How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. You just need to know how to format external hard drive for ps4. You can find them in this article on how to connect an external hard drive to your mac. So if you are formatting a drive that has already been used, be sure to copy any files you will ever want to see again onto a computer or backup drive. You can get to know how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc from this post, if you need to use a western digital external hard drive, like wd elements both under mac and pc. Seagate branded external drives come preformatted, some for pcs, some for macs, and some of them have special utilities allowing them to work between both without formatting. This process wont actually convert the file system. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a mac when i plug it into my pc i cant access it. Here, we will introduce you to how to format hard drive in windows 10 with windows builtin disk management tool, a partition manager, and command lines.
All connected storage devices, partitions or disk images are displayed in the left column. There some easytouse utilities can help you format a seagate hard drive under mac os. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat. How to format a windows disk drive for a mac seagate blog. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. This wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. When your backup plus drive formatting finishes you can get rid of the disk utility window. In the pane on the left, under storage, click disk management.
Perhaps its in dire need of releasing some data to an external backup drive. The products claims it works only with pc windows, however, i have read multiple places that i can just format the drive and it will work fine with a mac. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Formatting takes a little longer on a larger seagate backup plus drive. Nov 11, 2019 mac and windows computers have their unique interface, which attracts users with different tastes. There are a few reasons to reformat your drive this way. Can you reformat it without losing all of your data. But what happens if that drive becomes corrupted, and you have to reformat it to make it accessible again.
Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. Before sending it away, i want to make sure all the data on it has been permanently erased. How to reformat my seagate external hard drive quora. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it.
The simple and easy steps to formatting your seagate drive on your mac 1. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your backup files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. How to fix seagate external hard drive not showing. If you are willing to reformat it for windows pc then fat32 or ntfs should be used where as fo. Now, im trying to format it so that i can use it on pc instead of mac. As an external hard drive icon with the name you gave it. As formatting will delete all the data on the hard drive, make sure that you have successfully backed up your files to another safe place before windows 10 disk format. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. Before you can use it though, you need to properly format or reformat a hard drive so that it will become compatible or readable with the operating system that you are using. How to format an external hard drive for xbox one minitool.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. When disk utility is finished you can get rid of your disk utility window. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup any data or files you want to save before formatting.
You can use disk utility on the mac to format the drive, but i think the xbox has to format it itself before you can use it again. 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. How to reformat seagate portable external hard drive. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the chances of file corruption, so make. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup any data or files you want to save before. First, connect the seagate external hard drive with your mac. The next step is downloading the software aweeraser. If the mac doesnt recognize it when you plug it in, its probably dead. Simply put, your ps4 isnt recognizing the file system of your drive, which is most probably. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. But a problem arises when you have a portable seagate hard drive and would like to use it with both mac and windows computers.
I am going to sell my 2tb seagate external hard drive. Also, if a seagate external hard drive is readonly or files are locked on mac due to ntfs format, you can use iboysoft ntfs for mac to mount it in readwrite mode on mac. 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. Hi, not sure if this is possible but i cannot find a post above on how to actually remove what is already on the seagate external hard drive windows then reformat it to a mac. How to fix seagate external hard drive readonly on mac. Do you know the solution to reformat a seagate hard drive for mac. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. First of all, as i said before, reformating will erase all your data.
This is where mac reformat external hard drive might help just like the human body, your computer can have sand in its machinery throughout its running course and end up crashing everything. Ive had trouble with seagate drives failing in the past however its possible thats whats happened to your drive too. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. I purchased an external hard drive a seagate 2 tb expansion desktop drive and was told by the mac rep in the store to perform the following simple task to reformat the disk so i could drag and drop files from my imac and store them on the external hard drive. It is obviously that you can use seagate external hard drive or flash drive with mac and windows computer as long as you format seagate drive for mac and pc. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. However, the mac os does not allow you to write data to the drive.
No need to worry or try to claim warranty because your new external hard drive is fine. I cant reformat the seagate freeagent drive go, because i have important. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and securely. Click on the view button in the upper lefthand side, change to show all devices. Yo just got a new external hard drive and want to use it on your mac. Sep 17, 2015 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. When youre planning to use your seagate drive only for your mac. How to format seagate backup plus and backup plus slim.
When your seagate drive is formatted as exfat or fat32 successfully, you can type exit to close this window. If you dont see two entries for the hard drive itself and the volume or partition, click view in the upperright corner and select show all devices. How to format your hard drive seagate support asean. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it.
Step 2 on the left side of the utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the formatting option for pc. For instructions on how to format a dr ive in mac os 10. 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. Well show you everything you need to know about the. And will send over your files at the speed your seagate expansion can take.
How to format seagate external hard drive under mac os. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Easy steps to reformat seagate external hard drive. How to reformat a seagate external hard drive for both. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. Computer management on a pc cant reformat a mac formatted drive. Oct 06, 2019 in a few moments the formatting of your seagate external hard drive on your mac will be all done. Make sure the storage device is connected to and mounted on the computer. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing.
Oct 25, 2018 when your seagate drive is formatted as exfat or fat32 successfully, you can type exit to close this window. Oct 09, 2019 this wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. I have an external hard drive which is formatted for mac and has been loaded with movies stored on a mac computer. Seagate expansion on mac, want it but can i use on my mac. 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 drive formatted in a file system both oss can read. You may wonder how to reformat an external hard drive on mac. You can format a drive using the disk utility in mac.
How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Go to system preferences and click on time machine. Formatting a hard drive for windows will be discussed in another article. In this guide i will show you how you can properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10.
But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. Next, it is time formatting the xbox one external hard drive. As long as the drive connects to your macbook air via a connection protocol that the air supports like thunderbolt or usb 2 or usb 3 you can format the drive and use it with your mac just fine. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. A lot of people including you, storing important data on seagate external hard drive instead of on your pc mac hard drive. How to fix seagate backup plus not mountingworking on mac. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. I am looking to purchase a seagate external hard drive for my macbook air. Just follow these steps to easily format a seagate hard drive on your mac. Do you save backups of your hard drive onto an external hard drive.
Is there any way i can reformat the hd to work on my pc without losing the movie. If you are willing to reformat your seagate external hard drive then you should have decided to which file system you want to format your hard drive in. Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting.
Hard drives in seagate s freeagent line except for the go pro for mac and the go for mac ship with ntfs, a file system designed for windows. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. How to use seagate external hard drive on mac, 16 ways. It is obviously that you can use seagate external hard drive or flash drive with mac and windows computer as long as you format seagate drive for mac. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. To format an external hard drive on your mac paraphrased from here. Here are the steps to create a back up of your seagate hard drive s data with mac s time machine before you reformat seagate drive. And in a few moments your mac will show your seagate external hard drive on your macs desktop. Connect your seagate external hard drive into your pc or mac. To save games and apps, you need to do this formatting on xbox one itself because the xbox one external hard drive format type is a proprietary one.
This video shows, how to format seagate backup plus external hard disk. After that, it is impossible to read the game files on windows mac pc. If you do not see the scheme option, then you have selected the volume and not the drive. Fix seagate external hard drive not detectedrecognized error.
To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Tutorial to fix seagate external hard drive readonly on mac, to change external drives from readonly on mac, and to read, write to, edit, copy, transfer files on seagate external hard drive on macos catalinamojavehigh sierra and mac os x. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. Simply put, your ps4 isnt recognizing the file system of your drive, which is most probably ntfs. Takes its juice, its power from your mac, along its usb cable and that means youll need enough battery power in your macbook pro or air to drive the seagate drive. Disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. Your exfatformatted drive or partition can now be used for both windows and mac. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. However, it just wont recognize it, even though the hard drive is showing up on your computer. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Your mac works out how fast your seagate drive can go. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. For some reason i lost half of my space on this hard drive once i formatted it. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Follow the tutorial below, youll get everything covered. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
Step 1 connect the external hard drive you want to format to your mac, then start the disk utility app that you can find under applications utilities. Your seagate external hard drive unless its one of seagate s desktop drives. In the lefthand column of the disk utility app, click the seagate drive to select it. Now ntfs works fine with computers and is the standard file system, but for some reasons, developers decided that the ps4 wont support this file system. But in order for the computer and drive to talk to one another, the drive has to be formatted. Two methods to change seagate external hard drives from readonly back to readwrite, so that you can edit, delete, and rename files on this seagate external hard drive.