Seagate Backup Plus Hub for Mac 8TB External Hard Drive Desktop HDD – USB 3.0, 2 USB Ports, for Computer Desktop Workstation PC Laptop Mac, 2 Months Adobe CC Photography (STEM8000400). Looking to share an external hard drive between a Mac and PC? The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as FAT32. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support. Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with Apple MacOS, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. How to Partition an External Hard Drive on Mac. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive (in fact, you should for better file organization), here’s a step-by-step guide. 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. 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. Many external hard drives come pre-formatted as FAT 32. This is a native Windows file format that can be read by Mac OS X, but is not ideal for use with Aperture. Before you begin to use your new external hard drive with Aperture, reformat it to the Mac OS Extended file system: Be sure your drive is attached and mounted.
HomeHow ToMacOSHow to Format External Hard Drive for Mac and PC
You can format an external hard drive or USB so that it’s compatible for both your Mac and your Windows PC.
How to search for a word on a web page mac. Without formatting the drive, you won’t be able to use your hard drive across different operating systems.
When you do format a hard drive, you’ll be able to access your data, media and files across any operating system.
This is extremely handy if you use a Mac and Windows operating system because you’ll be able to cross between both platforms and use your USB on anyone.
Remember that everything gets wiped off your hard drive when you format it, so you’ll need to back it up before you follow the steps down below.
Let’s get started…
Format Using MS-DOS FAT
The good thing about changing the format to FAT is that it works with all Macs and PCs, plus it uses less memory and it works faster.
The negatives of using Fat is that it can’t contain files bigger than 4GB.
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
![Drive Drive](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133913867/520638289.png)
- 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
Format External Drive For Mac Os
Glasswire for mac pro. Remember that once you’ve formatted your hard drive, it will get wiped so you’ll need to backup the content on your external drive.
https://newnewjersey474.weebly.com/blog/music-downloader-for-mac. If you’re using a USB, you can simply drag its contents to a folder in your PCs hard drive and upload it back to your external hard drive once it has been formatted.
Format Using ExFAT
The good about formatting to exFAT is that it can handle unlimited file sizes and partition sizes.
The cons of exFAT are that you can only use it with Mac OS X 10.6.5 or newer and your Windows PC needs to be either Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7 and above.
Another problem with exFAT is that it’s extremely slow so moving files to this drive will take several minutes.
To Format using exFAT on Windows PC:
- Plug in your external hard drive in Windows PC
- Open File Explorer
- Right-click on your external drive and select Format
Format External Drive For Mac And Pc
- Choose exFAT in the menu
- Click Start
- Your external drive is now formatted
After formatting your drive, it’s now compatible for both your Mac and your Windows PC.
Fat is the best option to use because you can use it on any OS, however, it can only contain 4GB which may not be enough for you.
If you have a new OS system, I’d definitely recommend exFAT because it can contain unlimited data.
Format External Drive For Macbook Pro
Bottom Line
Going into Disk Unity then clicking the erase tab is the quickest way to format an external drive on your MAC.
Format External Drive For Mac Os
If you have any questions or you’re having any problems, comment down below and I’ll help you further.
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