How to format hard disk on mac

Please select the Operating System OS in which the drive is to be formatted from the list above to display the instructions. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below: Connect the WD drive to the Mac computer. Double left-click on the Mac HD , the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen.

Choose Applications from the left-side panel.

Format a disk for Windows computers using Disk Utility on Mac

From the Applications folder, open Utilities , and lastly double-click on Disk Utility. Disk Utility will now be open. From the left-side pane, choose the drive that is to be re-formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left Not indented for the drive to be formatted.

It is usually directly above the name of the drive. Erase After selecting the appropriate drive, additional option buttons will become available on the top part of the Disk Utility window. Click on Erase. The Erase dialog window will now appear. Assign the name that will be given to the drive. Select the Format file system from the drop-down menu.

For this article, we chose exFAT , see image below. Select the Scheme Partition Table Scheme from the drop-down menu. See image below. Begin by connecting the WD drive to the Mac computer. Once the drive appears on the desktop, click on Go on the top tool bar. From the drop-down menu, click on Utilities.

In Utilities , select and open Disk Utility. When Disk Utility opens, select the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted from the left-side panel. Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless there is more than one partition on a particular drive. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted.

It is usually directly above the name of the drive, and is the drive selection that has the total size being displayed.

Format an External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive for Mac OS X

Once selected, click on Partition on the right-side area. In the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition. Then, click on Options. To the right, insert a name for the drive, and click on Format.

Start a Discussion

From the drop-down, select ExFAT. When done, click on Apply. A window will come up showing that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all data that is on the drive. If there's no needed information within the drive, then click on Partition. If there is data on the drive that is needed or is not backed up, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding.

The drive is now formatting and a status bar will be seen at the bottom that says formatting the disk and gives the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name that was specified. When it is done, this bar will go away and the drive should now be listed on the desktop.

Right-click on Start , the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen, and click Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue. If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume.

If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized , the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see Answer ID If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated , with a black bar on top. Right-click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume. Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next. By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Open Disk Management. In Windows 8 this can be achieved by moving the mouse to the bottom-left corner of the Desktop and right-clicking on top of the Start menu screen.

Then, click Disk Management right below Storage. From the menu, click on Disk Management. FAT32 in macOS Erasing a partition deltes all the data on that partition, but does not affect other partitions on the same disk. Same here. Click Done to continue. The Disk Utility has changed, you might want to update the screen shots to reflect the new version, the Partition tab is noticeably different. It Fails and says: Disk Erase Failed.

I get similar errors constantly when using USB hubs on Mac with external drives, but when plugged directly into Mac the hard drives work. Having the identical problem connected directly to USB on the back of iMac. How do you tell if it is locked? I have a new maxone external drive, and it is not recognized in the left-hand panel of the Disk Utility. It is connected by USB cable, plugged directly into mu iMac. I have an Iomega Ext. The storage is half full with over MB of storage left.

Get started with Disk Utility

Am I able to continue with the formatting without erasing the current files that are already on it? I have a 1TB Toshiba external hard drive, I have been using on my iMac and have been able to read an write on it. Why is it working on my iMac and not on my macbook pro? It seems that the hard drive is formatted for Windows but it does work read and write on my iMac. Do I need to format this external drive to be able to use in more than one Apple computer?

The one single thing, arguably one of the most important bits has been skipped altogether from this guide…. Majority if not all flash drives come not only with Windows dominant file systems, but also MBR formatted, vs the Mac where the operating system is always installed to a GPT partitioned disk. Format for Mac compatibility as described, I use it with every disk.

You do not need to mess with schemes, this is not Windows.

Format an External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive for Mac OS X

This is Mac. In this case you are formatting the drive to be Mac compatible. This is not about Windows. Just trying to figure out if I need to back my pictures up to a second hard drive before I do this. Backup everything you want to save. Nothing is left on the external hard drive after formatting is completed.

This post is a lifesaver even 5 years down the track! Hi, I did what it said. But two of my USB are ruined, my computer cannot read them anymore.

• 1. Erase and partition!
• pixma mg3100 setup download mac;
• How to Format an External Drive for Mac Compatibility.
• convert vob to mp4 mac free online!
• .
• .
• open pdf password protected file mac?

I kinda wanna cry. If you format a hard drive it erases the data on it. That is what formatting does, it erases a drive. What else do you think erasing a drive is supposed to do except erase the data? I purchased a 4TB WD external drive and having a heck of a time reformatting this drive. I have tried all the above advice without getting to have this new hard drive formatted.

Any other suggestions? I just keep getting the error Disk erase failed. There must be something new with High Sierra Is there an option besides just declaring the data irretrievable, and more importantly, how does a USB uninitialize itself? Will I be able to copy and share media across both Mac and Windows? I am Computer-Eleteret lol.

Now My Mac is about There. I just have no Clue how to do it. Name required. Mail will not be published required. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without explicit permission is prohibited. Enter your email address below: Posted by: Andy Robinson says: January 4, at 4: Fernando says: January 4, at AppleExpert3 says: November 12, at 2: AstroExpert2 says: July 6, at 3: Emaven says: January 4, at 8: April 22, at 4: Joe says: June 27, at 8: Sam says: July 28, at 8: August 21, at Roger says: April 10, at NYCer says: January 8, at 7: Ahmed says: November 26, at Lina Alvarez says: September 17, at 9: January 25, at 3: Thasleem says: March 17, at Debbie says: March 25, at 4: Timothy says: April 3, at 1: May 6, at Deon says: January 13, at 8: Yes says: January 13, at 9: January 13, at Noreen says: September 14, at 2: April says: October 10, at 8: Sayna says: April 29, at 3: July 6, at Jared says: September 24, at 1: Keith says: December 17, at 6: December 17, at December 21, at December 22, at January 9, at 9: Dorothy Swayne says: October 31, at 4: Margaret F Sadler says: December 4, at 7: Negar says: February 6, at Aiman says: February 20, at