#Format external drive on mac how to
#Format external drive on mac software
#Format external drive on mac free
#Format external drive on mac windows

In other words, you, or someone else can resurrect the files by using any paid data recovery software. Step 7: It will completely erase the drive information however, underlying files intact might be hidden there. Important note: This step is crucial to make sure the files in the drive are safely erased. This option will come up with a slider, which will range from fastest to most secure. Now another window will pop up, which will allow you to choose how you would like to format your drive. Step 6: Then click on the Security Options button. You can give any name of your choice but choose a name that can indicate what type of files you will have in there. Step 5: Now the next step is to give a name to the drive. Here's the step by step method on how you can format the external hard drive for Mac.

#Format external drive on mac how to

Part 1: How to Use Disk Utility to Format External Hard Drive on MacДisk Utility on Mac lets you erase and format external hard drives to use with your Mac. In this article, we have compiled up each step to learn how to format an external hard drive. But what happens if your external hard drive on Mac becomes corrupted? If you are trying to connect your external hard drive to a Mac, you may need to format an external hard drive before using it, because it file system does not match.

#Format external drive on mac free

Free DownloadД®veryone loves their valuable data and keep them safe in external hard drives.

#Format external drive on mac software

If you found you have lost data after formatting the hard drive on Mac, try external hard drive recovery software to find them. In this case, you should learn how to use disk utility to format external hard drive. And sometimes, a pop-up tells you to format external hard drive on Mac because it is corrupted or virus attacked. WARNING: Formatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.Sometimes when you connect your external hard drive with Mac, only to find it does not work at all.

If APFS is not available then the drive is in MBR and not GUID Partition Map.

NOTE:В Make sure that Scheme is set to GUID Partition Map and not Master Boot Record (MBR). Check step 2 to confirm Disk Utility is Showing All Devices NOTE: If you donвЂ™t see Scheme, then make sure that all devices are showing and the non-indented entry is selected.

Select the non-indented entry, you will see Media in the nameД¬lick the button labelled Erase in the menu which will bring up this window.

Click View in the upper left and select Show All Devices.

To open Disk Utility - Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility IMPORTANT: Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.

Click here to see other formatting options for your operating system.

Looking for a different formatting option?

#Format external drive on mac windows

If you need to go between macOS and Windows then format your drive ExFAT

APFS does not natively work with Windows.

Starting with Big Sur, APFS is now the default for Time Machine.

APFS is only available when Scheme is set to вЂGUID Partition MapвЂ™, APFS will not be shown when Scheme is set to Master Boot Record вЂ“ See Step 6.

APFS is not officially supported for macOS versions prior to 10.13 (High Sierra), and will not mount on 10.12 and earlier.

It is important to keep the following in mind when formatting to APFS:

Not seeing your version of macOS? Click here to see other versions of macOS and different formatting options.

Not sure which version you are using? Click here to determine your version of macOS.

IMPORTANT: This article applies to the following macOS version: