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Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Average ratng: 5,5/10 9168 votes

Gta 5 for mac. There are many reasons why you may want to format an external HDD or small flash drive. For instance:

  • You brought a new unformatted hard drive
  • If the drive is not properly formatted, it won’t work
  • You want to use your external hard drive in both MAC, PC and Linux (use FAT32)
  • Before you sell your SDcard or Pendrive, you should format it to erase its data
  • Your camera’s SD card (FAT32) can only hold a file up to 4GB file. To get larger file size format it to exFAT.

Warming: Formating a drive, also erase its data. Although you can still get it back, but it’s much harder after formatting. So if you can’t afford losing you data, take backup.

How to format an external hard drive in macOS? If you are using an APFS/HFS+ formatted hard drive on Mac right now, and you want to use it on Windows PC as well, you can use the method below to format your external hard drive with exFAT/FAT32. Formatting external hard drive is a useful skill if you have one. Be default, external hard drives are sold in NTFS, which is designed for Windows. To use it on a Mac computer, you have to format it to HFS or FAT32. We will tell you how to perform external hard drive format quickly. Part 1: Format External Drive on PC; Part 2: Format External.

Which Format to choose?

Choosing a right file system is a bit tricky, so here are some pros and cons of all file system.

NTFS: This is windows propriety file system. Most external drives come preformatted in NTFS so that they can be used easily with Windows. However, NTFS drives are read only in MAC, but you can get write access by using software like NTFS-3g. It also works in Linux. And to support NTFS on Android use Stick mount or Paragon NTFS, HFS and exFAT.

HFS+: This MAC propriety file system and is used in iOS and MAC. If you format your external hard drive to HFS, you can use it on MAC and Linux (by removing journaling). However, to use it on Windows you can HFS explorer (read only).

ext4: This is a default file system for linux OS (including Raspberry Pi). To read an ext4 drive on Windows, you can Ext2Read and OSXfuse for MAC. However, I have not really use this format much, so we just skip it.

FAT32: This oldest file system and work with all OS i.e. Windows, MAC, Linux, Android, even TV, and PS3 etc. This is why it’s used in all small flash drive. Although it lacks all modern features and comes with 4 GB limit for single file size.

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exFAT: is the extended version of exFAT. It works fine with Windows and MAC (all the modern version). For Android, you can use Stick mount app (root needed). However being a windows propriety file system, it does not play well in open source environment. But unlike FAT32, it does not have 4GB limit for single file size. Thus making it ideal for SDcards of the high-end camera.

How to Format an External Hard drive or Pen drive

Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in Windows, MAC, and Linux.

Windows

Formatting a drive on Windows is quite simple. Plug in your external HDD to the USB port of your computer> then go to my computer > find your external drive > right-click it > and select format.

A new window will open, select the desired file system, keep the allocation unit size to default and check mark quick format (or it will take more time). Once done hit the format button and that’s it. Within seconds, you will have your drive in the new format.

Note: While formatting a pen drive you will see FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS as the available file system. However for external HDD you won’t see the FAT32 (windows don’t suggest fat32 for bigger drives) However to get other format option you can use third-party software.

MAC

Start by connecting your external HDD to MAC’s USB port. Under the finder men, go to Go > utilities > Disk Utility or type disk utility in the spotlight and hit enter.

Once under disk utility. Select your external HDD on the left side and then select partition option.

Now in the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition. Then, click on Options. A new window will open, here select Master Boot Record and then click Ok.

Now in the right side of windows, give a name to your drive, from the drop-down select desired file system format. Make sure the size is set to an entire volume of your external drive. And once done, click on Apply.

Note: Here you will also see an option to format a large hard drive to FAT32 which is not available in Windows.

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Linux

Unlike windows and MAC, Linux does not a have built-in partition tool. So, you will have ti install a GUI tool called GParted and then plug in your external drive in the computer.

Open your terminal and type in the following command to install GParterd.

Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Exfat

sudo apt-get install gparted

Once installed, type the following command to launch the program.

sudo gparted

A new window will open. Click on the top right side, select the volume you want to format.

Once you see the volume you want to format, right click on the block and select format > choose the file system you want > and click OK to confirm.

Note: Since, I am running Linux in a virtual machine, in final step my Format to option is not highlighted, But in your case, you will be able to click it and select the file system you to format in. To see the final step, I suggest you check out this howtogeek article.

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Android

Say you don’t have any computer with you, now can you still format your external HDD? Well, if you have an Android (ROOT) then yes, you can still format your drive to popular formats like NTFS and HFS.

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To do this, install Paragon exFAT, NTFS & HFS+ from Play store. The main function of this application is to mount NTFS or HFS formatted HDD on Android, but there is another useful option hidden under settings — i.e. formatting a drive.

Once installed, open the app, mount your drive and then go to the settings, There select the new file system for your drive, give it a name and hit format.

According to a recent survey, people are more likely to use external hard drive to expand storage space for their digital devices, compared to other storage media. However, hard drives advertised as being compatible with Windows and MacOS may have misled you into thinking you can use a hard drive cross-platform.

Formatting external hard drive is a useful skill if you have one. Be default, external hard drives are sold in NTFS, which is designed for Windows. To use it on a Mac computer, you have to format it to HFS or FAT32. We will tell you how to perform external hard drive format quickly.

Part 1: Format External Drive on PC

Format hard drive will erase all data in it, and you should backup it before formatting it.

Bear in mind that formatting an external hard drive will erase all your data, so you’d better back up them before the procedure. Then follow the easy steps below to format your external hard drive. It is available to Windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista.

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your PC via a USB cable.

Step 2. Click the Start menu and open Control Panel from the context menu. Select System and Security > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management.

Step 3. Here you can manage all your hard drives including the hard drive. Right-click on the external hard drive and select Format to trigger the Format dialog.

Step 4. Enter a name for the hard drive in the Volume label box. Then select a proper file system from the File system dropdown list. To use the external hard drive on Windows, select NTFS. FAT32 is compatible with both Windows and Mac.

Step 5. Choose Default from the Allocation unite size option. Next, uncheck the box next to Perform a quick format. That will perform a standard format, which will check errors and overwrite them on each sector.

Step 6. Click the OK button. When prompted, hit OK to start formatting the external hard drive immediately.

Best Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

For your external storage device like SD card, the steps work similarly, and you just need to insert your SD card into reader and plug it into your computer.

Part 2: Format External Drive on Mac

Similar to Windows, Apple has introduced the hard-drive-format feature into MacOS, but the procedure is pretty different.

Note: Again, do not forget to backup your Mac before formatting it.

Step 1. Also plug the external hard drive to your computer with a USB cable.

Step 2. Open your Disk Utility. You can find it in Applications > Utilities.

Format External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

Step 3. Find the external hard drive on the left sidebar and click on it.

Step 4. Go to the Erase tab from the top of the window.

Step 5. Next, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format dropdown list. Drop a name into the Name field.

Step 6. Click the Erase button at the bottom right side. Then read the popup message carefully and hit Erase again to initiate formatting external hard drive.

Part 3: How to Recover Data from a Formatted External Drive

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As mentioned previously, formatting external hard drive will overwrite all your data. In fact, chances are that you can recover data from the formatted drive before it is overwritten. Apeaksoft Data Recovery could meet your need of data recovery.

  • Retrieve lost data from formatted external hard drive simply.
  • Support a lot of data types including photos, videos, documents, etc.
  • Integrate both quick scan and deep scan to meet various demand.
  • Restore lost data to your computer with the original conditions.

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In short, it is the best way to recover lost files from your external hard drive after formatting. We use photos as the example to tell you the procedure.

How to Recover Data from A Formatted External Hard Drive

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Step 1. Get the best data recovery software

Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

Download and install Data Recovery on your computer.

Launch it when you need to recover data from a formatted external hard drive. Use a USB cable to connect the external hard drive and your PC.

Step 2. Preview all lost photos

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Check the box next to the data type you want to recover, such as Image. Then select your external drive under the Removable Drives area. Click the Scan button to look for lost data. When it is done, preview the photos and select the desired ones. The search bar on the top of the window is used to quickly locate certain images. If you cannot find your photos, click the Deep Scan button to scan your disk deeply.

Step 3. Recover photos from formatted external hard drive

After selection, click the Recover button to trigger the data recovery process. It only takes a few minutes to recover entire external drive.

Conclusion

This post has told you how to format external hard drive on Windows and MacOS. Microsoft and Apple have designed the format feature into their operating systems. What you need to do is to follow our guide. On the other hand, Apeaksoft Data Recovery is able to restore lost files from your formatted external hard drive. Now, you can feel free to erase your drive.