Hi, thanks for sharing, i followed the instruction under 2. How to format an external hard drive focus photo school. Jan 23, 2020 so how do you make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting it. Disk management not only allows you the opportunity to change the format of the hard drive to ntfs, but it also assists in assigning a new letter of the usb, helps create multiple partitions, and keeps a thorough check on the health of the hard drive in focus. But now some folders, that contained several subfolders and quite some data are empty. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. 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. If you want to format external hard drive to ntfs file system, you need to install a ntfs for mac tool on your mac. How to format an external hard drive on windows formatting a hard drive on windows is a simple affair, especially if you leave everything as default. The drive came formatted in the ntfs format but since i use it for. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. Usually, the above 3 methods can help you format hard drive to ntfs successfully. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac computer, it must be formatted to exfat or fat32 file format.
Insert your ntfs drive or usb stick and click to highlight the disk name in the white box on the lefthand side of the window. How to format external hard drive on a mac latest version. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. How to format drives in ntfs on a mac in 3 easy steps. From there you can choose to create the volume format as mac os extended.
No need for deleting any files before that, as formatting takes care of it. They define and control how the data, or files, are stored and retrieved from a storage drive. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Ntfs new technology file system is a file system developed by microsoft. On mac computers, use the finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. However, the new external hard drive comes as formatted drive, but, if you think the external drive should be formatted as another format filesystem. If you work on a mac computer and need to read or write files from hdd, ssd or a. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Ntfs file format usually, the file is listed as ntfs, which means it is formatted in the windows nt file system and only optimized for windows and mac computers are only able to read the file but are unable to write. For that, you might buy a new external hard drive and you connected with your mac computer or windows pc. The software is easytouse, reliable and wont cost you much money. Therefore, scroll down until you see a folder utilities double click on it. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Format external hard drive to ntfs from fat32 using disk management.
Seagate external hard drive how to set up on mac macos sierra. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. That means that while macos can read ntfs drives, it is unable to write data to them. Ntfs is resistant against disk corruption caused by a power failure. How to transfer files to ntfs drives on mac tuan do.
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. When you insert an ntfs external drive in your mac, you can only read from but not to write to the drive. If given a choice, the two common modes are ntfs and fat32. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. Then you can use the external hard drive also in windows. Click on launchpad at the dock of your mac, choose other in the menu, and then select disk utility to open. External hard drive to a mac formatting external hard drive. Paragon ntfs is the classic driver that almost everyone gets, its reliable and effective, with excellent support. A new window will pop up asking which file system youd like to format the external drive to. To format the hard drive to ntfs using cmd is relatively simple and does not require much technical knowledge. When you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. However, sometimes they cannot format external hard drive to ntfs as expected like the below real user story.
To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. How to readwrite external hard drive usb with ntfs on mac. Yes you can write to ntfs volumes from a mac paid thirdparty drivers. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. It allows the mac to read and write to a windows pc ntfs formatted external hard drive. However, this new macos does not support writing to drives usb and external hard drive under ntfs format. Jun 16, 2019 insert your ntfs drive or usb stick and click to highlight the disk name in the white box on the lefthand side of the window.
Aug 02, 2019 you can create, save, copy, paste, delete and modify files on ntfs drives on mac freely. Os x can default read ntfs disks, but not write to them. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Therefore, sl ntfs software acts as an interface for the mac os 10. How enable ntfs writing on mac write to ntfs drives mactip. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat.
After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Whether it is a drive you cant write to on your mac or whether its the other way round. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. The first method i would like to introduce is to use a paid thirdparty ntfs for mac application like iboysoft ntfs for mac. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it. Likewise, the mac os x operating system can read from, but cannot write to, an external drive that has been formatted for a pc using the ntfs file system without additional software. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it isnt ideal.
Format to ntfs, and use ntfs 3g to read write on mac. Mar 15, 2018 most mac users will be better off formatting external drives with exfat, ensuring they work well on both windows and mac os x without any extra work. Connect the external hard drive to mac and open disk utility. Windows natively support the fat and ntfs files systems, while mac uses apple file system and macos extended as the default file system. How to write to ntfs drives in macos catalina and mojave. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. External hard drives use either spinning disks or solid memory to save your files. However, mac os x supports ntfs read only, but not write, by default. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. How to write to ntfs external hard drive on macos mojave. However, for external drives, you should probably use exfat instead.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. The only free application that will let you do this we are aware of is hfsexplorer, which uses java and is really only suitable for the odd file transfer fat32 the most compatible option. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. You can create, save, copy, paste, delete and modify files on ntfs drives on mac freely. I have an lg external hard drive which i unplugged one day without doing the safe eject. Thus, having an external hard drive will help you to save your files. When you plug in a usb drive or a hard disk to your mac thats preformatted in. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers operating system, as well as fix any nonphysical errors on the drive itself. With iboysoft ntfs for mac, you wont feel any difference between using an ntfs drive on mac or using an drive with the format that is fully supported by macos. Select that disk and click the erase button, the one highlighted in red in the screenshot below.
Windows can read and write to ntfsformatted drives. Can a mac computer read ntfs files from an external drive. Aug 09, 2017 read, write and format ntfs drive with easy tips working on macos sierra 2017. Oct 16, 2019 the best format for external hard drives. The thing is, although apple largely has support for ntfs and other windows formats, write support to ntfs drives is disabled in os x. The other is to format your drives with the exfat file system. In disk utility select the blank partition you just created and click on erase. Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume.
And yes, after installing that softwaredriver, you can format the external hdd with ntfs as format. Select format exfat or fat32 from the dropdown box and click on start. This topic will reveal 4 doable solutions to write to ntfs drives in new macos catalina, mojave and all other macos x versions. This means, when using a computer with a mac os and a windowsformatted disk drive, you are not allowed to save to the drive or alter existing files in there. Use the exfat file system and never format your external.
Convert your ntfs hard drive to supported mac drive. How to write to an external hard drive on mac os x wikihow. All you need to do is follow the guide and perform the format while reading it to avoid any mistakes. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. But, remember, your mac will only be able to write to the os x partition while your pc can only write to the ntfs formatted windows partition. The below steps for formatting external drive is for windows 10 and also. How to format an external hard drive in disk utility. Apples macos can read from windowsformatted ntfs drives, but cant. Oct 18, 2019 this wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drive s format on windows and mac computers. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. However, the write support in the os settings is not active. You can choose the best method you think will works for you.
Select the mbr or gpt partition table format and click ok to create a partition table for the disk. This will format the drive as exfat format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms. Third party software will allow the mac full read and write access to ntfs drives. How to format a disk to ntfs using mac os x ask different.
Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. The box says that it requires formatting for snow leopard, though the system seems to detect the drive without. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Solved cannot copy files to external hard drive from mac. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Ntfs has quite a lot of strong advantages, which may actually make it a good format choice for certain external hard drives, depending on the circumstances.
Configure your mac to work with windowsformatted drives. This wd my book hard drive is both windows and mac compatible for maximum backup. Regardless of brand or model, the very first thing that you must do when you buy a brand new external hard drive is to format it properly for your system. 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. If you dont want to format the external hard drive for mac exclusively, you can choose msdos fat or exfat. Now you can use your external hard drive with both windows and mac os x.
If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. Jul 16, 20 when you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. Its a direct continuation of the original dos format used on floppy diskettes and hard. How to format drives in ntfs on a macin 3 easy steps tuxera. One is to use a paid 3rd party tool to add ntfs write support to a mac, such as paragons ntfs for mac tool. Now that you know which format to use, check out our guide on how to format your hard drive on. Running a mac and having ntfs formatted external disks, you definitely. Mac os x can read ntfs formatted drives but cannot write to them as it is a propriety format owned by microsoft. Now here is how to format your fat32 external drive on mac. Files from external hard drive to a mac formatting external hard drive. You can find out how to format an external hard drive to exfat in my document here.
Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. How to format external hard drive, usb flash drive on mac. Apple mac machines support a different file system. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. Go finder window on you mac then click on applications the image right. With exfat, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. Most external drives come in preformatted as ntfs because there are more users connecting them on pcs.
Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Fat32, which is also commonly used, is another example of file system. Plug the usb drive in windows and then rename it and give a oneword name to that drive. How to readwrite ntfs formatted drive on mac os x 7labs. This file system can be read and written by both mac and windows with support for single files of up to 128 petabytes. How to transfer files to ntfs drives on mac youtube. The video shows you how to write files to ntfs drives on macos. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. If you keep your hard drive s outofthebox ntfs format for all the reasons fat32 displeases, theres a workaround that will allow. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. The fat or file allocation table is quite possibly the most widelysupported disk format in existence today.
How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Well show you how using tuxera ntfs for mac and tuxera disk manager. Read, write and format ntfs drive with easy tips working on macos sierra 2017. It is a much better to have the drive formatted for the platform that is going to use it rather then attempting to use one format for both a pc and a mac. Once the formatting process is finished, you can store the files in this newly formatted usb flash drive or external hard drive. Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured. Both companies have tools that make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without formatting. Need to use a usb drive on both a windows pc and a mac. Click on the erase button to format usb flash drive or external hard drive. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Its wellknown that apple macos has limited support for hard drives formatted in ntfs. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. Jan 09, 2020 cannot format external hard drive to ntfs.