Formatting-hdd-for-mac
How to Format a Hard Drive For Both Windows and Mac. Format' or 'disk management' in Windows search or going to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Create and format hard disk partitions.
Windows can’t normally read Mac-formatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. But third-party tools fill the gap and provide access to drives formatted with Apple’s HFS+ file system on Windows. This also allows you to. If you know you’re going to use a drive on both Mac and Windows, you should use the exFAT file system, which is compatible with both. But if you didn’t foresee that, you may have formatted your drive with Apple’s HFS Plus, which Windows can’t read by default. In fact, some manufacturers sell “Mac” drives pre-formatted with this Mac-only file system. Don’t Format the Drive!
(Yet) When you connect a Mac-formatted drive to Windows, you’ll be informed that “you need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it.” Don’t click the “Format disk” button or Windows will erase the contents of the drive–click “Cancel”! This message appears because Windows doesn’t understand Apple’s HFS+ file system. That’s fine, because other applications do. Just don’t format the drive until you get the important files off the drive. Of course, if the drive doesn’t have any important files on it, you can go ahead and format it. But be absolutely sure there’s nothing you need before you do. Option One: HFSExplorer Is Free and Basic RELATED: If you only need to get a couple files off the drive, we recommend.
It’s the only completely free way to access a Mac-formatted drive. It does require, however, so you’ll have to.
Then, install HFSExplorer like you would any other Windows program. HFSExplorer isn’t fancy, though, and doesn’t have a lot of features. You can’t use it to write to Mac-formatted drives, and it doesn’t install a file system driver that integrates into File Explorer. But you can open HFSExplorer, read a Mac-formatted drive, and copy the files to your Windows PC without paying a dime. It can also mount Mac.dmg disk images to get at the files inside them.
This application’s read-only nature isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It ensures that no bug in the third-party driver can damage your Mac-formatted drive and the files on it. You can set read-only mode in other applications, too–but, if you’re not going to use their write support, there’s less reason to pay for them. To use HFSExplorer, connect your Mac-formatted drive to your Windows PC and launch HFSExplorer.
Click the “File” menu and select “Load File System From Device.” It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. You’ll see the contents of the HFS+ drive in the graphical window. Just select the files or folders you want, click “Extract,” and choose a folder.
They’ll be copied to the location you choose on your PC. Option Two: Paragon HFS+ is $20, But Offers Write Access and Better Integration Paragon’s is a bit fancier, but it’ll cost you.
This tool installs a file system driver that allows you to access a Mac-formatted drive like any other drive in File Explorer, or any other Windows application with an open or save dialog. It boasts improved speed, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it were faster than HFSExplorer.
And, unlike HFSExplorer, it offers full read/write access to Mac-formatted drives, so you can write to them from within Windows. Just install it, and Mac drives will show up like any other drive. If you need to work with Mac-formatted drives on a regular basis and you want the operating system integration, speed, and write access, Paragon HFS+ is a great choice and will be worth it for you. But, if you just need to get some files off a Mac-formatted drive occasionally, this is overkill and you can save $20 by sticking with HFSExplorer.
Paragon does offer a 10-day free trial of HFS+ for Windows, so you can give it a try and see if it works for you. And, if you just need to get files off of a Mac-formatted drive once, you can just use the trial and be done with the application by the time it expires. Option Three: Mediafour MacDrive Costs $50 to $70, But Includes More Features Mediafour’s is similar to Paragon’s HFS+ for Windows, but with more features and polish. It’s noticeably more expensive than Paragon HFS+ too, at $50 for the Standard version and $70 for the Pro version.
For most people, this software won’t really be worth it. But it offers a few unique features, like support for Mac-formatted RAID disks. It also offers a graphical interface with support for verifying, repairing, and formatting Mac-formatted drives. Paragon’s HFS+ gets out of your way and doesn’t provide a graphical interface–it just enables access to HFS+ drives in File Explorer and other applications. If you need all these tools, go for it–this is the most full-featured solution for working with Mac-formatted drives on Windows. But you probably don’t need all these tools. Mediafour does offer a 5-day free trial of MacDrive–both the Standard and Pro versions–so you can give it a try and see if those features are worth it for you. Option Four: Format the Drive as exFAT–But Warning, This Will Erase Your Data!
RELATED: Once you’ve gotten all the data off the Mac-formatted drive, you’ll probably want to. Both Windows and Mac OS X have full read-write support for exFAT drives without any additional third-party software. FAT32 has some serious limitations–individual files can only be up to 4GB in size each, for example–but exFAT doesn’t. Rather than use a Mac-formatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exFAT-formatted drives for moving data between Macs and PCs. To format the drive in Windows, right-click it in the File Explorer window and select “Format.” Choose the “exFAT” file system in the list and click “Start.” Remember, this will erase all the files on the drive! Be absolutely sure you have your files off the drive and that you’ve selected the correct drive you want to format!
When you’re done, the drive should work on both Windows PCs and Macs with no problem. By the way, this works great for Windows users too–Macs can’t natively, although they can read files from NTFS drives.
So no matter what your primary platform, exFAT is probably the way to go.
You can erase a disk (or a volume on that disk) at any time, including in circumstances such as these:. You want to quickly and permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings, such as when you're. You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended). You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer.
You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't. The macOS installer doesn't see your disk or can't install on it.
For example, the installer might say that your disk isn't formatted correctly, isn't using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system, or can't be used to start up your computer. The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple.
Your Mac includes Disk Utility, an app that can erase disks, add volumes, check disks for errors, and more. Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a of any files that you want to keep. If you're erasing the disk your Mac started up from, before continuing. Open Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities window.
You can also find it in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Choose View Show All Devices from the menu bar. From the sidebar in Disk Utility, select the disk or volume to erase. For most, you should erase the disk, which also erases all volumes on that disk.
Click the Erase button or tab, then complete these fields:. Name: Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as 'Macintosh HD'. Format: Choose either to format as a Mac volume.
Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default. Scheme (if shown): Choose GUID Partition Map. Click Erase to begin erasing. Quit Disk Utility when done. You can now on the disk or volume, if you want your Mac to be able to start up from it. In the following example, APPLE SSD is the disk, Container disk1 is a container on that disk, and Macintosh HD is a volume in that container. (Only APFS-formatted disks show containers.) If your disk doesn't appear in Disk Utility, disconnect all nonessential devices from your Mac.
If the disk is external, leave it connected, but make sure that it's turned on and connected directly to your Mac using a good cable. Then restart your Mac and try again. If your disk still doesn't appear, your disk or Mac might need service. Disk Utility in can erase most disks and volumes using either the newer (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
If you want to change the format, answer these questions: Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac? If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, don't change it to Mac OS Extended. Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later on the disk? If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files:. macOS Mojave: The installer converts from Mac OS Extended to APFS. macOS High Sierra: The installer converts from Mac OS Extended to APFS only if the volume is on an SSD or other all-flash storage device.
And traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) aren't converted. Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer? Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use with or as a. Will you be using the disk with another Mac? If the other Mac isn't using High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't mount APFS-formatted volumes. Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu.
Format Hdd For Mac And Windows
If it can't, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS. To learn which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:.
Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information on the right. For more detail, choose File Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar. Open and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume. Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File Get Info from the menu bar.
Formatting Hdd For Both Mac And Windows
The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.