May 29, 2018 to format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. 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. If the drive is not properly formatted, it wont work. As darnir said, gparted is a suitable tool for this. How to reformat hard drive to fresh install from disk.
Therefore, we need to take the assistance of certain commands to format a linux disk. 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. How to erase disk in linux and mac using simple commands. Tap the search button on the taskbar and type cmd in the search box. Any copy, reuse, or modification of the content should be sufficiently credited to ccm. Make sure you pass in the partition and not the entire disk. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to format a hard drive to ntfs in linux make tech easier. For instance, if you have a 4gb thumb drive, you can have a partition on that device taking up the entire drive 4gb, two partitions that each take 2gb or 1 and 3. I have an 250gig lacie external hard drive on its way, which i plan to use with my linux desktop mandrake 10. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example.
The first tool, and arguably one of the most important to erase disk in linux and mac, is dd, windows versions are available, but the use is slightly different. When formatting for linux, your mileage can vary based on the distribution you use. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Sharing a hardflash drive across windows, os x, and linux. Now that we have a partition available, we can format it as an ext4 filesystem. This is because not all file systems for usbs are compatible. But before you can do anything, you need to make it clear that the hard. Open file explorer and locate your drive in the sidebar.
How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. On os x, linux, or any environment with bash, you can use the open source formatudf as a onestop udf formatting tool. Apr 14, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. If you format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling. This video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. A drive formatted in this fashion can be swapped between a mac and windows pc.
New file signatures can be added to the list of known file types by the end user. If you plan to use the usb drive on linux computers, you can format it to this file system. Linux has its own proprietary ext formats and if you are only going to use your external drive with a linux machine, you can safely go ahead and pick that format. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac.
Being able to create a bootable usb flash drive and start from the disk, this program is a popular bootable partition tool that can help you format hard drive without windows installation cd. Install and launch eassos partitionguru from your computer and find. Guide how to format hard drive from usb with bootable. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps, emails, etc. On os x, linux, or any environment with bash, you can use the open source format udf as a onestop udf formatting tool. To format a hard drive means to erase any information on the drive and to set up a file system so your operating system can read data from, and write data to, the drive. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Windows can read and write to ntfsformatted drives.
This document, titled partitioning a hard drive for mac, windows, and linux, is available under the creative commons license. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. I want to erase the drive though so i can make it strictly for linux. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. Rightclick or controlclick the drives icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. This mac propriety file system and is used in ios and mac. A partition on a hard drive is a sort of boundary on the device telling each filesystem what space it can occupy. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. Usb drives are great and portable, but they dont always work on every type of computer. We can add a partition label by passing the l flag. This article shows you how to format an external hard drive via different methods, and you can follow these methods to format external hard drive for pc, mac or linux. With the assistance of this tool, you can create a bootable format tool that enables you to run the software on the problematic computer and then format the hard drive from usb without the operating system.
If your answer is yes, you just come the right place. Jul, 2016 now that we have a partition available, we can format it as an ext4 filesystem. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Hi, basically as the title states, and being in this subreddit, i wish to reformat my hard drive. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. Partitioning a hard drive for mac, windows, and linux ccm. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. How to format and create a usb drive or pen drive that is compatible with windows 10, 8, 7 or mac or linux. If you are connecting your drive for the first time to your linux system, then you need to create a partition beforehand. 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. Jul 05, 2017 rightclick or controlclick the drives icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info.
However, you might choose instead a format you can use easily with os x, windows, and linux. 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 hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. I originally thought of using fat 32 as its compatible with both and windows but it has a 4 gig file size limit. A file system is a method and structure of data used by an operating system, called windows, linux or mac os, for reading media files such as disks, removable drives, etc. How to partition and format storage devices in linux.
You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems. How to format a hard drive to ntfs in linux by odysseas kourafalos jan 16, 2020 linux if you are a dual user, bouncing from linux to windows and back, or are cooperating with windows users and need access to the same files, it is best to have a common partition in ntfs format, since it is accessible by both oses. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. This is a default file system for linux os including raspberry pi. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Bootable usb hard disk format tool free download easeus. 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. For instance, if you have a 4gb thumb drive, you can have a partition on that device taking up the entire drive 4gb, two partitions that each take 2gb or 1 and 3, if you prefer, three of some variation of sizes, and so on. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. 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.
In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. 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. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. However, linux supports ntfs, which makes for a decent gobetween if you have both windows and linux machines.
Format external hard drive to linux compatible file system. Regardless of whether your block device is a hard drive or flash drive, and regardless of its logical block size, formatudf will produce a udf drive. External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information. Also find out the difference between file system i. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. How to access a mac drive from a windows or linux system. Aug 29, 2015 usb drives are great and portable, but they dont always work on every type of computer.
You need to format a hard drive if you plan on using it in windows. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. To implement this, you can enter the fdisk command. Since it is an external drive, you might want to format with fat32 or ntfs, so you access the files when moving the disk around to different platforms. Here, easeus partition software is available for free download to help. Jan 16, 2020 how to format a hard drive to ntfs in linux by odysseas kourafalos jan 16, 2020 linux if you are a dual user, bouncing from linux to windows and back, or are cooperating with windows users and need access to the same files, it is best to have a common partition in ntfs format, since it is accessible by both oses. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Dealing with macformatted drives on linux fosswire. I have a hdd 500gb that used to be my internal drive for my mbp 2012. However, to use it on windows you can hfs explorer read only. Regardless of whether your block device is a hard drive or flash drive, and regardless of its logical block size, format udf will produce a udf drive.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Mac os extended journaled mac os extended journaled, encrypted. Select a name that will help you identify this particular drive. To write zeros to a hard drive so as to erase all the data, you can format the drive in a special way using the format command from the command prompt. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with. Youll see the drives file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. Nov 21, 2015 this video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it. The question is which format do i choose in disk utility. The extended file system ext was the first file system created specifically for linux. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use.
Select filesystem type from the dropdown list and click. Rightclick on the partition to be formatted and select format current partition. Disk recovery software and hard drive recovery tool for. Jul 05, 2017 the first tool, and arguably one of the most important to erase disk in linux and mac, is dd, windows versions are available, but the use is slightly different. Format hard drive from usb with bootable format tool. There is now an easy, reliable way to format your hardflash drive in udf. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b.
Heres a simple solution to format a disk on a linux system. Verify that the correct hard drive is selected in the left column. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. The simplest way to format your hdd from usb is to use the professional partition management software easeus partition master. For more information see linux partition naming convention and ide drive mappings. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb.