You may need to reformat it to work with both computers. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os, a task which is typically performed through the disk utility application from the gui. Guide how to factory reset macbookimac without losing data. In the disk management window, rightclick c drive shrink volume. For ios iphone data recovery freedownload iphone data recovery probuytry. First, connect the seagate external hard drive with your mac. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Click on the add button to create a new user account with admin status. 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. Formatting external hard drive i just bought a macbook air and have an external hard drive with pictures from my old pc on it. These hard drives offer portability and make the data transfer between computers easy. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac.
Heres how to format a dr ive using a mac including how to format a dr ive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it. Then your hard drivemac computerdevice is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people. In case you want to format an external hard drive or you want to know how to format flash drive on mac. Once here, youll see a list of all the hard drives and ssd drives currently installed on your system. How to wipe a hard drive permanently erase everything. This command erases the entire selected disk, including all its files and partitions whether. Expand the size of c drive without losing and formatting data. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Optional if available, click security options, use the slider to choose how many times to write over the erased data.
Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. For this guide i used a friends macbook pro that they had accidentally formatted the entire hard drive on, erasing all of their information but also the operating system. How to format a hard drive for mac that would be sold to another person. If the external hard drive shows up as read only on your mac or isnt formatted as. Thank you for helping us maintain cnets great community. It just securely formats your mac hard drivedevice and permanently erases all the data. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. Problem is, i cant reformat it without losingdeleting my data from it, can i. As it is mentioned above, after formatting a hard drive, all data on the hard drive will be erased. With my previous laptops pcs, ive always stored my data on an external hard drive.
At certain times you may have some confidential or personal data on the external hard drive, which you may want removed once you dont have the use for it. Usually, in all types of windows operating systems, you can format a hard drive using the command prompt, the hard drive formatting tool or the windows explorer and windows disk management. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. 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 well. Go to system preferences and click on time machine. How to unformat mac hard drive formatted mac hard drive recovery. Now, i have a new macbook pro and all my data is still on. If you wish to use that 1 tb drive both for windows and mac os x, the best solution may be to install a driver on your mac that will enable read and write access to the 1 tb drive. You can also check this in the finder with a few clicks. How to erase and format an external hard drive on mac and. Dec 08, 2016 for this guide i used a friends macbook pro that they had accidentally formatted the entire hard drive on, erasing all of their information but also the operating system.
How to format and permanently wipe external hard drive on mac. How to format a drive without deleting files using free. How to format external hard drive safely in windows and macos. Can i format my hard drive to use in mac without deleting. Just remember that the format options on the erase panel change with time. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. If youre not erasing the disk your mac started up from, you dont. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata.
Type disk utility in the spotlight search or click go from the top toolbar and select disk utility. You may use disk utility application to perform hard drive partitionrelated tasks on mac operating system, such as to format, repair, erase or create hard drive partitions and end up with an erased hard drive moreover, by doing so, crucial data may be deleted by mistake from your mac. This option is used for erasing deleted files and formatted files on your mac, without affecting the existing data. Permanently format or wipe external hard drive on mac. Click the format popup menu, then choose a choose a file system format. There are many reasons why you would want to format hard drive for mac and pc, and there are many ways in which you can do the same. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing everything. For example, here wed type select disk 2 finally, type clean and press enter. The operating system will prompt you to wipe the drive. For the following scenarios, you may need to format the hard drive on your mac. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Partitioning drive without deleting files in osx fast,easy and no.
Enter a name that you want the volume to have after you erase it, such as macintosh hd. How to erase and format an external hard drive on mac and windows. How to partition, format or wipe hard drive without os. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. However, you need to make doubly sure that you complete a quick format. Reformatting a hard drive is often done just to erase all of its contents. How to format a drive without deleting files using free space. External hard drive is a great device to back up the data from your computer and free some space. Well run through the method in catalina first before moving onto mojave or previous versions of macos below that. What disk utility looks like in lion through yosemite. Oct 11, 2017 how to securely erase your hard drive windows windows xp and above to erase an hdd in windows using the native operating system format method, start by rightclicking your start menu, and scrolling up to the option labeled disk management. Click the scheme popup menu, then choose guid partition map. This mac hard drive formatting tool also can erase free disk space to permanently erase deletedlost data on the hard drive.
Further, disk utility does not provide any option to undo format. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. Right click on the partition and select delete volume this will remove the partition. Now, i have a new macbook pro and all my data is still on that external hd. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. To factory reset your macbook or imac without losing data, you can first. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. Is there a way to completely format or erase the data from hard drive so it.
So, now you know how to reformat a hard drive for mac. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. But things become difficult when you format a hard drive without os. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other. Check if an external hard drive is ntfs formatted in the finder. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Select the mac drive from the list of drives make sure this is the drive you want to work on, if you do it for the windows formatted drive in the list, it may cost you a lot of important data.
However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. How to securely erase your hard drive windows windows xp and above to erase an hdd in windows using the native operating system format method, start by rightclicking your start menu, and scrolling up to the option labeled disk management. Fix external hard drive read only error on mac without losing data. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select exfat for format option and click on the erase. This is where things will look a little different if you are using macos catalina compared to how they looked before. Hard drive to go between mac and pc without deleting. Today, if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between the two is an often demoralizing task. Read about it and found that id have to reformat it in mac os extended journaled. Convert formatted drive from mac to windows info remo. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. How to format a hard drive for mac the below steps can be used to format mac internal hard drives, external hard drives or usb flash drives. Make sure you click the drive you want to securely delete.
How to securely erase your hard drive, ssd or mobile phone. There is another way to open disk utility, go to finder icon choose application click on utilities disk utility. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Can i format my hard drive to use in mac without deleting the. But you can get back your formatted data from the mac hard drive by using a mac hard drive recovery software, as explained next. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Instead of reinstall the operating system, the better choice is to format mac hard drive. Then proceed to highlight your computers hard drive.
If your external hard drive is readonly on mac because it was formatted with microsoft ntfs file system, you can free download iboysoft ntfs for mac and feel free to copywriteeditdelete and transfer files on this drive without formatting it. For example, when you are going to toss your old external hard drive in the garbage, you should securely wipe all the data on the drive to prevent recovery by other. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. You cant erase everything without erasing os x, but you can remove any existing user folder and its content. Click on the erase button to start erasing the external hard drive or usb. Disk utility enables you to configure your storage by erasing disks, partitioning them and setting up raid arrays. For example, when you are going to toss your old external hard drive in the garbage, you should securely wipe all the data on the drive to prevent recovery by other people. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Unlike harddrive docking stations or adapters that require a computer connection and software to erase drives, this hard drive sanitizer features standalone erasing that doesnt require a host. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Disk utility to erase external drive restore formatted data. Here are the steps to create a back up of your seagate hard drives data with macs time machine before you reformat seagate drive. This process wont actually convert the file system. Hard drive to go between mac and pc without deleting anythin.
How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Dec 29, 2015 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 well. Resetting a mac is not a simple thing like resetting your iphone. Dec, 2019 now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select exfat for format option and click on the erase. Type disk management in the search box, and choose create and format hard disk partitions from the results. Disk utility is a smart hard drive format tool built in mac system. Securely erase iphone and wipe ipad with ishredder ios. How to unformat mac hard drive formatted mac hard drive. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these items. There are many reasons that you want to permanently wipe external hard drive data on mac.
Just follow these steps to format and erase your hard drives on mac. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. Aborted lacie setup assistant while it was formatting. How to format an external hard drive for mac duration. You can use lacie setup assistant to format your lacie hard drive when it is first connected to a computer mac or windows. Format usb flash drive without erasing or losing data if you need to perform a lowlevel format, it can only be done by professional lowlevel formatting tools. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Reformatting a drive on windows is a pretty straightforward process. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Open your mac and connect your external hard drive with it. Im usually change hard drives to a bigger capacity ones and sold the old ones to others. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. When formatting a hard drive with disk utility, make sure to.
During installation, the macos installer decides whether to automatically convert to apfswithout erasing your files. Before digging in, select a primary format youll use the most. I wanted to create a partition on an external drive for time machine while keeping the other partition for external storage, and this tutorial. When formatting a hard drive, you are not only erasing data but also defining a file system, which can be changed as needed. Formatting a hard drive will take a while and wait for it patiently. Lacie setup assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs. How to format hard drive for mac and pc wondershare. Will formatting an external hard drive erase everything. Then, after making sure that it is the windows ntfs file system that makes your external hard drive readonly on mac, you can go head to fix this problem. Since lowlevel formatting will not only destroy all existing data but also will cause damage to the storage device itself.
Partition hard disk drive without formatting or deleting data. A quick format only deletes the organizational structure of the files on the drive, without removing the actual files. Read on to know how you can erase a mac storage drive easily with the help of disk utility and terminal. The external hard drive shows up as read only on mac computer. Is there a way to format the hard drive so that i can now copy pictures from my mac to the hard drive without erasing the hard drive. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing data. Oct 25, 20 how to format a drive without deleting files using free space. Windows uses nfts file format while mac drives use hfs, this means macs cant write. Aug 20, 2019 when formatting a hard drive, you are not only erasing data but also defining a file system, which can be changed as needed. Or, erased the mac external drive without backing it up in the first place. Be sure to doublecheck this you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here. Connect the drive you want to securely delete, then click it in the sidebar. What should i do about the data on the hard drive before reformatting it.
Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. Ntfs disks can be read and data can be written to it easily on microsoft systems, however macos and linux are only able to read data on them. Rightclick on windows icon, select disk management. How to install os x after formatting your hard drive. On mac computers, use the finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. The command line approach to disk erasure in macos is a bit different and it requires precise syntax to insure that you are erasing the proper disk, making this. In the sidebar, select the storage device you want to erase, then click the erase button.
1101 764 1386 347 1367 732 680 201 51 1152 730 493 361 1119 523 1346 1352 595 449 277 1201 716 1545 1290 1442 598 47 63 682 776 1115 662 468 519 1143