Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. How to format a mac hdd to win ntfs using win 10 microsoft. Mac os x uses the hfs plus file system, while windows uses the ntfs file system. Connect your external hard drive to your windows 10 pc. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Apr 14, 2020 finally, an exfat partition will be created on your external hard disk so that it could be shared between mac and windows pc. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Today this video will show you how to format an external hard drive on windows and mac.
Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. Ozone studio published the hd video player all format app for android operating system mobile devices, but it is possible to download and install hd video player all format for pc or computer with operating systems such as windows 7. Then i would suggest you to search for a third party software which directly converts the to ntfs format for windows operating system. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Now in this interface, you will see a format option.
Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which. Macos extended if you primarily use mac with a secondary exfat partition, or ntfs if. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Plug in your external hdd to the usb port of your computer then go to my computer find your external drive rightclick it and select format. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. I would also like to play those videos on my friends windows pc during my visit to his home. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard. 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. However, os x and windows both can read and write to a format called fat32, which used to be used for windows all the way back into the msdos. But before you click the format disk button and erase all the contents of the macformatted drive, consider the alternatives. One simple way to make the drive readable on both platforms is to format it to exfat, which both operating systems can understand.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to. Though the default hard disk file system also known as format of windows and mac are different, there should be some ways to format an external drive for both mac and pc. May 21, 2018 in this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2.
Gpt is a newer format supporting larger capacities, but isnt compatible with. Out of the box, windows can not read or write hfs drives, and macs. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format so to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently. The exfat format supports virtually any size hard drive and file, unlike the outdated fat32 format. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it. For this reason, a macformatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a windows computer. Mar 29, 2019 how to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. If you run into the issue of not having enough space format it to be the ex fat as. Open the disk management tool by rightclicking this pc manage disk management. When you plug a drive thats been formatted for mac into a windows pc, you may find that it isnt readable. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Mar 31, 2020 how to share an external hard drive between mac and windows by tyler lacoma march 31, 2020 compatibility issues between microsofts windows and apples macos have diminished sharply over the. Select the mac drive from the list of drives make sure this is the drive you want to work on, if you do it for the windows formatted drive in the list, it may cost you a lot of important data. Therefore, make sure that the file system is supported by your mac or windows. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended.
How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. To spare you the trouble of looking for them yourself, we have compiled a list with the absolute best. Based on vlc, ace player hd is a popular hd video player to view videos and stream hd tv. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. For example, in the screenshot below, the mac formatted drive is disk 2. Format external hard drive with windows builtin tool. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. In this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc. Paragon disk wipe allows you to create a bootable usbflash drive or external hard drive that will help you to completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or just clean free space. Accessing mac formatted external hd from windows pc. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3. If you move a hard drive between the two operating systems, heres what you need to know.
However, this format doesnt support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4k videos and so on between macs and windows 10. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive. Plug your drive into the computer and, if necessary, into a wall outlet. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open.
Which video format for viewing on mac and apple community. As both windows and mac provide native solutions to format hard drive, you should avoid using any unreliable thirdparty tool. Easeus partition software is a popular disk partition management tool that is available for all hard disk related jobs such as format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem, convert mbr to gpt without data loss and vice versa. Simple and easy to use, macdrive is recognized as the leader for accessing mac disks from windows for almost 20 years. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer. If you want to make your drive compatible with mac and windows, you need to format it with a common file system for mac and windows. The system tells you what key to press during the restart, so pay attention to your screen and be quick at pressing the right key. Can a windows computer read a macformatted hard drive. But if it does not contain any important files, then you can surely go ahead by clicking the format button. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Windows will format the drive as exfat and youll be able to use the drive on both windows and mac. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windowsmac. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. May 29, 2018 to format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example.
How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. Fat32 format works on both windows and mac but the problem is you can only work with the files with maximum size 4gb. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file. I have mp4 videos stored on my hd which plays well on my mac. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the formatting option for pc. Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the partition tab. File systems compatible with windows include fat32 and ntfs why not. Here in this article we would use certain third party tools to read the mac formatted drive on windows.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. How to format a new or second hard drive in windows 10 formatting a drive may vary in terms of different operating systems, like windows and mac. Just carry on reading to learn the methods in real. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. This will erase all contents on the disk, however, so.
Ozone studio published the hd video player all format app for android operating system mobile devices, but it is possible to download and install hd video player all format for pc or computer with operating systems such as windows 7, 8, 8. How to format new or second hard drive on windows 10mac. Enter a name that you want the volume to have after you erase it, such as macintosh hd. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Click the file menu and select load file system from device. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended.
To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. Format hard drive on windows 7 or earlier versions step 1 restart your computer and press f8 or del key to enter the bios settings. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. It is freeware software available easily on the internet and can be used to read mac files on windows interface. How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with macs. Although in principal, formatting means to erase existing data and free up space for utilization, the procedures are not exactly the same for mac and windows. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Whether youre selling your computer, trying a new operating system, or setting up an external drive for backups, sometimes you need to completely erase and format a hard drive. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac.
Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. Nov, 2019 format hard drive in windows 10 with easeus management software. Fat32 and exfat can be compatible with mac and windows and you can choose one after realizing their respective merits and defects based on your demands. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. Read mac formatted drives with windows the tech guy.
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. In the disk management, youll see your external hard drive as partition or. Step 2 click open file and load hd movie you want to play from the popup window step 3 after loading, your hd movie will be automatically played in the interface. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead.
Connect the empty external hd to your mac and launch disk utility. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. It makes sense to store them on an usb so that all my videos are on a single storage device which can be used on both mac and pc. Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in windows, mac, and linux. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Open file explorer and locate your drive in the sidebar. Open the start menu and search for disk management. Sep 26, 2018 windows pc and mac use different filesystems. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. If youre looking to dualboot with linux or run windows boot camp, you can format the partition as msdos fat, however, these programs. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility posted by ant on march 11th, 2012 43 comments if you have an external hard drive or usb flash drive that youd like to use on both macs and windows pcs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these items.
Although in principal, formatting means to erase existing data and free up space for utilization, the procedures are. Jul 15, 2009 format a drive for mac os x and windows. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat. There are specific thirdparty systems, like digital camcorders, and sony playstation 3, which need the drives to be formatted in either fat32 or exfat format to perform read from and.
Dec 05, 2019 rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. Aug 30, 2019 today this video will show you how to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. If this isnt a systemapplication drive and its just a drive for content like documents and media, you can format the external drive as exfat to have native readwrite support from both windows and os x with no third party software needed. Click the icon for your external hard drive in the sidebar on the left. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. If you are not comfortable with the previous method. Before you start formatting any hard drives, make sure you.
For a windows computer to be able to read a hard drive, it needs to have a file system format that is compatible with windows. Right click on the partition and select delete volume this will remove the partition. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under mac os. Unlike windows os, mac os doesnt provide quick format tool. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Download hd video player all format pc for free at browsercam. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. Formatieren einer festplatte fur windowscomputer mit dem. So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both windows and mac, you need to format it to a filesystem that is compatible with windows pc and mac. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer.
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