By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for Mac and PC without losing any data. Then, you can share external hard drive between Mac and PC. You Can Convert NTFS to exFAT in 3 Steps. However, if you want to convert NTFS to exFAT to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC, 3 steps are required. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for Mac. Whether you are trying to backup Mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your Mac or PC.
Updated on January 7th, 2019
This article shows you how to format an external hard drive via different methods, and you can follow these methods to format external hard drive for PC, Mac or Linux.
External hard drive is popular storage device and it can be used to store all kinds of digital information such as images, documents, apps, emails, etc. You can connect external hard drive to computer via USB cable and then transfer data with internal hard drive. Regardless of the brand or model, the first thing you may need to do after purchasing an external hard drive might be partitioning and formatting it.
Formatting external disk can be done via various methods and it can be formatted to a range of file system so that you can use the disk under different operating system platforms. The formatting process removes all data on the partition and thus causes data loss. You should create a backup for important data before formatting if the disk contains significant files.
A brand-new external hard drive is usually partitioned into s single partition with NTFS file system. Still many users would like to format the external hard drives and people do that due to various reasons:
Step 1: Connect your external hard drive with your computer and open Windows Explorer to check if it can be recognized.
Note: if you have stored data to the drive, please back it up before formatting the disk.
Step 2: Right-click on the external hard disk and select “Format” option from context menu.
Step 3: On the formatting window, select Quick Format option, choose file system format, and click Start. Also you can enter a name for the drive under Volume Label.
Step 4: System prompts formatting removes all data and asks confirmation for the action. Click OK and formatting starts.
This method formats external hard drive using Windows built-in utility Disk Management. If your external hard drive does not show up in Windows Explorer, you can follow this instruction to complete the formatting.
Step 1: Access Windows 10 Disk Management by right-clicking Start menu and selecting “Disk Management” item from the list.
Step 2: Locate the external hard drive in Disk Management and check its status.
If there is not partition on the disk or the disk is marked with Not Initialized, you cannot format it directly.
The next step assumes the external hard drive is full of unallocated space and shows how to format it.
Step 3: Right-click on unallocated disk space and select New Simple Volume from the context menu.
Step 4: You can see the “Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard” now. Click Next button to proceed.
Step 5: The wizard will ask you to select set partition size, drive letter, file system, format method, etc. step by step. You can follow suggested option to complete the process.
Want to use external hard drive under both Windows PC and Mac? In this case, you should consider the hurdle that these operating systems support different filesystems. The default file system in Windows is NTFS, while Mac OS users HFS. The filesystem that is compatible with Windows and Mac is exFAT and FAT32.
exFAT VS FAT32, which one should be chosen for Max and PC? It is recommended to use exFAT by many experts, because FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit and exFAT does not has such limitation, and exFAT also performs better than FAT32. FAT32 is also a good choice if you do not store files whose single size does not exceed 4GB.
FAT32 and exFAT file system is supported by Windows though, they are originally designed for removable storage devices like USB flash drive, SD card. When you try to format an external hard drive which has very large capacity in Windows, FAT32 or exFAT may not be available. Also, some users may encounter error “The volume is too big for FAT32”. In this section, we’ll use a free Windows partition manager to complete the formatting task.
Eassos PartitionGuru is free Windows partition manager and it supports various file systems such as FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, etc. and the formatting process is very simple.
Step 1: Install and launch Eassos PartitionGuru from your computer and find the external disk you want to format.
Step 2: Right-click on the partition to be formatted and select “Format Current Partition” option from context menu.
Step 3: Select Filesystem type from the drop-down list and click Format button.
Step 4: Click Yes button when Eassos PartitionGuru asks confirmation for the operation.
This part of this guide applies to format external or portable hard drive to Ext2, Ext3 or Ext4 file system under Windows 10/8/7, so that the drive can be used under Linux.
Step 1: Connect the portable drive to computer and launch Eassos PartitionGuru. Then you can see the drive is displayed in the software.
Step 2: Select the partition you want to format to Linux file system, and click “Format” button from toolbar.
Step 3: The Format window pops up and you can select Linux filesystem from Ext4, Ext3 and Ext3 from drop-down list. Then click Format button.
Step 4: Click Yes button to continue and formatting will be completed within a couple of seconds.
You’ve got your external hard drive with your documents, photos and videos on it. You used the hard drive on your Windows PC and now you want to use it your Mac.
And why not?
It has plenty of space on it. But when you plug it into your Mac you find you can read the documents on it. You can even copy them onto the Mac. But when you try to copy a file from the Mac to the external drive it says no.
Arhhhh! You could just pull your hair out.
It’s so frustrating.
You don’t want to format the drive. Because you’ll loose all the documents and files that are on it.
And you can’t copy them off because your Windows PC hasn’t enough room to hold them. Even temporarily.
So how do you make an external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without reformatting it.
In the post you’ll find various methods that work. You can choose the best method you think will works for you.
Whether it is a drive you can’t write to on your Mac or whether it’s the other way round. An external hard drive that when you plug it into your Windows PC it says no way.
There is an answer for you.
__________
Options For Having An External Hard Drive for Mac and PC Without Formatting
1. Use a Software Solution – You get a piece of software that sits on your Mac. Or one for your Windows PC. This software acts like a translator. It interprets what is on the external hard drive so that your Mac or PC can read and write to the drive.
2. Use a Hardware Solution – An extra external hard drive. This allows you to have your documents set up so that both computers can use them without you loosing any data.
So, What is the Issue? Why Doesn’t the External Hard Drive Just Work?
Each drive, whether internal, external, a hard drive or an ultra fast SSD has a file system on it.
A file system is how your Windows PC or Mac stores and finds your documents on that drive. There are different sorts of file systems. The one your Windows PC writes on the drive by default and the one your Mac writes are different.
And there is the problem.
Unless you started out with a file system that they both can read and write you’re going to run into problems.
You’ll also see the file system referred to as the drive’s formatting.
Typically, an external hard drive that works on a Windows PC uses an NTFS file system.
And an external hard drive that works on a Mac is in HFS+ format. The faster SSD drives on a Mac may well use an APFS file system.
To check, right click on the external hard drive. Then you can check the drive’s properties if you’re not sure what file system it uses.
Before you Decide How You’re Going to Fix Your External hard drive for Mac and PC without losing Any Data
There are some questions to ask yourself before you go ahead.
1. Which computer are you planning to use the external hard drive the most on?
Because if your using your external hard drive mostly on your Windows PC. Then you just need to fix the issue on the Mac for the odd time you need to use the drive there.
If mostly on your Mac then the same thing holds true. You just need to fix the issue on the Windows PC for the short time you’ll use the external hard drive there.
If your answer is, you will use equally on both. Then you’d be better off with your documents on your hard drive in a format both computers can read freely. I’ll go into this later.
2. How much do you want to spend on the problem?
You may get lucky and find there is a free solution. Or you may need to spend some money.
Options For Making An External Hard Drive for Mac and PC Without Formatting1. Software Solutions
What Software Solutions are good for:
Downsides
Finding a Free Software Fix
The manufacturer of your hard drive may provide a free solution.
So it is well worth checking the model of your external hard drive on the manufacturers site.
For example Seagate provides a free NTFS reader for the Mac on their support downloads page.
Check the software is compatible for the operating system you’re running. And check it’s compatible with your model of Seagate external hard drive.
You can check this on the Seagate site here.
Paid Software Solutions
The two front-runners in this space with the best reputations are:
Paragon software and Tuxera
Both companies have tools that make an external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without formatting.
Paragon Software
The good news is that you can download the software and have a 10 day free trial. That allows you to test out the Paragon software and make sure it’s for you and your particular set up.
The Paragon Software set of tools has more options compared to Tuxera.
You can get:
Tuxera Software
Tuxera also has a free trial period that you can take advantage of before you buy. In Tuxera’s case the trial period is15 days.
Tuxera NTFS for Mac – Sits on the Mac. It allows the Mac to read and write to a Windows PC NTFS formatted external hard drive.
2. Hardware solution
What This Option is Good For:
Downside
Buy a 2nd External Hard Drive
What! I hear you say. Bear with me.
Buy a 2nd external hard drive. You can find some I suggest here.
1. Format that drive to ExFAT.
ExFAT is an efficient, fast, compatible file system. ExFAT works freely with both Macs and Windows PC. Plug an ExFAT drive into your Mac and you Mac can see all the files on it. Read and write document to the drive. And you can do the same on a Windows PC.
You can find out how to format an external hard drive to ExFAT in my document here.
2. Next. Once you have your new or loan external hard drive formatted to ExFAT. Plug both external drives into your Mac. By this I mean the NTFS drive with your documents on and the newly formatted ExFAT drive.
3. You then open two finder windows on your Mac. One finder window on the NTFS formatted drive. And the other Finder windows on the ExFAT drive.
4. And because your Mac can read the NTFS drive. You simply copy all your documents off the drive using the finder window, onto the ExFAT drive.
5. And there you go. You have all your files on a drive that is compatible with both Mac and PC. You can plug that drive into either and use it.
Yes, you had some formatting to do but it was on the new drive. And you did it without losing any data.
And What Do you Do with the Spare External Hard Drive When You’re Done?
Use your second external hard drive for backup.
A good idea as you should never only have one copy of your documents on any drive.
OR indeed in any one place.
As drives as well as cloud storage have been known to and do fail.
And that would mean you loosing all your documents, files, photos, music …
Loan a Drive
If you can, find a good friend to loan an external hard drive from. You’ll need a drive with nothing on it.
Just as if you bought the drive yourself, you follow my directions above.
Formatting External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
You format the drive to ExFAT. Copy your files across as I explained for buying a drive.
Then you format your own drive – Don’t worry all this formatting only takes a few minutes.
Copy the files back onto your own external drive.
Format External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc Scheme
Return the loaned hard drive to the person you borrowed it from.
Format External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc On Windows 7Last WordsFormatting Toshiba External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without reformatting.
Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. And which you find the easier to use.
Format External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc On Windows
Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for Mac and PC. And without formatting the drive.
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