Thus, when you are planning to use the same Hard Drive on any other OS, particularly MacOS, it is always suggested to format your Hard Drive for Mac. Formatting your Toshiba Hard Drive for Mac is important, as it makes the Hard Drive best suitable for the Mac by formatting it with the OS-specific File System and Drivers. Yes, connecting an external hard drive or USB flash key to a Mac will generally read and work fine as is because the Mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including Windows MSDOS, FAT, FAT32, ExFat, and NTFS formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a Windows and Mac machine, formatting it to be entirely Mac compatible. Tips for Formatting a Hard Drive on Mac: Even though formatting doesn't seem like a big deal, still it can be very helpful. So, you must stay active and keep all things in mind. Here are some tips that might help you when you are about to format a Mac hard drive. The Best Format Choice of External Drive on Mac. Using the external drive on Mac is a good idea as it provides additional storage. But it is hard to pick a suitable format as it depends on your usage. So, it is better that you know your options and understands which format is right for you. So, here are the best formats for an external.
Having an external hard drive is advantageous as you can store tons of data on it. Moreover, it is small, light weight and not attached to your computer. This makes it quite handy and allows you to transfer your data from one computer to another easily.
As you connect your external drive to different computers, it might get infected if the host computer is not secured. And in worst case scenarios, chances are the drive would no longer be recognized by your system.
Well, worry not, we have solution for you. Whenever an external storage device gets infected, it is highly recommended to format the device to make it operable.
In this post, let's talk about how to erase and format external hard drives on Mac and Windows.
Erase and Format External Hard Drive on Mac
Step 1: Open your Mac and connect your external hard drive with it.
Best External Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
Download mac programs. Step 2: Type Disk utility in the spotlight search or click ‘Go' from the top toolbar and select ‘Disk Utility'.
Note: There is another way to open ‘Disk Utility', Go to Finder icon > choose Application > Click on utilities > Disk Utility.
Step 3: Choose the external hard drive from the left-hand side which you would like to format.
Step 4: Select ‘Erase' tab.
Step 5: Select ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' beside ‘Volume Format'.
Step 6: Enter a name for the external hard drive in the Name field.
Step 7: Once you hit ‘Erase' button it will prompt you 'Are you sure you want to erase the disk', So, click Erase to Proceed.
How To Reformat A Windows External Hard Drive For Mac
Now, your external hard drive is formatted and is as good as new.
Also Read: Best Free Batch Image Resizer for Mac 2017
How to Erase and Format an External Hard Drives on Windows
Step 1: Go to ‘Start'.
Step 2: Right-Click on Computer.
Step 3: Select the second option ‘Manage' from the right-click menu.
How To Reformat Seagate External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
Step 4: On management window, choose ‘Disk Management' from the storage.
Step 5: Now, select the drive which you would like to erase and format.
Step 6: Right-click on the drive and select ‘Format'.
Step 7: Choose the ‘File System', (you can select ExFAT or FAT32).
Also Read: How to Recover Permanently Deleted Files in Windows 10
Note: Make Sure, you do not 'Perform a quick format' as it doesn't erase the entire data on drive.
Step 8: Hit ‘OK'. Your machine will prompt you to confirm. After confirmation, your drive will start formatting.
Note: Be patient while formatting your drive, as it might take a bit longer depending upon the size.
Formatting your external hard drive will erase all data available on the drive. In case if you're formatting a drive that you have used before, don't forget to copy important files you might require in future.
Reformat Hard Drive For Mac
0 Responses
Western Digital (WD) portable hard drives are really helpful. They offer high capacity storage, universal connectivity and are also compatible with USB 3.0 and 2.0.
If you want the WD external hard drive to work on your Mac or PC, you need to format it first. So, if you are looking for how to format your WD drive, you are on the right page. Here, we provide a step by step guide on the same.
Securing your data
Once the formatting process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost. Therefore, you will have to extract or back up your data first before you start the process.
You can do that by copying your files to a new location one by one. If the data to be transferred is massive, then you should use a professional back up software (e.g EaseUS Todo Backup).
Read Also:How to fix itunes error 9039
Formatting your WD hard drive for Mac
Formatting your drive to FAT32 or exFAT is easier using Mac's built-in Disk Utility. Below are the steps for the process.
- Connect your WD hard drive to your Mac computer.
- If your driver doesn't turn up, navigate to Finder then select Preferences.
- In the small window that appears, check the boxes next to Hard Disks and External Disks. Your WD external hard drive should now be visible on your screen.
- Double-click on the driver icon that appears on your desktop.
- Click on Applications from the left pane
- Go to Utilities
- Select Disk Utility
- Click on the drive with the WD label in the left pane of the Disk Utility.
- Click on Erase in the Disk Utility file menu. The Erase dialogue window appears.
- Select the Volume Format drop-down list
- Choose MS-DOS (FAT)or ex-FAT File System.
- Click on the Erase button then wait a few minutes and let the macOS erase data on the drive.
- Reformat the drive by FAT32 or ex-FAT
- Once formatting is complete, you can use the drive in your MacOS or OS X as a regular hard drive.
Note: ex-FAT is a better choice for formatting your WD on Mac.
Read Also: How to delete Google Drive from Mac
Formatting your WD hard drive for PC
Below are the steps to follow when formatting the WD Drive for Mac.
- Connect your WD hard drive to your Windows PC
- Click on the Start button and select This PC. A new Windows Explorer window opens.
- Right-click on the icon assigned to the WD Drive.
- Click on Format in the pop-up menu.
- Select the File System from the drop-down list then choose either ex-FAT or FAT32
- Type a name in the Volume Label This is the name that will represent your drive when you connect it with your PC or Mac.
- Select the Quick Format option then click on Start.
- Wait for a few minutes for the process to complete. After successful formatting, you can then save or move files to it.
Conclusion
Hopefully, the steps above will enable you format your WD external hard drive for Mac successfully. Should you encounter any problem with the same, let us know in the comments section.
Read Also: How to add Google Drive to Mac Finder