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Reformat external hard drive mac scheme

I've simplified these explanations for the purpose of this article. When you open Disk Utility, you'll see all the drives connected to your Mac.

2. Open Disk Utility

If you click on one of them, you'll see some basic information about it. Disk Utility can tell you the type of device, where it's located, which file system it uses, its capacity, and more.


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Notice in the above screenshot that I have clicked on the startup volume of my Mac — the one at the top of the sidebar is always the startup volume. Also, I've clicked on the top line of the disk's entry; here you can see a disclosure triangle, and, if you click on the entry below that, you can see the volume, in this case, named Mac SSD. The information you see about the volume is different. Disk Utility shows information about the volume's capacity, how much space is used and how much is available, and even gives you a breakdown of the types of files Apps, Photos, Audio, Movies, and Other.

When you connect a new drive to your Mac, you may need to format it. Most pre-formatted drives are set up for Windows PCs. Though some companies sell Mac-formatted drives, and charge extra for the "feature. Connect the drive, select it in Disk Utility, and click the Erase button in the toolbar. This is how you prepare to erase and format a USB flash drive.

How to erase and format external disks on Mac

In that case, choose Master Boot Record for the Scheme. You may want to divide a drive into more than one partition. When you do this, each partition is a volume, and each volume shows up as a separate drive on your Mac. You may want to do this to have two versions of OS X; for example, one in the first partition, another in a second partition. Or you may want to do it to sequester data: To partition a drive, select it in Disk Utility, and then click Partition in the toolbar. Disk Utility shows the drive's space as a pie chart.

If you want to adjust their sizes, you can do so by dragging the circles dividing the partitions, or by typing a size into the Size field. When you click Apply, Disk Utility erases the drive did you back it up first? Ask a question.

How to format a startup drive in El Capitan

User profile for user: Mac OS X Speciality level out of ten: My understanding is I launch disk utility, select the drive, click erase and choose " Mac OS Extended Journaled " My question is -- When I go into Disk Utility, I see two different possible items and am unclear which to run the erase protocol on. More Less. Reply I have this question too I have this question too Me too Me too. Question marked as Solved User profile for user: View answer in context. Helpful answers Drop Down menu.

How to erase and format external disks on your Mac

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