Formatting hard drives and external hard drives is usually a fairly straightforward process. The two most popular operating systems, Windows and Mac OS both have formatting utilities built-in, which makes formatting external drives even more convenient. Best Video Software for the Mac How To Run MacOS High Sierra or Another OS on Your Mac Best Graphic Design Software the. I tried the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, and it make short work of.
- Mac Format Disk Utility
- Disk Utility Format For Mac And Windows
- Disk Utility Format For Time Machine
- Format Disk On Mac
A quirk in the Apple Disk Utility allowed me to create a FAT32 volume that would not mount in Windows. Avoiding the same problem is easy once you have an understanding of how Apple's formatting tool works. Read on, support pros, and save yourselves from future headaches.
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I support both Macs and Windows machines, so I spend a lot of time running between systems. There are a few features in the MacOS that I rely on to make my double life a little easier, one of those being the built-in support Apple computers have for Windows volumes.
Since Macs can read and write to FAT32 partitions,* I can keep software and utilities for both operating systems on a single drive. That feature helps keep my tool kit a little lighter and my life a little simpler. In fact, when it comes to working with FAT32 partitions, Mac OS can do something natively that Windows cannot: MacOS can format FAT32 partitions larger than 32 GB. I frequently use MacOS to format FAT32 volumes, and that feature has historically worked for me without a hitch. At least, it did until last week, when I discovered a quirk in the MacOS Disk Utility that allowed me to create a FAT32 volume that would not mount on Windows.* Microsoft recommends their NTFS format for large Windows-compatible disks. Apple machines can natively read NTFS volumes, but they can’t write to that file system without third-party software. Look into the Mac port of the NTFS-3G project if you need to write to NTFS disks from your Mac.
The Disk Utility in MacOS version 10.5 is the nexus of file system management on your Apple computer. From that tool you can create partitions and disk images, format volumes, and mount files systems. Disk Utility was the obvious destination for me when I decided to format an old USB drive I had lying around. I needed to copy some files from my PlayStation 3, and I thought I would reformat an external HD for that purpose. The USB drive had some old Mac backups on it and was set up in the Apple-recommended HFS+ format. The PS3 will mount only FAT32 drives, so I thought I’d erase my drive and quickly reformat the volume. Then I’d be off to the races. Not so fast…
When I took my drive over to my PS3, I discovered it wouldn’t mount. The drive wouldn’t mount on my Windows machine, either. Only after investigation did I discover that I had greatly misunderstood how I should have been using Apple’s Disk Utility.
Disk Utility displays a number of action palettes when you select a storage device from its left-hand pane. Two of these palettes, “Erase” and “Partition,” appear to accomplish the same thing, but there is a very significant difference. The Erase pane does not allow you to change your drive’s partition map.
When I used the Erase tool on my HFS+ formatted drive, which carried an Apple Partition Map, Disk Utility obediently erased the HFS+ file system and replaced it with the FAT32 file system I asked for. Mac for paint tool sai. It did not, however, create a Master Boot Record to replace the Apple Partition Map on the disk. So, when I tried to mount the disk on my PC and my PS3, both of which are devices that require an MBR to get their file system information, I was out of luck.
Editing a partition table is a separate administrative task in Mac OS, distinct from merely erasing a volume, which is probably pretty smart. I ran into this problem because I was jumping between formatting schemes on my disk. If I had not wanted to change the disk format my drive was using, I wouldn’t have encountered this issue. But then I would have missed out on a valuable learning experience, right?
If you want to make sure that the FAT32 disks you create with your Mac are completely Windows compatible, follow these steps:
Once your disk is selected, make sure to switch to the Partition palette, which is highlighted in Figure A.Figure AOn the Partition palette, follow the numbers.
Step 1: Use the Volume Scheme pull-down menu to chose the number of partitions you want (Figure B).Step 2: Go to the Options… pane and make sure Master Boot Record is selected (Figure C).![Disk Format Tool For Mac Disk Format Tool For Mac](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133947684/568258121.png)
Step 3: Choose MS-DOS from the Format pull-down menu. Click Apply to reformat your drive.
Figure BMac Format Disk Utility
The Options pane in the Partition tool is very clear about what partition schemes can be used where.
Figure CUsing FAT32 volumes is a good way to share files across platforms if you use both MacOS and Windows. Apple’s Disk Utility is a powerful tool for setting up such disks, but being ignorant of how to use its advanced options caused me a little trouble. Now that I have an understanding of the process, I won’t make the same mistake twice.
What is the best file system for USB or external hard drive on Mac?
Windows and Mac OS X use different file systems. Windows uses NTFS and Mac can't write files to volumes with NTFS format.
So, if you want to use a USB flash drive or an external hard drive with NTFS format on Mac, you should first reformat the devices to the Mac OS Extended file system. It is the best way to ensure full Mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk.
Usually, FAT32 which can be read and wrote on Mac is recommended for maximum compatibility. And if you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Macs and Windows computers, exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT) is better.
How to format USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac
But how can you format USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac? Don’t worry! This page will show you two ways to do this job:
Free flowcharting tool for mac. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using Mac disk utility
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac on Windows PC using third-party USB format tool
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac on Windows PC using third-party USB format tool
Now, you can follow these two solutions to format any hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, SSD or any other external storage drive so as to make them work on your Mac now.
Method 1. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using Mac Disk utility
Windows offers users built-in disk management tool to create, delete, resize, merge and format partitions. You can try the following steps to format USB or external hard drive for Mac with Disk Utility on Mac.
- 1. Connect the USB or external hard drive to your Mac computer.
- 2. Launch the Disk Utility by clicking 'Applications' > 'Utilities'.
- 3. Locate and click on your USB or external hard drive in Disk Utility and then click on 'Erase'.
- 4. Next to 'Format', click the contextual menu and select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'.
- 5. Reset the drive name and click 'Erase', confirm the operation on the next pop-up window.
Disk Utility Format For Mac And Windows
- Wait for the process to complete and then you'll get compatible HFS+ file system on your external hard drive or USB, which will make your device compatible and workable on your Mac.
Method 2. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using third-party USB format tool on a Windows PC
If you need a simpler format tool to format USB or external hard drive to FAT32 to make them work on Mac, you can apply a third-party format tool to format them on Windows PC. EaseUS partition software is a popular disk partition management tool which is available for all hard disk related jobs such as format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem.
Now you can try it to format USB or external hard drive on your Windows PC by following the steps below. If you stored important data on the USB or external hard drive, you can try this tool to convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2: Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Disk Utility Format For Time Machine
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.
Format Disk On Mac
After this, you can connect your external hard drive/USB to Mac computer and use it to save data by then.