After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. This is a default file system for linux os including raspberry pi.
Then below you will see the format type which will be ntfs or possibly msdos fat, we need to reformat the volume and make the format mac os extended journaled. Complete the related information name, format, scheme, then click erase button. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. The exfat format supports virtually any size hard drive and file, unlike the outdated fat32 format. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Using disk utility, you can erase and reformat your external hard drive to work on both mac and windows 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. However, to use it on windows you can hfs explorer read only. Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. I have external hdd of segate on which i want to install linux. 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. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Replace ext3 with ext2 or ext4 if you wish to format in these filesystems. After your drive is formatted, you can begin using it to store data. How to create an external usb bootable linux hard drive.
Also, since you can run a full copy of os x on the external drive, it can be used for troubleshooting purposes on other macs or it can be as a kind of virtual os x. Hi atanere, i would like to install centos on external hdd. Also you can enter a name for the drive under volume label. Windows xp, mac os, and linux all support udf reading and writing. Which mac file system is best for an external drive. This hard disk was setup and formatted by friend under windows xp ntfs partition. This video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it. Using gnomediskutility on linux mint, i format one spare drive to exfat gpt. Probably the need to format a hard disk is due to an unsuccessful installation of a new os or to some problem of unknown origin. Select your external hdd on the left side and then select partition option.
Follow the path applicationsutilities and click disk utility. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. On the formatting window, select quick format option, choose file system format, and click start. Now i want to format and use one partition continue reading linux format external usb hard disk partition. The answer is yes, in most cases, and it is actually quite easy to get your macformatted stuff mounted on your linux system with readonly, and in most cases readandwrite, support.
The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. 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. This is not hard to do, and will take you only about a minutes effort. How to format an external hard drive for use with a mac. You can use label name insted of partition name to mount disk using etcfstab. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. I bought a new external hdd for my mac about a month ago and formatted it to mac os x extended journaled. By formatting its linux drive, you can improve its performance as well. Push the appropriate key f12 for dell laptops to bring up the one time boot menu select boot from cddvd. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran jan 2, 2016 mac most external drives ship in formats that are universally recognised amongst nearly all operating systems fat, im looking at you, but there may be times where you might want to completely wipe a drive andor set it up to be compatible with apples mac lineup only. Under the finder men, go to go utilities disk utility or type disk utility in the spotlight and hit enter. Step 2 on the left side of the utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it.
How to access a mac drive from a windows or linux system. Filesystem to use for external hard drive to be used with mac, linux. These two do not play nice with each other but heres how you can get a usb, external hdd, or other storage device, to be readable and writeable on both operating systems. I am new to linux mint, am very anxious to make it another os. Start by connecting your external hdd to mac s usb port. I am not sure how to format external usb hdd for use with windows, mac, and linux. How to format a usb or external hdd so it works on both. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities.
Nov 21, 2015 this video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it. It will likely already be formatted, either for use. In order to format hard drive on linux, you need to follow these steps. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. 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. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. The answer is yes, in most cases, and it is actually quite easy to get your mac formatted stuff mounted on your linux system with readonly, and in most cases readandwrite, support.
How to use external hdd with windowsmaclinuxandroid. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Cannot mount external hard drive on mac, how to fix. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac.
If you deal with macs at all, you might be curious as to whether linux is capable of dealing with disks and drives formatted for mac os x. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Most external hard drives you buy will come out of the box preformatted for a windows computer ntfs. Nov 19, 2015 if you format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling. In our example, we created a partition table for linux. If you plan to use the usb drive on linux computers, you can format it to this file system. Before you sell your sdcard or pendrive, you should format it. Step 1 connect the external hard drive you want to format to your mac, then start the disk utility app that you can find under applications utilities. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Mostly, users prefer to do a linux format disk before reselling their systems. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac. Select the file system you want to use and give the drive a name. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. This solves the problem of your external hard drive not letting you add files.
Linux format external usb hard disk partition nixcraft. 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. I have created linux bootable thumb drive using centos. Rakesh shewale writes with a common question about formatting compatibility. Once youve unboxed your new drive, connect it to your mac.
The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice.
The extended file system ext was the first file system created specifically for linux. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. Linux is the absolute operating system suitable for geeks. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. Can you help me with the easier method and the step by step for install centos so in the external hdd please. May 09, 2017 this is because external hard drives in linux unlike windows and mac do not automatically start up so that users can access files. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions.
Sometimes, a system can become slow by having limited free space. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Jan 02, 2016 how to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran jan 2, 2016 mac most external drives ship in formats that are universally recognised amongst nearly all operating systems fat, im looking at you, but there may be times where you might want to completely wipe a drive andor set it up to be compatible with apples mac lineup only. If you are having a hard time using the command line, try the disk utility app, which is simpler and uses the gui.
By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. 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 format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. The computer will boot so you can see the post screen. You can select the exfat format when using the disk utility to format the drive. Im having a hard time getting a 4tb external usb drive to work on both linux ubuntu 14. How to format a 4tb usb external drive to use on linux. Some versions of linux can write to ntfs while others may not. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Install, boot, and run mac os x from an external hard drive. As darnir said, gparted is a suitable tool for this. By default, macs can only read ntfs and not write to them. If it is not ticked, you will lose all of your data.
According my experience on windows you can install your ubuntu outside your internal hdd e. I originally thought of using fat 32 as its compatible with both and windows but it has a 4 gig file size limit. You want to use your external hard drive in both mac, pc and linux use fat32. Format external hard drive to linux compatible file system. 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. Click the icon of the unmountable external drive on the left part of the window. Mar 09, 2017 managing storage devices whether they are internal hard drives, ssds, pcie ssds, or external usb devices is always a tricky task. Feb, 2018 using disk utility, you can erase and reformat your external hard drive to work on both mac and windows computers. 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. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Also find out the difference between file system i. Mar 29, 2019 you can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility.
In this article, i will talk about some of the basics of storage devices on linux. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb. First, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. Best format for an external hdd in 2019 to be used in macos. Locate your external drive from the list of devices and drives. This is because external hard drives in linux unlike windows and mac do not automatically start up so that users can access files. 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. I have a number of these usb drives, and would like to format them ideally. Rightclick on the external hard disk and select format option from context menu.
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. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. Plug the external usb device into the usb port on the computer. Managing storage devices whether they are internal hard drives, ssds, pcie ssds, or external usb devices is always a tricky task. Firstly, it allows you to run another copy of os x without needing any additional mac computer. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. Linux offers its users gparted and fdisk from the command line. Reformatting the disk still with the external disk selected in disk utility go to the erase tab, select mac os extended journaled from the format dropdown, choose to name the disk. Partition new disk using following command fdisk l grep disk fdisk devsdb format the new disk using mkfs. How to format external hard drive for pc, mac and linux. Sep 12, 2007 if you deal with macs at all, you might be curious as to whether linux is capable of dealing with disks and drives formatted for mac os x. 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. 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. To format the newly created partition, issue the following command in the terminal prompt.
Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux techwiser. If you have a mac you should format the drive for your mac first thing, before you start using it. If your system has been corrupted by a malware, then you can wipe the hard disk of your linux to resolve this. When you cant mount an external hard drive on your mac, you can try the 5 methods introduced in this. Dealing with macformatted drives on linux fosswire. To find out the label of an external hard drive, open up a terminal, and use the following command. Formatting external disk can be done via various methods and it can be formatted to a range of file system so that you can use the disk under. The problems seem to be with inconsistent ability to readwrite the usb drive.
How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Aug 30, 2016 you can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Click the erase function on the top of the disk utility window. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. This live usb loads perfectly by using the option key on my imac. However, linux supports ntfs, which makes for a decent gobetween if you have both windows and linux machines. 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. I have an external new hard drive connected using usb port under red hat fedora core linux. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat.
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