format external drive for windows and mac

#Format external drive for windows and mac for mac#

WARNING: Formatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Check step 2 to confirm Disk Utility is Showing All Devices. NOTE: If you don’t see Scheme, then make sure that all devices are showing and the non-indented entry is selected. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your back-up files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind.

#Format external drive for windows and mac for mac#

Select the non-indented entry, you will see Media in the nameĬlick the button labelled Erase in the menu which will bring up this window. Part 2: Format External Hard Drive for Mac with Disk Utility Reformatting an external hard drive for use with Mac OS is not as difficult as it might seem.

Click View in the upper left and select Show All Devices.

To open Disk Utility - Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility IMPORTANT: Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.

When using between macOS and Windows, drives should always be formatted on macOS because not all Windows allocation unit sizes (cluster sizes) are supported by macOS which will prevent the drive from mounting.

ExFAT drives must be safely ejected to prevent corruption because ExFAT is not a journaled file system.

Starting with Big Sur, APFS is now the default for Time Machine.

Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard. However, it is frustrating that you have to sacrifice storage space because you spent the extra money to get a solid-state drive instead of the cheaper hard disk drive.

ExFAT is not compatible with Time Machine Format Wd External Hard Drive And Windows PS3 And Xbox Format Wd External Hard Drive And Windows Mac And It.

It is important to keep the following in mind when formatting to ExFAT:

Not sure what version you are using? Click here to determine your version of macOS IMPORTANT: This article applies to the following macOS version: