Format A Drive For Mac
Looking to share an external hard drive between a Mac and PC? The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as FAT32. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support from active platforms, including Mac and Windows operating systems, and many gaming and Linux OSs. The chief drawbacks of FAT32 involve file and partition size limitations.
It's a good idea to backup your data for your mac using Time Machine. Any hard drive can be formatted for Mac and here is how you do it. Take our FREE classes at http.
FAT32 imposes a size limit of 4GB on single files. So if you work with bulky video clips, for example, adopting FAT32 may not be a good idea.
When formatting partitions, Windows 7's Disk Management utility won't let you create one that's larger than 32GB, whereas Mac OS X Lion can create partitions as large as 2TB using its Disk Utility application. Finally, Mac OS X's Time Machine backup utility won't work with FAT32. Windows prefers to use NTFS (which stands for New Technology File System, though it has been around for nearly 20 years now). Macs running Snow Leopard or Lion can read from drives formatted as NTFS, but they can't write to such drives unless you install a third-party driver or muck about in the Terminal. Conversely, Windows 7 can't read and write to drives formatted as HFS+-also known as Mac OS Extended (journaled)-unless you install third-party software. Formatting From a Mac To format a drive as FAT32 from a Mac, follow these simple steps.
Set up your drive following the manufacturer's instructions. Connect the power supply (if necessary), connect to the Mac via USB or FireWire, and turn on the drive. The drive should automatically mount on your Mac's desktop (if the finder preferences are set to show external drives). If the drive is not formatted, you may get a message saying that the drive is unreadable by Mac OS X and asking you whether you want to format it via Disk Utility.
We're going to do this anyway, so open Disk Utility from the prompt or by navigating to /Applications/Utilities. Select MS-DOS (FAT) as the format.
Mac OS X won't let you create a FAT32 partition larger than 2TB; so if your drive is larger than that, you'll need to divide the available drive capacity into multiple partitions. You can format the remaining space as a second FAT32 partition or as an HFS+ partition, or you can leave it as unallocated space. To create a new partition, click the drive in the list on the left side of the Disk Utility menu. Click the Partition button in Disk Utility's main window. By default, Mac OS X will use the GUID partition table to format the drive. You can use this and still share FAT32 volumes with a PC, but if you'll primarily be using the drive with Windows, and if the full capacity of the drive doesn't exceed 2TB, the wiser course is to wipe the drive and then use Windows' Master Boot Record (MBR) partition scheme.
Establishing the partition layout. Click the Partition Layout drop-down menu in Disk Utility, and select the number of partitions you want to create. By default, Disk Utility will divide the available space in half.
You can resize the partitions by clicking the line between the partitions and dragging it up or down to increase or decrease the capacity of one or the other side. Click on whichever partition segment you want to format as FAT32. Type a name for that partition in the Name field and choose the FAT32 option from the Format drop-down menu. Once everything is arranged as you want it, click apply.
A progress bar will appear at the bottom right of the window as Disk Utility creates the requested partitions. Once it finishes creating them, you can move the drive between Macs and Windows PCs, and move files back and forth easily.
Formatting From a PC Select your hard drive, and choose 'Convert to MBR Disk'.Here's how to create a FAT32 partition from a Windows 7 PC. Open the Disk Management utility. To do so, select Start, Control Panel, System and Security, Create and format hard disk partitions. Alternatively, press the Start button and start typing partitions. Find the drive you'd like to format; in my case, it was Disk 5. Click the disk number, and select Convert to MBR Disk ('MBR' stands for 'Master Boot Record'). Right-click the unallocated segment in the next field over, select New Simple Volume, and click Next when the wizard launches.
Change the value in the Simple Volume size field to 32,768MB or less-it needs to be under 32GB, to satisfy the format's file limit. Assign a drive letter, and click Next. Formatting the partition. Choose the drive letter to be assigned and click Next. Select FAT32 from the File System drop down menu, label the volume however you like, check the box next to Perform a quick format, and click Next.
The resulting window tells you that you have successfully completed creating the volume. Click Finish and you're ready to go.
This answer explains how to format a drive in the exFAT or FAT32 file system. This allows the drive to be used on both Windows and macOS.END A Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and macOS. This is useful if a drive is being used under both to move files between the two environments. Most WD Drives come formatted in the NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (macOS) format. For a hard drive to be able to be read from and written to on both a Windows and macOS computer, it must be formatted to or file format. FAT32 has several limitations, including a 4 GB per-file limit.
This is a file system limitation that affects both macOS's and Window's, and the only workaround is to format the drive to exFAT. For more information about what these limitations are please see. The easiest way to format the drive to or is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32, or both macOS and Windows' built-in tools, Disk Utility or Disk Management respectively for exFAT. Critical: Never attempt to connect any external drive to multiple computers at the same time. This could quickly damage the drive's partition and corrupt the data on the drive. ExFAT in macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) and above There are two easy ways to format a drive to use is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility; using Erase (Step 4) or Partition (Step 7). For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:.
Connect the WD drive to the Mac computer. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen. Choose Applications from the left-side panel. From the Applications folder, open Utilities, and lastly double-click on Disk Utility.
Disk Utility will now be open. From the left-side pane, choose the drive that is to be re-formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left (Not indented) for the drive to be formatted. It is usually directly above the name of the drive.
In the example below, the one to be selected would be WD Elements SE. Erase. After selecting the appropriate drive, additional option buttons will become available on the top part of the Disk Utility window. Click on Erase. The Erase dialog window will now appear. Assign the name that will be given to the drive. Select the Format (file system) from the drop-down menu.
For this article, we chose exFAT, see image below. Select the Scheme (Partition Table Scheme) from the drop-down menu. See image below. Note: Only legacy macOS systems, using non-Intel CPU's, will utilize the Apple Partition Map.
It is best to use Master Boot Record only for MS DOS format. All Intel-based macOS computers and drives larger than 2 Terabytes should use the GUID Partition Map. Click Erase to begin the format process. When the Erasing process is completed, click on Done. Partition. Click on Partition on the top menu of the Disk Utility window.
The Partition window will now appear. Click next to Format to display a drop-down menu, and select exFAT. This is the format that the drive will be formatted to. Confirm that the name of the drive is correct in the Partition area, and update it if necessary.
When ready, click Apply. Disk Utility will begin the formatting and repartitioning process. This may take several minutes.
Note: If an error message is received stating that the drive is unable to be unmounted, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive. Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down before trying to format the drive again. If the error message persists, restarting the computer may resolve the issue. If additional assistance is required, please. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click on Done. ExFAT in macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) and earlier One of the easiest ways to format a drive to use is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility.
For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:. Begin by connecting the WD drive to the Mac computer. Once the drive appears on the desktop, click on Go on the top tool bar. From the drop-down menu, click on Utilities. In Utilities, select and open Disk Utility. When Disk Utility opens, select the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted from the left-side panel. Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless there is more than one partition on a particular drive.
Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted. It is usually directly above the name of the drive, and is the drive selection that has the total size being displayed. Once selected, click on Partition on the right-side area. In the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition. Then, click on Options.
In the Options window select Master Boot Record and then click Ok. To the right, insert a name for the drive, and click on Format. From the drop-down, select ExFAT. When done, click on Apply. A window will come up showing that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all data that is on the drive. If there's no needed information within the drive, then click on Partition. If there is data on the drive that is needed or is not backed up, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding.
The drive is now formatting and a status bar will be seen at the bottom that says formatting the disk and gives the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name that was specified. When it is done, this bar will go away and the drive should now be listed on the desktop. ExFAT in Windows 10 Another easy way to format a drive to use is by using Windows' built-in Disk Management. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:. Right-click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen, and click Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives.
Format A Seagate Drive For Mac
Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue. If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right-click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume.
The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will open. Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next.
By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition.
For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written.
Set the file system to exFAT, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Book or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next.
Format A Drive For Mac And Pc
Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below. ExFAT in Windows 8 and earlier Another easy way to format a drive to use is by using Windows' built-in Disk Management.
For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:. Open Disk Management. In Windows 8 this can be achieved by moving the mouse to the bottom-left corner of the Desktop and right-clicking on top of the Start menu screen. Important: On Windows 7, Vista, or XP, instead click on Start, right-click on top of Computer and click on Manage. Then, click Disk Management right below Storage.
From the menu, click on Disk Management. Note: On other versions of Windows, Disk Management can be accessed through Control Panel, going to System Administrative Tools Computer Management. Disk Management will display the various disks that are available in that system. Locate the desired drive by looking at the drive information and drive size. When ready, right-click on top of the drive that is to be re-partitioned and reformatted, and click on New Simple Volume. The New Simple Volume Wizard will appear. Click on Next.
Leave the size of the volume to be the maximum disk space so it has only one volume. Click on Next. Assign a drive letter for the drive to have once the process is at an end. Windows will automatically assign one, but this may be changed if so desired. When ready, click on Next.
In the Format Partition section, select the File System to be exFAT and change the Volume Label to a desired name for the drive. Make sure the Perform a quick format check-box is highlighted, and when ready click on Next. The Wizard will display a summary of the selected settings for review. It is important to know that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all data that is on the drive. If there's no needed information within the drive, then click on Partition. If there is data on the drive that is needed or is not backed up, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding. If ready, click on Finish.
The drive will indicate that it's Formatting for a few seconds, and once done, it will display as a Healthy (Primary Partition), and the drive will be available in the Computer area of Windows under the assigned drive letter. FAT32 in macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) and above The easiest way to format a drive to use is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility.
For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:. Begin by connecting the WD drive to the Mac computer. Once that's done, double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen. Choose Applications from the left-side panel. While in there, open Utilities, and lastly double-click on Disk Utility. When Disk Utility opens, all available drives will display on the left-side panel.
From said list, select the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted from the left-side panel. Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless there is more than one partition on a particular drive.
Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted. It is usually directly above the name of the drive. Once selected, click on Partition on the top area of the Disk Utility window. The Partition window will now appear.
Next to Partition, assign the desired drive name for the device. Click on the drop-down next to Format and from the drop-down menu select MS-DOS (FAT). This is the format that the drive will be formatted to. Now, click on Apply.
Disk Utility will begin the formatting and repartitioning process. This may take several minutes. FAT32 in macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) and earlier The easiest way to format a drive to use is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:. Begin by connecting the WD drive to the Mac computer. Once the drive appears on the desktop, click on Go on the top tool bar.
From the drop-down menu, click on Utilities. In Utilities, select and open Disk Utility. When Disk Utility opens, select the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted from the left-side panel.
Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless there is more than one partition on a particular drive. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted. It is usually directly above the name of the drive, and is the drive selection that has the total size of the drive being displayed. Once selected, click on Partition on the right-side area. In the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition.
Then, click on Options. In the Options window select Master Boot Record and then click Ok. To the right, insert a name for the drive, and click on Format. From the drop-down, select MS-DOS (FAT). When done, click on Apply. A window will come up showing that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all data that is on the drive.
If there's no needed information within the drive, then click on Partition. If there is data on the drive that is needed or is not backed up, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding.
The drive is now formatting and a status bar will be seen at the bottom that says formatting the disk and gives the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name that was specified. When it is done, this bar will go away and the drive should now be listed on the desktop. FAT32 in Windows 10 and earlier Important: Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP can only (using the actual operating system itself) create FAT32 partitions that are 32 GB or smaller. In order to format a drive larger than 32 GB using Windows OS, additional software may be required. Western Digital provides the software that allows users of our internal hard drives to format their drives.
Users of our external drives will need to find third-party software to accomplish this task. Using Acronis True Image WD Edition for Windows (For Western Digital internal hard drives) Acronis True Image WD Edition can format any capacity internal single drive unit made by Western Digital. Please see the following article on how to format a drive to FAT32 using Acronis True Image WD Edition:.
Using Third-Party Software (For newer (made after 2007) external hard drives) As Windows is unable to format a drive over 32 GB in FAT32, the use of third-party software is required. Western Digital cannot assist in acquiring or using third-party software to format a drive as FAT32. There are many different applications (many of them free) that can accomplish this. We recommend doing a search on or for more information. Should a Mac computer be available, we are able to provide support for formatting the drive as FAT32 under that OS.
Another option is to ask on our for community assistance in finding or using a FAT32 formatting application. Using the FAT32 Formatter for older WD drives Western Digital has a Windows based utility that will reformat an older Western Digital external USB or FireWire hard drive back to the factory default FAT32 partition. The FAT32 formatter software is only for older external single drive units and can only format a drive that is 1TB and below. It will not work on an external drive that is greater than 1TB in size. It also may not work on models released after 2007. When run, this utility can only create a single FAT32 partition for the full capacity of the hard drive. Please follow the directions below to download and use the Western Digital FAT32 formatting utility.
Download the (select the product being formatted from the list first). Double-click on the file named ExtFat32vs2.00.zip and follow the onscreen prompts to install this program onto the computer. The file may need to be uncompressed using some type of uncompression or unzipping utility. Check the box labeled I accept this License Agreement and click Next.
Select the hard drive that is to be formatted and click on Start. Critical: All data on the target hard drive will be erased during this process. Please remove or backup any valuable data before performing this step. A pop-up message will appear warning that formatting the drive will erase all the data on the device.
Click on Ok to continue. The final popup will warn again that this will erase all the data on the drive. If this is the desired course of action, click on Yes.
Unix/Linux (All Distributions) Western Digital technical support only provides jumper configuration (for internal hard drive) and physical installation support for hard drives used in systems running the Linux/Unix operating systems. For setup questions beyond physical installation of your Western Digital hard drive, please contact your Linux/Unix vendor. You may also wish to post on our for assistance from other users of our products who may be able to assist you with your issue. In case the answer did not answer your question, you can always visit the for help from WD users.