for external hard drive to recover files lost due to deletion, format, raw, virus attack, system. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it using a compatible file system. I plugged the 1tb into my friends mbp sl and it reads the drive fine. Even so, its still easy to create a usb installation disk for os x lion if you want to install lion on a freshly formatted hard drive, if youre in an emergency booting situation, or if you need to repair your mac s hard drive. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities.
The previous defunct hd was also fat32, which i did not realize upon receiving and using. If you are trying to format mac external hard drive, you can go over the process step by step. Are you about to install macos high sierra or later on the disk. Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on mac. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain. Open finder and choose applications utilities disk utility to launch. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc.
You can format your own external hard drive right from mac os x. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. All external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box. Looking for a way to install and run os x on an external hard drive. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Formatting external hard drives in os x video howto by michael steeber 6. May 29, 2018 that is to say, my external hard drive is unable to work well both in mac and windows computer. How to format hard drive for mac compatibly in os x disk utility. Run mac os x on an appletv with an external hard drive how to. This is particularly necessary for purchases of generic pc drives, which almost always come preformatted to be windows compatible rather than for mac os x. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. Ntfs is the default file system for windows operating system and hfs for mac operating system. Mar 30, 2020 starting with os x lion, apple did away with dvds and other media as a method of installing software and switched to a download model instead.
Luckily, this can be done without any complicated booting procedures all you have to do is plug it in, open disk utility while your mac is working as usual, select it in the sidebar and follow the same procedure described above in the using disk utility section. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. There are several reasons you might need to install a new copy of macos or os x on the hard drive in your mac or macbook. Best choice for lion for 32bit mac os x, install ntfs3g for mac os x free does not work in 64bit mode for 64bit snow leopard, read. Even so, its still easy to create a usb installation disk for os x lion if you want to install lion on a freshly formatted hard drive, if youre in an emergency booting situation, or if you need to repair your macs hard drive. If you select the one below it, the partition option will be greyed out and become unclickable. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it. The simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. Especially, if you want to get a very first view on a mac os x 10. Click the erase tab, select your hard drive, and then erase the disk. Jul 26, 2011 at least your mac sees the external drives. How to format a hard drive in mac os x dumb little man.
Feb 03, 2020 are you formatting the disk that came built into your mac. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac os. Mac free external hard drive recovery for mac free. 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. Either way, youll want to format your drive accordingly. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Make sure you select the disk icon right under external. Partitioning, naming and formatting the external hard drive. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. Jan 02, 2016 either way, youll want to format your drive accordingly.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. To use my old external hard drive without formatting it, on my new mac. Feb 08, 2020 now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. Mar 31, 2020 if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. I have backed up all my data i dont have enough hard drive space to make a time machine backup. Select the one you want to format from this list, and then. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. That is to say, my external hard drive is unable to work well both in mac and windows computer. It can happen for external usb and firewire as well as internal disks.
Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Dec 08, 2016 in this video i show you how to reinstall mac os x on your apple computer. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Fortunately, there are also several ways to do it, ranging from internet recovery to installation discs. If your machine is still useable and can boot to mac os, you can create a bootable usb drive out of the image using the links from below and then proceed with. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Using an external hard drive on mac without formatting. Oct 06, 2016 have you ever tried to format a disk in mac os x and disk utility wont unmount the hard drive for formatting. This mode is only available on apple computers made after 2009 that were running os x lion or later. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. How to encrypt an external hard drive in lion macworld. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us.
How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. I have just saved necessary files and also the installer for os x 10. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac. Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want.
So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Are you formatting the disk that came built into your mac. Open disk utility applicationsutilitiesdisk utilities 2. Is there anyone can tell me how to make my hard drive compatible with mac and windows. Formatting an external drive on your mac is quite easy, though it isnt as evident and obvious as it is on a pc. You probably dont need to erase, unless youre selling. You can erase the drive and reinstall os x using the recovery system. In disk utility, of os x utilities, select the partition in the lefthand. May 02, 2015 the mac os x operating system is designed to make formatting the hard drive easy, quick and painless.
If you work solely on a mac, but need to send files to someone working on a pc, your external hard drive needs to be set up for both operating systems. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk utility. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to. The disk utility application includes tools and settings that are userfriendly even for mac beginners. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wifi menu in the menu bar.
Reinstall from macos recovery macos recovery makes it easy to reinstall the mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. If youre formatting an external hard drive, plug it in and give your mac a minute to recognize it. How do i reformat my hard drive in os x mountain lion. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Mac free external hard drive recovery for mac free download.
Quit disk utility and continue with a reinstall of os x mountain lion. If you bought an external hard drive, it too needs to be formatted before use. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. How can i reformat the internal drive and install mountain lion from. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. I received a replacement 750gb external hard drive from western digital. Power on the computer while holding down the option key. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended filesystem. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended. If you need to erase your disk before installing high sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose mac os extended journaled. If your mac is from before 2009 or never had os x lion, click here to jump to the next section.
How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Before upgrading to the latest mac os x, it is often useful to install mac os x on an external hard drive for testing. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar. Feb 21, 2012 looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. How to encrypt an external hard drive in lion filevault 2 not onlyencrypts your macs internal drive, but it can also encrypt external drives. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Create a bootable install usb drive of mac os x 10. 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.
Install, boot, and run mac os x from an external hard drive. If the builtin disk came apfsformatted, dont change it to mac os extended. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. 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. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os. To format or reformat an external hard drive on mac, youll need the builtin disk management tool called disk utility. Select the hard drive in the left hand pane, as shown, and click the partition tab. All available drives should be listed in the lefthand panel. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide.
Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Now, how can i reformat and install os x from the installer placed in the external hard drive. Select the seagate drive on the left that shows the capacity. Starting with os x lion, apple did away with dvds and other media as a method of installing software and switched to a download model instead. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. This method should work on all apple computers and with all recent versions of mac os. This can be useful for a couple of different reasons. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Have you ever tried to format a disk in mac os x and disk utility wont unmount the hard drive for formatting. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be.
A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled. In this video i show you how to reinstall mac os x on your apple computer. Firstly, it allows you to run another copy of os x without needing any additional mac computer. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Dec 29, 2015 follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers.
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