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- #FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 AND MAC HOW TO#
- #FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 AND MAC FREE#
- #FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 AND MAC MAC#
Go to Applications and Utilities and launch Disk Utility.Connect the storage device that you want to format to your Mac.
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 AND MAC HOW TO#
Let’s take a look at how to format a storage device on a Mac. The main window of the utility contains a list of storage devices, storage device details, and formatting options. You can launch it from the Applications folder or use Spotlight. With it, it’s possible to easily format a storage device with just a few clicks. MacOS users have at their disposal a handy tool called Disk Utility.
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 AND MAC MAC#
How to Format an External Hard Drive on Mac Now that we’ve taken a look at file formats, let’s move into actually formatting the external hard drive. A drawback of this one is that it won’t support larger file formats. Older file system and isn’t as fast or efficient as NTFS. There isn’t much of a reason to use this file format anymore. You can also use this data format on both Mac and Windows together.įile format used on Mac before APFS. This file format is best for external devices such as USB thumb drives and external hard drives due to how it works with USB connections. Uses the Mac format, requires a password, and encrypts the partition. Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive format. Uses the Mac format (Journaled HFS Plus) to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system. It is fast and efficient and this is the file system that you should use unless you have other specific needs. Let’s talk a little bit about each of these file systems and the others that you might consider and the benefits of each.ĭefault and modern file system used by Windows and this is the preferred file system that should be usedĪpple File System is what is what your Mac will use by default. MacOS uses the Apple File System (APFS), while Windows uses the NTFS file system. Let’s take a deeper look into file systems for those that are curious and want to know more. Both of these are the newest, fastest, and securiest file systems available on both operating systems. In short, if you’re on Mac use APFS (Apple File System) and if you’re on Windows, use NTFS. Let’s take a look at and talk about which file system you may want to choose. First and foremost, you need to decide which file system to use. Regardless of why you want to format your hard drive, there are some considerations to be made before you begin. A format can usually fix this as the device might have corrupt data on it. ??? The storage device is experiencing issues and isn’t working correctly.This can be a common scenario for when you’ve taken pictures or files off of a storage device and put them onto your computer and now you don’t have a need for them on the external device anymore.
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 AND MAC FREE#
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It could be because the storage device is experiencing an issue or maybe you purchased a new external storage device and are trying to get it to work with your Mac or Windows computer. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Both macOS and Windows allow users to format their hard drives using built-in utilities.