Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. How to format a 2 tb external hard disk as fat32 quora. Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps and the os. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. Besides, you can also use the paid thirdparty file system converters to convert ntfs to fat32 or exfat which are compatible with both mac and. Proceed with the following instructions to know how to format the wd my passport ultra 1tb setup drive on the mac computer. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. It functions just fine when connected to a windows pc, playstation3, or even a chromebook notebook. You can apply the thirdparty solution to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 explorer or disk management. 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.
Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. Currently it is in windows ntfs format and wont work on my answered by a verified mac support specialist. After your mac computer detects the wd my passport ultra 1tb hard drive, mount it. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Wondering what the best format for your new external hard drive is. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. But as of right now the time capsule only recognises the drive if i format it as mac os extended. Then, should you format the hard drive to fat32 or exfat file system. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Windows 10 not recognizing my fat32 usb hard disk and pen. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. I have a 500gb wd external hdd not a mybook one partitioned with 160gb in hfs for time machine and the rest in fat32 for storage on both my pc and mac, and it doesnt take very long at all for both partitions to be detected on my macbook.
If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need. Connect the hdd to a mac and format the drive as fat32 and then connect the same mac hdd to windows and convert it to ntfs. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. You can format external drive to use on mac and pc. How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. Rather than using the standard windows formatting tool, you switch to the command line.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Many people think it is hard to format the windows drive on macintosh. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. I copied over all my important data from mac and ubuntu laptop in my seagate 1tb hard disk and hp 32 gb pen drive, both formatted as fat32 so that mac. No worry, actually it is not impossible to realize it no matter you use an external or internal drive of your windows system. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. Both of fat32 and exfat are suitable for seagate drive to be used with mac and windows computer. There is nothing difficult to format it to fat32 or exfat. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Establish a connection between the western digital my passport ultra 1tb and the mac computer. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. How to format 2tb hard drive to fat32 successfully in. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Creating windows 10 bootable usb on mac is a common task for people who have multiple computers at home. For whatever reason, the option to format usb drives larger than 32gb with the fat32 file system isnt present in the regular windows format tool.
How to erase a disk for mac partition a physical disk in disk utility on mac file system formats available in disk utility on mac format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac encrypt and protect a storage device with a password in disk utility on mac. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x. Refer to detailed steps of using both tools for fat32 format. For example, if you have a 1tb hard drive, 500gb of storage can be used. We here will show you the full guides on how to format fat32 and ntfs drives on mac as an example. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with windows and mac os. The good news is that formatting usb on mac is also as easy as on windows 10. Cant format external drive as fat32 apple community.
It came formatted for mac os and i need to format it under ntfs. There are three common file system types to format an external usb or hard drive, ssd drive, sd card and etc. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. However, fat32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating systems. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips.
The usb drivers come with the fat format by default. The usb external hard drive is made by seagate and it has a 1tb capacity. You have to format the drive to exfat or fat32 if the burning process failed due to the wrong partition scheme. Linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. I can copy, paste, move, create new folders, or delete files. So no matter you want to format 64gb, 128gb, 256gb, 1tb or 2tb large drive with fat32 file system, this freeware is a great choice.
Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. How to format usb to fat32ntfsexfat on windows and mac. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. Learn to format hard drive that compatible in windows and macos. According to the list above, formatting your hard drive to fat32 so that you. From the content above, it is no doubt that aomei partition assistant could make it possible and easy to format 2tb hard drive to fat32. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. As you are not allowed to format 1tb internal or external drive as fat32 via windows builtin utilities, you need to find out a professional and reliable third party tool to help you to change the file system of 1tb drive to fat32 file system.
How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. So you figured, fine, ill just get an external hard drive. As earlier stated, you need to first back up your usb drive before formatting the drive as you may not be able to recover the contents again. A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. I might partition the drive in two 2tb then format to fat32 on mac osx and on windows format in ntfs and then try to. How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. In windows 10, rightclick the start button to launch the power user menu and select command prompt. I am having a huge dilemma with my new western digital 4tb hard drive. I just recently bought my 6tb my book studio edittion ii wd hard drive.
Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. I am wanting to format all 6tb to fat32 so i am able to use it on my playstation 3, along with my mac and pc. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Fat32, ntfs, and exfat, lets have a look whats the difference between these formats. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus.
Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. The purpose of the extra external hdd was for pictures and videos that i could share across pcs in my home network. Fat 32 format external drives for mac wd community. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. How to format transcend hard drive for mac and windows. The problem windows cannot format drive to fat32 that is larger than 32gb1tb. Should i use fat32 when formatting an external hdd wd element 1tb to be able to use both on a macbook and windows machine. I have got a new thinkpad which runs windows 10, before this i used to have mac and linux laptops. Apart from windows and mac, fat32 is compatible with. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
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