Format A Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
- Hard Drive Format For Mac
- Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Allocation Unit Size
- Format A Portable Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
- Hard Drive For Macbook
- How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
- Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Ms-dos (fat)
Modern Mac computers use the HFS+ file format, which has a maximum file size limit of about eight billion gigabytes. Therefore, about the only time you cannot transfer files larger than 4GB on a Mac is when trying to copy data to an external hard drive formatted with the FAT32 file format. FAT32 has a file size limit. Don’t Format the Drive! (Yet) When you connect a Mac-formatted drive to Windows, you’ll be informed that “you need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it.” Don’t click the “Format disk” button or Windows will erase the contents of the drive–click “Cancel”! How to Format a Hard Drive on Mac to Work on Mac and PC. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both Mac and Windows by using the ExFAT file system. How to Format an External Hard drive or Pen drive. Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in Windows, MAC, and Linux. Formatting a drive on Windows is quite simple.
Aug 10, 2018 To format hard drive for Mac and Windows without data loss, we suggest using MiniTool Partition Wizard and its 'Convert NTFS to FATS32' function. If you are a personal user, you can try its Professional Edition. To format your hard drive to FAT on Mac: Click on Spotlight and open Disk Utility. Click on the USB drive you want to format. Click the Erase tab at the top. Choose the MS-DOS (FAT) in the format drop down. Click Erase and follow the prompts. Your external hard drive to now formatted. How to format a drive for Mac and PC compatibility Posted by Ant on March 11th, 2012 43 Comments If you have an external hard drive or USB flash drive that you’d like to use on both Macs and Windows PCs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing.
With an external hard drive, you can efficiently transfer large files between computers running the same operating system type. However, it could be a totally different story if you plan to do this between a Mac and a PC. That's because, the two platforms have their specific file systems by default: Windows uses NTFS, while Mac use HFS+ or APFS. Out of the box, Windows can't read or write to HFS+/APFS and Macs can't write to NTFS drives.
Though the default file system is really a hurdle to use one external hard drive between Windows and Mac, there're still file systems that can connect the two worlds, i.e. FAT32 and exFAT. Thus, in order to use the same external hard drive on both Macs and PCs, you can format your external hard drive and make it compatible with both macOS and Windows OS.
But before that, it will be helpful if you know some background information and do some preparations.
- 2.1 How to format an external hard drive in macOS?
- 2.2 How to format an external hard drive in Windows?
- 2.3 How to partition an external hard drive for Mac and Windows PC？
Understand common file systems
Whether you're transferring files between Windows and Mac using external hard drives, or other portable storage devices like USB flash drives or SD cards, you'll be told about 3 file systems: FAT32, exFAT and NTFS. But do you know what is the difference between them?
You could use an external hard drive for Mac, such as Seagate Backup Plus drives for Mac and WD my passport for Mac to back up your files, but do you know what makes a hard drive exclusive for Mac is not the disk itself but the file system of this disk?
To answer the questions above and broaden your mind, this part will have a brief introduction to some common file systems.
FAT32
Pros: It can universally work with all versions of Mac, Windows, Linux, game devices, as well as other devices supporting a USB port.
Cons: FAT32 comes with file size limits and drive partition limits. It doesn't support files larger than 4GB, drive partition larger than 32GB on Windows, or drive partition larger than 2TB on macOS.
So FAT32 is commonly used in floppy disks, SD memory cards, USB flash drives as well as many portable and embedded devices. Also, FAT is the standard file system for digital cameras.
exFAT
Pros: The largest partition and file sizes it supported are nearly unlimited by today's standards.
Cons: exFAT file system is not compatible with older operating systems. It should be used in macOS 10.6.5 or newer, and PC need to be Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 or newer.
As most users have upgraded operating system, it is actually quite easy to meet to lowest operating system requirements of exFAT. So exFAT can be a very good option to share external hard drive between macOS and Windows. Similarly, it also optimized for flash memory drives such as USB flash drives and SD cards. It can be easily implemented in firmware that has low memory and low power requirements, such as cameras, mobile phones, media players, etc.
NTFS
Pros: It is an improvement for FAT32, and it is used as the default file system of Windows system hard drive due to its improved performance, reliability, and disk space use.
Cons: You can't write to NTFS drives in macOS and the disabled-by-default write support for NTFS in macOS is unstable.
Mac OS Extended (HFS+)
Pros: It is the primary file system of Apple computers with the 1998 release of Mac OS 8.1. It also frequently used as Time Machine backup external hard drives of WD, Seagate, etc.
Cons: If HFS+ format volume is connected to a computer running Mac OS 8.0 or earlier, the files will not be visible or accessible.
APFS
Pros: The proprietary file system for macOS High Sierra (10.13), macOS Mojave (10.14), and macOS Catalina (10.15). It is optimized for flash drives and SSD with a primary focus on encryption.
Cons: Because APFS has no support for hard links to directories while Time Machine still relies on them, APFS is not yet a good option for backup volumes for Mac.
Format external hard drives to make it compatible with both Mac and PC
Though you can't use APFS/HFS+ on Windows PCs nor write to NTFS on Macs by default, there're still file systems that bridge the two worlds, i.e. FAT32 and exFAT. Yes! You can format your external hard drives with FAT32 or exFAT to make it compatible with both Macs and Windows PCs, .
Warning: Formatting a disk or a partition will erase data on this drive. Make sure you have a copy of data backup in hand if you have important files on this external hard drive. However, if you have formatted this drive and are encountering data loss, you can recover data from formatted external hard drive with iBoysoft Mac Data Recovery.
How to format an external hard drive in macOS?
If you are using an APFS/HFS+ formatted hard drive on Mac right now, and you want to use it on Windows PC as well, you can use the method below to format your external hard drive with exFAT/FAT32. Also, if you plug in an NTFS formatted drive to your Mac and you have a copy of data backup, then you can follow the following steps to format your external hard drive for both Mac and PC without worrying data loss.
1. Click on Launchpad at the dock of your Mac, choose Other in the menu, and then select Disk Utility to open.
2. Select this external hard drive on the left part of the window.
3. Click the Erase on the top of the window.
4. Give a name to this disk, choose MS-DOS (FAT) or exFAT in the context menu, then choose a scheme.
Tips: You can choose FAT when you need maximum compatibility with the widest range of devices and if you don't have any files larger than 4 GB. exFAT would be advised if your external hard drive is larger than 2TB. And for better performance, you can choose Guide Partition Map scheme if your disk or partition is larger than 1TB.
5. Click Erase to proceed with this formatting process.
After you format this external hard drive to FAT32 or exFAT, you'll be able to use this disk both on Mac and PC seamlessly.
How to format an external hard drive in Windows?
You can also format your drive on Windows computers by following the steps.
1. Click on This PC/My Computer at your desktop.
2. Connect your external hard drive to your PC, and then select this drive from the list and right-click on it.
3. Choose Format from the contextual menu.
4. Choose format (FAT32 or exFAT), and then set format information (allocation unit size, volume label and format option).
Tips: FAT32 would be better if the partition of your external hard drive is less than 32 GB .
5. Check Perform a quick format and click OK to format the external hard drive.
In Windows OS, you can also format your drive in Disk Management by typing 'disk management' in Windows search or going to Control Panel >Administrative Tools >Create and format hard disk partitions.
How to partition an external hard drive for Mac and Windows PC?
Except for having the whole external hard drive formatted, you can also split this disk with two partitions. One is formatted with the file system that is compatible with macOS, another partition is compatible with Windows conversely. By this means, you can use all the advantages each format has on the respective system.
Warning: Still, you need to back up files on this drive before you begin to create two separate partitions to work for Mac and Windows PC.
Here are the steps to do this, which is a little tricky.
Step 1: Connect your external hard drive to your Mac, and then launch Disk Utility.
Step 2: Click on the drive name in the left sidebar, and then click on Partition at the top.
Step 3: Select Partition in the pop-up menu and click on the add button '+' to create another partition.
Step 4: Click on the untitled half of the pie, give it a name, choose exFAT format, and decide the size according to your need.
Step 5: Click on Apply and this partition will be created.
Step 6: Then click on another partition and format it with Mac OS Extended, and give it a name like 'Mac' for your convenience.
After saving all these changes above, there will be two partitions on your external hard drive. One is formatted with exFAT, and another is HFS+. Then, you need to eject this drive and connect it to a Windows computer, so that you can convert exFAT into NTFS.
Step 1: Search for Disk Management and open it. Then you will find this external hard drive at the lower right column.
Step 2: Right-click the Windows exFAT partition and select Format. Choose NTFS and check 'Quick format' box.
Hard Drive Format For Mac
Step 3: Click OK and complete the format process.
By creating two separate partitions, you can use this external hard drive on both Mac and Windows. You won't be able to write to the Mac partition from your Windows computer, and vice versa. Thus, it's a good solution for people who need to swap between two operating systems but with separate work.
Make external hard drives for Mac and PC interchangeable without formatting
NTFS and HFS+ file systems are hassles for users who need to use the same external hard drive on both Mac and Windows. NTFS drive will be read-only on Mac and you can't write to this drive normally in this case. But formatting is not feasible as it includes several steps and you will lose data if you didn't back up your files.
Then, can you solve external hard drive read-only without formatting?
Definitely! If you want to use NTFS formatted external hard drives on Mac, there is a great software called iBoysoft NTFS for Mac that might be helpful.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac - professional NTFS driver for Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a professional NTFS for Mac software, which can automatically mount NTFS drives in read-write mode on Mac. It supports macOS Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13/Sierra 10.12 and Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11/Yosemite 10.10/Mavericks 10.9/Mountain Lion 10.8. With this useful tool, you'll have full access to NTFS drives on Mac and make your external hard drive interchangeable between Macs and PCs without formatting. Also, you can mount and unmount NTFS drives from the Mac menu bar with advanced and optimized options.
What's more, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is also a handy tool to manage NTFS external drives. You can use it to easily mount, unmount, repair, erase NTFS external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, CF cards, pen drives, etc. on Mac.
Tutorial to mount NTFS external hard drive on macOS with read-write mode with iBoysoft NTFS for Mac
Step 1: Free download, install, and launch iBoysoft NTFS for Mac on your computer.
Step 2: Connect your NTFS external hard drive to Mac, and iBoysoft NTFS for Mac will automatically mount it.
Step 3: Write to NTFS external hard drive after the disk has been mounted in read-write mode successfully.
If you want to use HFS+ or APFS formatted external hard drives on Windows, you can also attempt to install HFS+ for Windows software or APFS for Windows software on your PC to get read and write access to this external hard drive.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both Mac and Windows PC. You can either choose to format the whole disk as exFAT/FAT, or you can create two separate partitions of HFS+ and NTFS if you prefer. But compared with formatting, an NTFS for Mac driver like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a better and feasible solution.
There are many reasons why you may want to format an external HDD or small flash drive. For instance:
- You brought a new unformatted hard drive
- If the drive is not properly formatted, it won’t work
- You want to use your external hard drive in both MAC, PC and Linux (use FAT32)
- Before you sell your SDcard or Pendrive, you should format it to erase its data
- Your camera’s SD card (FAT32) can only hold a file up to 4GB file. To get larger file size format it to exFAT.
Warming: Formating a drive, also erase its data. Although you can still get it back, but it’s much harder after formatting. So if you can’t afford losing you data, take backup.
Which Format to choose?
Choosing a right file system is a bit tricky, so here are some pros and cons of all file system.
NTFS: This is windows propriety file system. Most external drives come preformatted in NTFS so that they can be used easily with Windows. However, NTFS drives are read only in MAC, but you can get write access by using software like NTFS-3g. It also works in Linux. And to support NTFS on Android use Stick mount or Paragon NTFS, HFS and exFAT.
HFS+: This MAC propriety file system and is used in iOS and MAC. If you format your external hard drive to HFS, you can use it on MAC and Linux (by removing journaling). However, to use it on Windows you can HFS explorer (read only).
ext4: This is a default file system for linux OS (including Raspberry Pi). To read an ext4 drive on Windows, you can Ext2Read and OSXfuse for MAC. However, I have not really use this format much, so we just skip it.
FAT32: This oldest file system and work with all OS i.e. Windows, MAC, Linux, Android, even TV, and PS3 etc. This is why it’s used in all small flash drive. Although it lacks all modern features and comes with 4 GB limit for single file size.
exFAT: is the extended version of exFAT. It works fine with Windows and MAC (all the modern version). For Android, you can use Stick mount app (root needed). However being a windows propriety file system, it does not play well in open source environment. But unlike FAT32, it does not have 4GB limit for single file size. Thus making it ideal for SDcards of the high-end camera.
How to Format an External Hard drive or Pen drive
Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in Windows, MAC, and Linux.
Windows
Formatting a drive on Windows is quite simple. Plug in your external HDD to the USB port of your computer> then go to my computer > find your external drive > right-click it > and select format.
A new window will open, select the desired file system, keep the allocation unit size to default and check mark quick format (or it will take more time). Once done hit the format button and that’s it. Within seconds, you will have your drive in the new format.
Note: While formatting a pen drive you will see FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS as the available file system. However for external HDD you won’t see the FAT32 (windows don’t suggest fat32 for bigger drives) However to get other format option you can use third-party software.
MAC
Start by connecting your external HDD to MAC’s USB port. Under the finder men, go to Go > utilities > Disk Utility or type disk utility in the spotlight and hit enter.
Once under disk utility. Select your external HDD on the left side and then select partition option.
Now in the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition. Then, click on Options. A new window will open, here select Master Boot Record and then click Ok.
You can backup Sticky Notes. Sticky notes for mac. Access Sticky Notes on Mac, Android, iPhone and iPadPlease note that Microsoft is rolling out this new feature now and might not be available to all users right away.Here is how to access Sticky Notes from Mac, iPhone, Android or any other device.Step 1: On your PC, Mac, iOS device or Android device, visit in a web browser. The best part is that you can create new notes, edit existing notes, and even delete them!Microsoft is now allowing users to access Sticky Notes on the web as well, making it possible to access Sticky Notes from any device by signing in to your Microsoft account. Your Sticky Notes are now synced to your and are included in the mailbox.
Now in the right side of windows, give a name to your drive, from the drop-down select desired file system format. Make sure the size is set to an entire volume of your external drive. And once done, click on Apply.
Note: Here you will also see an option to format a large hard drive to FAT32 which is not available in Windows.
Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Allocation Unit Size
See this animated gif (Imgur)
Linux
Unlike windows and MAC, Linux does not a have built-in partition tool. So, you will have ti install a GUI tool called GParted and then plug in your external drive in the computer.
Open your terminal and type in the following command to install GParterd.
sudo apt-get install gparted
Once installed, type the following command to launch the program.
sudo gparted
A new window will open. Click on the top right side, select the volume you want to format.
Format A Portable Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
Once you see the volume you want to format, right click on the block and select format > choose the file system you want > and click OK to confirm.
Note: Since, I am running Linux in a virtual machine, in final step my Format to option is not highlighted, But in your case, you will be able to click it and select the file system you to format in. To see the final step, I suggest you check out this howtogeek article.
Hard Drive For Macbook
Android
How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
Say you don’t have any computer with you, now can you still format your external HDD? Well, if you have an Android (ROOT) then yes, you can still format your drive to popular formats like NTFS and HFS.
To do this, install Paragon exFAT, NTFS & HFS+ from Play store. The main function of this application is to mount NTFS or HFS formatted HDD on Android, but there is another useful option hidden under settings — i.e. formatting a drive.
Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Ms-dos (fat)
Once installed, open the app, mount your drive and then go to the settings, There select the new file system for your drive, give it a name and hit format.