Format hard drive for mac and windows
- #FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS HOW TO#
- #FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS MAC OS X#
- #FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS INSTALL#
- #FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS FULL#
Remember, formatting a drive erases all data contained on it so back up important files before proceeding. “Drives format very quickly, though the total time taken will depend on the size of the drive.
![format hard drive for mac and windows format hard drive for mac and windows](https://www.isumsoft.com/images/computer/format-usb-drive-as-exfat-for-mac-windows-compatibility/formated-in-exfat.png)
Click Options and choose Master Boot Record as the partition type, then click OK and Apply.From the Partition Layout dropdown menu, select 1 Partition.Click the drive, then select Partition tab.
#FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS FULL#
When you want to use your drive with older versions of Windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to Master Boot Record (MBR) for full Windows compatibility:
#FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS MAC OS X#
And it is recommended to carry out the entire process on Mac OS X You can format any hard drive, flash drive, SSD, USB drive, that is accepted by both a Mac and Windows machine.
#FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS HOW TO#
How to Format a Drive for Mac and Windows PC Compatibility? In this article, we are going to introduce you with the entire process in few simple guidelines. It is just a matter of few minutes to do this. And if you are going to use Mac and Windows PC frequently, you will find this as very useful as any data, files, media files stored on the drive can be easily accessible from any operating system. Well, you can format the drive and make it as excellent cross-platform compatible to work with both Windows and Mac. And they are incompatible with each other! Now, the question is how to make hard drive compatible with Mac and PCs? While Windows uses NTFS file system, Mac hard drives are formatted with HFS file system. The irony is that, by default, Windows and Mac use different file systems.
#FORMAT HARD DRIVE FOR MAC AND WINDOWS INSTALL#
Alternatively, you can install a program like Microsoft’s NTFS software from Paragon (paid app) or the open source Tuxera (free) on your Mac to enable the NTFS read / write support, but, even with third-party options, some features, including Time Machine, will not work properly with an NTFS file system.Make your hard disk or USB flash drive compatible to both Mac and Windows PCs using this easy step by step guide. Here’s how to partition a hard drive for use on Windows and Mac. You can check our Windows section for more information on this process.
![format hard drive for mac and windows format hard drive for mac and windows](https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/img_571db8861b205.jpg)
If you are concerned about the reliability factor of the exFAT file system, or the lack of it, there is a way to format the secondary Windows partition to NTFS, but it requires connecting the hard drive to a Windows computer. Note that you will see icons on the desktop for both units. Click the Partition button in an additional pop-up window to complete the process. Enter a volume name, select the exFAT format, and click the Apply button. A second part appears, cutting the pie chart in half. On the next screen, click the little plus ( + ) button below the blue pie chart to add a second partition. Select the drive again in Disk Utility and click Partition. After completing this procedure, your disk should have only one partition. Click the Delete button to make these changes. In the next pop-up window, select a profile, in this case MacOS Extended (Journaled) for Format, and GUID Partition Map for Scheme or Partition Type. Click Delete, located on the top toolbar of the application.
![format hard drive for mac and windows format hard drive for mac and windows](https://www.partitionwizard.com/images/uploads/articles/2019/01/how-to-format-a-hard-drive/how-to-format-a-hard-drive-thumbnail.jpg)
With Disk Utility open, in the Location option, your drive appears in External on the left.
![format hard drive for mac and windows format hard drive for mac and windows](https://images.wondershare.com/recoverit/article/2019/10/format-new-hard-drive-windows-3.jpg)
Double-click the Disk Utility icon in the next window. With Finder highlighted, click Go in the menu bar followed by Utilities in the drop-down menu. If the error does not appear, start with step 1. Like Windows 10, you may see an “initialization” error because the drive’s file system is not “readable.” Click the Initialize button in the small pop-up screen to create the first compatible partition, and then start at step 5. If you already have a Mac compatible partition, continue from step 5. Partitioning an external disk in MacOS is not that annoying, initially, we will assume that it does not have partitions, so we will need to create two.