Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. If you have documents on the drive either from a windows pc or from your mac, copy them off first. Using this hard drive is very simple on windows operating systems you merely plug in the power cord and usb 3. While mac os x can read hard drives formatted as ntfs, write access is not available. 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. For some reason i lost half of my space on this hard drive once i. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup any data or files you want to save before formatting. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs.
Seagate harddrive, what format for both windows and mac. And in some cases, you need both formatting seagate external hard drive and permanently wiping data on it. If youre going to be using the drive with a version of windows prior to windows vista, youre going to want to go with mbr. Windows cannot read or write to hard drives formatted as mac os extended journaled. Mac pro macbook air macbook pro macos catalina tvos watchos 6 wwdc 2020 guides. So, when your seagate external hard drive is not recognized by windows or mac computer, then the first thing that will worry you is the data stored within the hard drive. Seagate backup plus comes in a couple varieties one preformatted for mac, the other preformatted for windows but also readable on mac. The drive must be connected to the computer during installation. Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so. Like the commercials of years gone by, some people are pcs and others are macs. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac.
However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. If the partition scheme were apple partition map, it would also not show up. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and securely. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. This will prompt a new window asking you to select a partition style for your disk. Drives that will be used for storage can be formatted according to the instructions below. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side.
Seagate backup plus hub user manual optional formatting. It can recover multiples of file formats and file types including documents, videos, audios, archives, email, photos, etc. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual optional formatting. But sometimes a little help is needed, if you decide to start using your windows drive mainly on your new mac. I just got a new seagate harddrive and want to format the disk for both windows and mac use what format should i make the drive.
How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. Just make sure you didnt store the recoverable files to the original disk in case they are overwritten permanently. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. 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. Before your format a seagate hard drive on your mac, you should check if there. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. How to reformat a seagate external hard drive for both mac and a pc. On the left hand side of disk utility youll see a list of drives. How to format a hard drive so it can be read on both a mac and pc. The best format to choose when you plan to use your seagate expansion only for your mac is mac os extended journaled file system. Drives that will be bootable are formatted during the process of installing the operating system ie, windows or macos. But a problem arises when you have a portable seagate hard drive and would like to use it with both mac and windows computers.
And it can format seagate drive as fat32 without the limitation of 32gb in partition size as well. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Could you please connect the drive to your windows computer and do the following for me. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Additionally, some scammers may try to identify themselves as a microsoft. Then, connect the seagate drive to your pc and make sure that it can be detected by windows. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Seagate backup plus hub is available in two models, windows and mac. For maximum compatibility, back up everything from the external hard drive onto your mac. Install the paragon driver for mac for compatibility with macs.
Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your external hard drive get attached to your system. It is easy to format a seagate external hard drive on windows pc. Remember, once the data is gone, theres no way to recover it. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. This is the best solution seagate offers for transferring data between windows and mac computers. Format the other on your pc using ntfs if you wont need to write to it from the os x side or use exfat if you do. Before you jump in and format your seagate backup plus on your mac or macbook. Just follow these steps to easily format a seagate hard drive on your mac.
In the scanning result, choose the file you want to retrieve and select an output folder to save the files to be recovered. This wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard dr ive on a mac computer. Seagate expansion on mac, want it but can i use on my mac. Hold down the windows key and press the r key to open the run window. However, if you want to format a seagate external hard drive on mac, it is not as easy as formatting it on a pc.
Formatting seagate hdd in mac pro with 2 os window7 and. As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available. Also, if a seagate external hard drive is readonly or files are locked on mac due to ntfs format, you can use iboysoft ntfs for mac to mount it in readwrite mode on mac. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. 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. For windows, it offers quick format feature when you rightclick the hard drive on the computer.
It is available to double click the selected ssd to see more information about it. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. How to format seagate external hard drive for both mac. Formatting the drive will permanently erase all the data and files stored on the hard drive forever.
Locate the seagate external ssd and choose ssd secure erase. First of all, as i said before, reformating will erase all your data that stored on the hard drive permanently. Thanks for watching and supporting brennans tech bite. Seagate branded external drives come preformatted, some for pcs, some for macs, and some of them have special utilities allowing them to work between both without. In general, macs will read windows formatted drives fat and, i believe ntfs, but windows doesnt recognize mac. If the hard drive were formatted for hfs it would not show up on the windows computer. A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. How to format a windows disk drive for a mac seagate blog.
Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. Keep in mind that this will erase the data on the drive. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Both windows and mac os offer builtin disk formatting tool. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive.
How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. After du loads select your hard drive this is the entry with the mfgr. For instance, users want to write data to and read data from, to do a clean installation of the windows system, to get rid of a virus or malware, to erase the data before giving the drive to someone else or throwing it away, or some other reasons. Want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. The backup solution that windows users are jealous of. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. This opens a new window for you to explore the files and folders on your mac. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. Windows will format the portable hard disk drive and notify you once the process. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. So the first step you must do is move all of your important data to your pcmac, or to cloud storage service. You can format a drive using the disk utility in mac.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. There some easytouse utilities can help you format a seagate hard drive under mac os. A computer mac or windows wont format a blank drive or reformat an already formatted drive without first prompting the user unless theres some datadestroying malware at work or something. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. Tech support scams are an industrywide issue where scammers trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services. How to format seagate external hard drive under mac os. Mac free seagate external hard drive recovery allows you to free recover. Do this to connect up your seagate expansion drive. Mac free seagate external hard drive recovery for mac.
How to recover lost data from seagate external hard drive. This wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. In a few moments youll see the drive icon on your desktop. How to reset seagate external hard drive in windows 7810. As a mac and windows user, i have searched for years trying to find a backup software package for my windows system. To format an external hard drive on your mac paraphrased from here. Connect the seagate solid state drive to your computer running windows 7. How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube. Shop for seagate external hard drive for mac at best buy. Open disk utility, select the external hard drive and go to partition. If you are using a mac, you can run the builtin disk utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard. How to use seagate hard drive for both mac and windows super. Know that formatting deletes all the information on the drive.
Select the erase tab and choose mac os extended journaled for the format and give it a. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. However, this format doesnt support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4k videos and so on between macs and windows 10. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Moving data between two systems using an external hard drive. How to fix seagate external hard drive readonly on mac. You may also format your external drive into fat32 for use. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Confirm that you would like to format the portable hdd by clicking ok and begin the process of formatting by clicking the ok button on the next screen that appears. Usually, you can use windows builtin tools like diskpart to format seagate drive. So, the first precaution you must take is to restore data from seagate external hard drive.
Step 1 connect the seagate external for mac drive to the windows computer. But in order for the computer and drive to talk to one another, the drive has to be formatted. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. 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. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. It is able to format seagate hard drive or usb flash drive as exfat file system easily and effectively in windows 108.
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