Format external hard drive for mac on windows 7

How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. So, you cant simply use the same drive with both windows and mac. How to format a startup drive for a mac if you want to format a drive that will be used as your mac s startup disk, the procedure is a little different from formatting it for use as a secondary. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. Hence, if you want to access the external hard drive then you may try to format it through windows 7.

How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Insert the drives usb cable into one of the thin, rectangular slots in your computers casing. Wd external hard drive wont format what should i do. Then click the second partition, name it mac, and change its format to mac os extended journaled.

How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Whether it is a hard drive or usb or internal drive, mac uses different format support.

You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Apple mac machines support a different file system. If you are a mac user, then you at least have mac os x 10. Feb 21, 2012 looking to share an external hard drive between a mac and pc. How can i format this drive in windows 7 home premium. In addition to that, if you are a pc user, then you must have windows sp1, windows 8 or 7, or newer like windows 10.

While you have bought this drive, you will find the drive already formatted for your mac or windows system. How to format a drive in exfat formatting in windows 73 ways. If you want to use the usb devices in windows you have to know how to do it. To do this on windows 8 or windows 7, press the windows key once. 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. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. As a result, you will need to format the hard drive for mac. Different os has different default file system, and windows default file system is ntfs, os x nfs plus, and linux ext family. Jul 31, 2019 unable to format wd passport external hard drive having a 1tb wd passport external hard drive with raw file system, i want to format it to exfat for using in mac and windows computer. If you need to expand your storage space with an external hard drive and you use both mac and pc, youll likely run into a few obstacles. Seagate backup plus hub 6tb external hard drive desktop hdd usb 3.

Here provides you two methods to formatting external hard drive for mac and pc. 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. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac youtube. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.

Now, click on the top partition, name it windows, and change its format to msdos. To do this on windows 8 or windows 7, press the windows key once, type. Mar 15, 2018 rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. But i only got windows was unable to complete the format when i tried to format it form windows explorer. The system tells you what key to press during the restart, so pay attention to your screen and be quick at pressing the right key. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the formatting option for pc. External hard drive is accessible in mac but not in windows 7. How to format an external hard drive as fat32 in windows 7 the fat32 file system has some advantages over ntfs in that it is more commonly readable by other operating systems. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. Apr 16, 2020 in a while, it will format your hard drive to fat32.

A new window will pop up asking which file system youd like to format the external drive to. Although it is possible to format a drive as exfat from disk utility on. Aug 30, 2019 how to format an external hard drive on windows. Thats why were using a bootable windows 710 installation dvd or usb drive which allows us to format the hard disk. All options, including format, is greyed out except to delete volume. 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. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Oct 25, 2016 usb devices,that are formatted in mac format. As you have mentioned that the external hard drive is recognizing in the windows 7 but not accessible. Rightclick on the unallocated space, and select the new simple volume option on the popup menu, as shown. But, it is not compatible with older operating systems. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in thefile explorer window and select format.

How to format a hard drive using the command prompt tom. Since users are unable to create a fat32 partition larger than 32gb in windows disk management, they need to use minitool partition wizard free. It can be fully supported by windows systems and readonly supported by mac os. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or flash. Format your portable hard drive to fat32 and exfat can achieve the purpose of use it in both windows computer and mac computer.

Using the mac preferred file system is important otherwise the files will be of no use to you. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Jul 29, 2019 its possible to format your external hard drive with windows and without a mac but without erasing the disk isnt possible and you will have to keep back up if you want your data and you will need a thirdparty tool or software for that. 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. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. Use external storage devices with mac apple support. There are times when you end up losing your important data after performing drive formatting to fat32. When you format your hard drive, you can clean internal as well as external storage media. Fat an ideal file system to use for usb flash drives or external hard drives that are. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. How to format a hard drive using the command prompt toms. But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet.

Stepbystep instructions to format a hard drive in windows 7, including screenshots for each step to make the process easy to follow. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. If you want to format fat32 in windows 7, then you can do that using powershell as well as the command prompt. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format hard drive to exfat in windows 7810 three ways. Here are the detailed steps to format external drive in exfat formatting. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as fat32. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your.

To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. How to format a mac external hard drive to be compatible with. Apr 14, 2020 there are 3 solutions for this case, so please choose the one you like most to format external hard drive windows 108 7. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. In this tutorial, we explain how you can format a hard drive using the command prompt. Dec 22, 2019 how to format external hard drive mac. 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. Format hard drive on windows 7 or earlier versions step 1 restart your computer and press f8 or del key to enter the bios settings. Want to format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution.

If you need to make the external hard drive be compatible with. Select that disk and click the erase button, the one highlighted in red in the screenshot below. Give your settings a final lookover and click apply. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. However, if one attempts to format their external hard drive in this format using the disk management utility you will see the option is not available for the drive. Formatting windows 7 hard drive will erase all the data on the drive and rebuild a file system. Windows, macos, and linux can all read and write to fat32 drives without an. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in. External hard drives, thumb drives, usb drives, flash memory cards, and devices like ipod are examples of storage devices that you can connect to your mac using thunderbolt, usb, or firewire cables, or connect wirelessly using bluetooth. Lacie rugged mini 4tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. So, the possible reason could be that the external hard drive is formatted in macintosh file system. Rightclick on the start button and select disk management on the popup menu.

How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Click options, select master boot record, and click ok. Jul 26, 2019 a new hard drive has to be formatted with some specific file systems before being used in windows 7 operating system os. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer internal ones or external ones. Micro center how to format an external hard drive as fat32. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at the same time and type in disk utility to find the program. Dont know how to format portable hard drive for mac and pc. Buying an external hard drive is one of the best options for adding the storage space to the mac computer system. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. If youre using an imac, you may find the usb ports on the side of your keyboard or on the back of the imacs screen. How to format a drive on a mac heres how to format a dr ive using a mac including how to format a dr ive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use.