Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for Mac. 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. Aug 16, 2019 If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between Mac and PC is an often difficult - but it doesn't need to be. We'll show you everything you need to know about the. Oct 27, 2017 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. Apr 10, 2019 Time Machine supports all Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formats and Xsan formats. If the disk isn't using the correct format, Time Machine automatically prompts you to erase it when you connect it to your Mac: If you need to erase the disk manually, use the Disk Utility app to erase using the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
Have you ever wondered how to reformat an external hard drive for MAC, partition it and make it ready to use? How about recovering a drive you've lost? Best free microsoft word alternative for mac. All your work, files and photos gone poof! Well, after some research, it seems that AnyRecover for Mac is your best bet! No need to worry. We've got the steps right here.
How to Reformat an External Hard Drive for MAC?
- Bonus: Recovering Data from a Reformatted External Hard Drive
Reformatting an external hard drive for use with MAC OSX is not as difficult as it might seem. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your back-up files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. Keep in mind that a MAC can generally read other file formats, but for the best performance and to create a bootable disk, formatting exclusively for MAC is required.
Reformatting an External Hard Drive for MAC
Follow these steps to ensure you have a proper space to enjoy your files for a long time to come.
Step 1. Connect the external drive or the USB drive to the MAC.
Step 2. Start the Disk Utility, located under Applications > Utilities.
Step 3. Find the name of the drive in the left side of the Utilities window and select it. And click Erase button.
Step 4. Follow on-screen prompts to choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system and allow the disk to format.
Formatting a drive erases all information and all partitions on the disk, leaving it ready for you to save and store information on.
Creating Partitions on a MAC Drive
Partitioning your disk is a good idea when you have a need to run two operating systems at once on the same MAC. While not common for everyday users, it is more common for business users that have multiple programs across multiple platforms. This makes the switch between each easier.
Creating partitions on your MAC compatible drive is just as easy. Return to Disk Utility to begin the process: Finder>Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility>Select your Drive on the Left>Partition Tab
- 1. Once at the proper window, select the Partition Tab then click + to adjust the size of the partition.
- 2. Name the partition.
- 3. Click Apply.
Bonus: How to Recover Data from a Reformatted External Hard Drive?
Let's just say you've dotted all your work and been as careful as a church mouse on Sunday, but there was some sort of cosmic problem that created disk failure. Now what? In fact, it's very simple. AnyRecover can get your files back fast. When it comes to deleted files; that's exactly what you want.
Follow these simple steps using AnyRecover to get your files back!
Get Ready!
First, download and install AnyRecover, following on screen prompts to accomplish the task.
Load AnyRecover and choose one of the six available options for data recovery, in this case we are choosing to recover data from an External, formatted and partitioned hard drive (External Device Recovery).
Get Set!
- 1. Plug your external hard drive into your computer directly or via USB.
- 2. Next select the file type which you want to recover. Your choices are: photo, audio, video, document, archive or others. Select one and continue.
Go!
- 1. AnyRecover takes a moment to scan your disk and search for the specified file type to recover.
- 2. Press the Recover tab to see a list of file name by type of the recoverable files.
- 3. Select the files to recover and press Recover.
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What If?
![Mac Mac](https://www.focusphotoschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HD-Format-Chart.jpg)
What if my files were not found? Fear not. We can take this a step further. Instead of External Device Recovery, this time let's go back to Get Ready! And select All Around Recovery. All Around Recovery has a deeper scanning mode than External Recovery. Follow the steps above just as before to locate and recover your files.
It is plain to see that AnyRecover for Mac is a tool worthy of top shelf treatment in your arsenal of items that are used to defend, recover and keep your system up and running. Don't get caught without the file you need for that meeting or stumbling looking for baby photos that were stored on disk and suddenly 'hid' from your view. Allow AnyRecover to find and recover your lost files. AnyRecover is easy to use but provides sophisticated results that mean you know what you're doing!
Video editors will often find that they need to share files between a PC and a Mac. Use these steps to format external hard drives for both operating systems.
Top Image via Hard Drive Labels
As a video editor or Digital Imaging Technician, you will often need to share files with others. Eventually you will find out that you may not be working on the same operating system (OS) as others. If you work solely on a Mac, but need to send files to someone working on a PC, your external hard drive needs to be set up for both operating systems. Let’s take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production.
Formatting the Hard Drive
A vast majority of video production will be done on a Mac or Windows operating system, so we aren’t going to cover Linux. Hard drives set up for use on Windows machines only will often use NTFS, while Macs will use HFS+. That said, if you are using both a PC and Mac in the workflow, you’ll need to use a different format.
Image from Shutterstock
You may be using only Macs or PCs in your own office, but you will also need to take into account what type of machines your client is using. If you need to send them RAW files or an edited sequence, you will need to make sure the external hard drive is set up for both operating systems. To do this, you will need to use either exFAT or FAT32 formats. This will allow you to use the hard drive on both a Mac and PC.
FAT32 is often used among general users, but FAT32 has limitations that can affect filmmakers. FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 GB per file. The limitation affects both Mac and PC users. A single high resolution file can easily go over 4 GB, so Fat32 may not the best format. The best format for video production is exFAT. The maximum individual file size for exFAT is 16 EB. 1 EB, or exabyte, is 1 billion GB. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes — FAT32 can suffice.
Format Hard Drive (Mac)
1. Connect the external hard drive to the computer.
2. Click Go on the top tool bar, and select Utilities.
3. Open Disk Utility.
4. Select the external hard drive on the left-hand side.
5. Click the Partition tab.
6. Change the Partition Layout from Current to 1 Partition.
7. Click Options, Select Master Boot Record, and click OK.
8. Name the hard drive with a name of your choice.
9. Click the Format drop-down menu.
10. Select exFat (or MS-DOS FAT for a FAT32 format).
11. Hit Apply, then click on Partition.
Formatting Hard Drive (Windows)
Image from Shutterstock
1. Right-Click on the Windows icon in the lower left-hand corner.
2. Select Disk Management.
3. Right-Click on the external hard drive in the Volume tab.
4. Click Format.
5. Name the hard drive.
6. Select exFAT (or FAT for FAT32).
7. Click OK.
Naming and Labelling Hard Drives
If you will be using multiple external hard drives on a project, you’ll want to make sure to keep them organized. This includes the way you name the drive and how you label it.
![External Hard Drive Format For Mac External Hard Drive Format For Mac](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134043253/436266717.jpg)
One of my personal tricks is naming all drives after an actor. For instance, one project had several external drives, all of which were named after different Will Ferrell characters — Mugatu, Megamind, Lord Business, and Ron Burgundy. Another project used Tom Hanks characters — Forrest and Woody.
Remember that external drives should be used temporarily — and all footage should be backed up elsewhere. Use checksum verification to make sure everything is copied correctly.
There are plenty of ways you can label your drives. You can simply use some masking tape or gaff tape, and then write the name of the drive. https://wlxwcta.weebly.com/blog/mac-makeup-kit-for-beginners. You can also use hard drive labels, which are the awesome stickers featured above. You easily put them on your external drive to keep track of them.
If you are a parent, like myself, you can also use any stickers you have lying around the house. I recently had Kermit the Frog and Optimus Prime hard drives.
Best External Hard Drive Format For Mac
No matter how you label your hard drives, just make sure you keep track of them. You never know when you will need that footage from a three-year-old project.
How To Reformat External Hard Drive
Got any hard drive organizational tips to share with the community? Let us know in the comments below!