You have been warned, so backup your mac data first, then proceed at your own risk. How to use external hard drive on mac without formatting. Youre mad as hell because your new wd my passport drive is read only on your mac. Secure erase free space on a mac hard drive from the command line. 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.
Open disk utility via your applications utilities folder. Without too much mucking around, its now possible to create a dualformat external drive that contains a macformatted partition and a windowsformatted one. Time machine can back up to an external usb drive connected to an airport extreme base station 802. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. You need to choose format type use mac os extended journaled and a name, you. If you find your external hard drive is ntfs format, thats what the cause is. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. The good news is the disk utility built into the os x comes in handy, like a visual assistant making the process easier. Once you have made sure of this, go to applications then utilities. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Im usually change hard drives to a bigger capacity ones and sold the old ones to others.
That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Since windows sees no filesystem in the partition, it prompts you to format it in order to create. Be very careful when selecting a drive or partition, as the data will be completely irretrievable. Youre having problems formatting an external hard drive since upgrading. How to write to an external hard drive on mac os x. There is no issue as long as you have copied off any files you want to keep. This was a life saver for being able to convert to my macbook air. Select the drive, click erase, choose the name and format of the drive, and click erase. It is a quick way to format external hard drive on mac. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. How to erase data from a hard disk so no one can ever recover it. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive.
Securely format external hard drive on windows and mac with super eraser. Open the disk utility application by clicking the icon in the applications folder. On the dropdown box, select the format labeled exfat. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. And definitely dont just quick format the drive thats like erasing the table of contents and leaving all the other pages intact.
Hard drive to go between mac and pc without deleting anythin. I have a 2 tb hard drive and its been on the erasing screen for almost. If the hard drive you want to format is connected to your pc, it should be there. Then select your external hard drive in the left pane and then click the button delete in the right pane, now click ok to format the disk note. How to reformat to mac without losing files external. If you cant find where the hell is turn off computer option in windows xp. Backup disks you can use with time machine apple support. Remember that this method can only be used to erase the hard disk drive which does not have the mac os installed on it.
If you have need for a dualformat drive, this should be pretty easy for you. There is a however a driver available which will allow your mac to write to ntfsformatted drives. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. In this video i am going to show you how to format your external drive so you can use it fully on both windows and macos without the need for additional software. This solution is used for formatting external hard drive under mac os. Select external hard drive, click on erase to format the external hard drive. Replacing the hard drive on any imac means removing the screen. How to completely deletewipe data off external hard drive.
How to format a hard drive in mac os x dumb little man. If you need to remove the hard drive with os files, you can use method 2. Connect your hard drive or external hard drive to your mac. You can opt to format without erasing, format with all your data rewritten one time or format with everything erased multiple times over. How to upgrade your macbook pro with an ssd 2019 updated. Note the name of your external hard drive probably untitled because you will need it when you create a bootable drive. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Before lion, you had to boot from a cd or dvd system disk or a thirdparty utility, like disk warrior, or from an external drive with os x installed. Additional information how to format a hard drive for mac. You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it. How to format a hard drive for mac that would be sold to another person. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required.
Give the volume an easytofind name, like data, and pick a format. Start using your mac the way it was designed to be used. In case you find the above method too complicated or it doesnt work, another way is to use thirdparty software. You need to choose format type must use apfs for mojave or high sierra.
Is there a way to completely format or erase the data from hard drive so it cannot be recovered by another user. Use the arrow keys to highlight the drive that you want to erase, and press space to select it. I was told it needs to be extended journaled but im not sure how to reformat so that i can delete files on my external on my mac. Select the hard drive you want to securely erase from the list of available drives in the left column. Make sure that the usb drive is formatted for time machine. Remove write protection from read only mac external hard drive either by editing preference file or using fuse package. How to securely erase data from your mac and external drives. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. No partition scheme option when erasing a usb disk in macos high. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. Depending on how the drive is currently formatted, and whether or not you want to. How to reformat seagate portable external hard drive. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows.
Erase everything on macbook pro with data wiper recommend. Click on the erase tab, choose your external hard drive and select mac os extended journaled and then click erase then simply drag and drop your data onto your newly formatted disk. Whether its a hard drive in an older mac or an external hard drive, if it is accessible, you can use disk utility to securely erase it. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. Before you proceed, make sure youve already backed up all important data to an external hard drive or cloud storage.
Rightclick on it and select the format option from the context menu. Why the hell didnt i come across this video two days ago. Initially external disks may be formatted for windows and after you connect it to your mac it appears in the device list in the finder, but is a read only. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. Easily format external hard drive on windows or mac.
To format a hard drive for windows, open the file explorer and click on this pc. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. How to fix your external hard drive being read only on mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. When i open disk utility pertaining to the new hd i see 698. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. How can i format an external hard drive to be used with. How to remove read only on mac external hard drive without formatting updated on april 4, 2020. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine.
Make sure you click the drive you want to securely delete. The master file table keeps track of all the sectors on the hard drive, and which. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. This is where mac reformat external hard drive might help. Usb to sata cable needed to connect the new ssd to your imacs usb. How to format external hard drive and usb drive under. The easiest way to format the drive for mac is by using macoss builtin disk utility for fat32 or exfat. I was just looking to add content from the mac not format my hard disk and then add. I did reboot it without removing the usb hdd but still the same problem. How do i recover data from external hard drive asking for formatting it. This will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. If you are using an external hard drive, or even an sd card or a usb stick, make sure that it is properly connected to your computer via the appropriate port. I purchased it about a month ago and i down loaded thousands of pictures onto iti tried to retrieve a picture today and it keeps saying i need to format my drivei look on disk manager on my computer and it shows there is date on the drive but it. I looked in disk utility and its formatted as msdot fat and remember i use mac.
When your delete or format your internal hard drive, the data is not completely deleted but it only erase. A list of all of your drives and partitions will be listed. The harder ones encrypt either the master file table in windows, or individual files, or the whole hard drive. With an ssd, there is no waiting, this is because your data is effectively in a spreadsheet. The incompatibility of the file system is the main cause of the errorexternal hard drive read only on mac. How to format a laptop hard drive with pictures wikihow.
Wipes hard drive this mac hard disk eraser software can help you. Stepbystep guide to copy filesfolder on external hard drive usb drive from mac. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. How to erase everything on macbook pro hard drive befre. Fortunately, its easy to fix so that your external hard drive is no longer read only. Choosing disk format type while formatting external drive. On the utilitys window top, select the option labeled erase. Connect the drive you want to securely delete, then click it in the sidebar. This method uses the utilities which can be run only on the mac os. For mac owners, one of the most annoyinginconvenient aspects of owning a mac is the external drive compatibility. How to format external hard drivedisk on mac using disk utility. The erase option deletes all the data that was in the drive.
To expand the storage capacity of your mac, you can connect one or more external drives, including solidstate or traditional movingplatter mechanisms as well as flashmemorybased thumb drives. The last option is the best one for securing your sensitive information against outsiders future attempts to. The first step is the only really tricky part, and its not even that tricky. Writing to an external hard drive using max os x can sometimes be more complicated than one would assume. The reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need.
If you have more than one external hard drive named untitled, you will need to rename your hard drive now. In many cases, we learn that the native format of external drives that work. Someday when we are going to resell, donate or throw away our external hard drive, usb drive, memory card, we should not only format the external hard driveusb but also destroy and wipe all personal data on our device. How to format your external hard drive for windows and. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Unable to copy filesfolders on external hard drive from mac. Look to the top of your disk utility window and select erase. The formatted files erased by disk utility also can be recovered by free mac data recovery software. If nothing works, use remo mac data recovery software and recover data from it before reformatting the drive. Mac os has several options as far as what to do with your data once the drive is formatted. How to write to an external hard drive on mac os x wikihow.
Connect the drive to a usb port on your airport base station, then turn it on. Methods to recover read only external hard drive on mac. I cant edit external hard drives on macs your business. Go to finder application utilities double click for disk utility select the external hard disk you wish to format at the left column click on the erase tab at the volume format select msdos file system if you confirm to format your hard disk for mac and windows, click on erase button. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac. How do i reformat my external hard drive without deleting. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. Usb to sata cable needed to connect the new ssd to your macbooks usb. Unformat mac hard drive recover formatted hard drive on. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Hi, this software helps you copy files from ntfs format to mac without formatting software link. But when i try to delete a file in my external hard drive it says it can. How to make a bootable mojave drive to downgrade from.