Starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. There may be occasions, however, when you want to reformat your mac s hard drive. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Solved cant format 4tb external hdd using mac osx 10. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. You will find that you can format the drive in fat format on a windows machine or you can go to an apple store and get them to format the drive on a mac running an earlier operating system sierra or before.
I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. Your 4tb hard drive shows as only 2gb or even less capacity in windows 1087. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. So for example, a hard disk marked as 500gb capacity is 500gb 500 x 1,000mb x 1,000kb x 1,000bytes 500,000,000,000 bytes, but in binary the capacity is calculated as 500,000,000,000 bytes 1024kb 1024mb 1024gb, approximately 465gb. Antalo this is probably because not all usb docking stations support 4tb drives. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. To format your seagate expansion compatible with both mac and pc, you follow the formatting steps above to step 5. Mac os extended journalled should work fine with high sierra even if you cant format the disk on your own mac. This insures that you will have a compatible hard drive with. How to fix seagate external hard drive not showing. Well, that makes sense, because the driver had some software installed, also installed an icon on the top bar called wd discovery and i cant get rid of it. Oct 15, 2015 i found some prgms that recognize the drive, but they cant format it. Exfat does not have partition limits for others following this thread, here is a link explaining all. Compare portable, usb, desktop and external lacie hard drives and shop online.
With a new, stylish design that fits in the palm of your hand, theres space to store, organize, and share all the photos. Mar 09, 2017 download best free seagate 4tb partition software. Now, im trying to format it so that i can use it on pc instead of mac. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard drive so make sure you back up your data elsewhere before starting. Select about this mac from the apple menu in the topleft corner, click on system report. Dec, 2007 how to reformat mac external harddrive for pc. Before using an external hard drive on a mac, you should format it using disk utility. Password protection the my book drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with wd security tools helps keep your content private and safe. How to format hardrive 4tb more like 6tb wd black without 2tb. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Hdd format software free download hdd format top 4 download. I found some prgms that recognize the drive, but they cant format it. Nov 22, 2014 how to format a 3tb or 4tb hard drive lee trigs. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc.
Providing the hdd and docking station are healthy, and the station is compatible with 4tb drives there is no reason it shouldnt work. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. In the end, i just erased the drive and formatted it to a so called fat msdos format. 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. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community.
For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. Os xs disk utilitywhich enables you to format, partition, repair, and perform other kinds of maintenance on disks including ssds, flash drives. Lacie setup assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs. You can use lacie setup assistant to format your lacie hard drive when it is first connected to a computer windows or mac. I am having a huge dilemma with my new western digital 4tb hard drive. How to properly configure the ssd as boot drive and hdd as storage.
Feb 03, 2020 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. Wd hdd my passport for mac 20181110 macos mojave 10. Microsoft do not supply tools that can format this size of disk in fat32 by limiting the format program to a maximum 32gb size and recommending ntfs for larger drives or partitions. Im having a hard time getting a 4tb external usb drive to work on both linux ubuntu 14.
Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Aborted lacie setup assistant while it was formatting. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Follow the recommended way on this page to recover the 4tb full capacity on the hard drive. Start by connecting your external hdd to macs usb port. But it doesnt make sense because the only way i was able to format the drive was with a mac mini running snow leopard. Nov 19, 2009 4tb hard drive formatted for mac os, need help.
It came formatted for mac os and i need to format it under ntfs. Hdd format software free download hdd format top 4. When i attempt to format my 4tb external hdd to exfat with disk utility on osx yosemite 10. Just like windows, macos also gives us a seamless option to format hard drive for mac and pc. Try aomei partition assistant to convert seagate 4tb hard drive from mbr to gpt and create partition on seagate hard drive easily. Connect the hdd to a mac and format the drive as fat32 and then connect the same mac hdd to windows and convert it to ntfs. Format it on a mac in fat32 or ntfs, you can do that on amac using disk utility. Fat 32 is the most compatible disk format which is why its the most widely used on usb thumb drives its compatible with both mac and windows. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Hi i have a my book studio 4tb external hard drive that i have been using for the last 6 months on my mac very successfully but it is formatted purely for mac. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. You can format the disk in mac format using disk utility but if you have information on it already then you need to teach your mac to use the ntfs format. Compatible with usbc and usba, the my passport for mac drive comes equipped to connect with todays latest technology.
But you cant use exfat if you want to use the drive for a time machine backup. However for external hdd you wont see the fat32 windows dont suggest fat32 for bigger drives however to get other format option you can use thirdparty software. High sierra wont format new drives macrumors forums. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup.
Both your mac and your windows pc can read and write to exfat. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. Equipped with wd backup software for windows and apple time machine compatibility for mac, the my book desktop hard drive can back up your photos, videos, music, and documents. The my passport for mac drive is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your onthego lifestyle. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. A stepbystep guide on how to format an external drive ntfs for mac compatible file system, mac os extended journaled. For the partition table, youll want to use the guid partition table called guid partition map in macos disk utility, and gpt on. I have a 4tb gpt external usb hard drive that i need to format as fat32. How do you format a 4tb hard drive to fat32 format. I would also from time to time like to be able to copy things from it to a windows pc but at the moment i have to copy it from the my studio book via my mac to a memory stick that i can then put into the windows pc to get it back off.
How do i format a big disk 4tb for use in both macos and a. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. And without you needing any special driver software. The problems seem to be with inconsistent ability to readwrite the usb drive. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Many hdd most are sold preformated in ntfs windows. Here is a 3step solution to fix seagate external hard drive not showing up in computer in windows 10 without losing data. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Jul 26, 2019 here is a 3step solution to fix seagate external hard drive not showing up in computer in windows 10 without losing data. Microsoft will, however, read fat32 format all the way up to the maximum limit with any system from windows xp pro and up.
While formatting a pen drive you will see fat32, exfat, and ntfs as the available file system. How to partition a 4tb mbr seagate hard drive for fully use in windows 7810. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Seagate backup plus portable 4tb external hard drive hdd black usb 3. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links.
If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need the help. However, it is frustrating that you have to sacrifice storage space because you spent the extra money to get a solidstate drive instead of the cheaper hard disk drive. Western digital my passport 4tb external hard drive. Formatting large harddisks on mac os x guido flohr. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Lacie rugged mini 4tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Try it to backup or recover data on the unrecognized seagate external hard drive and make the disk show up in disk management and on your computer. To learn how to format in mac your hard drive, follow these steps. Oct 21, 2017 well, that makes sense, because the driver had some software installed, also installed an icon on the top bar called wd discovery and i cant get rid of it. Before any hard disk to ssd swap, my advice is to run a complete time machine backup to an external drive preferably one.
Before any hard disk to ssd swap, my advice is to run a complete time machine backup to an external drive preferably one thats connected with a cable rather. In this tutorial, i will show you how to reformat the hard drive in your mac and reinstall os x for that factory fresh finish. Hdd format software free download hdd format top 4 download offers free software downloads for windows, mac, ios and android computers and mobile devices. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a.
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