Or if you want to keep your hfs format then use hfs explorer. This is the required format for a bootable mac hard drive. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Its worth noting that starting with mac os high sierra 10. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk. Although other forums suggest starting in os9 and formating to fat32, this option is not listed in the format window. With this software, you can read the content of hfs formatted hdd on windows. However, windows by default cant read these file systems. Recover usb files on mac after it got formatted on windows pc. When a volume is mounted in write mode, you can do everything with files and folders it contains. But before you click the format disk button and erase all the contents of the mac formatted drive, consider the alternatives. Hfs was first introduced on september 17, 1985 with system 2. Run gparted and select the hard disk in the dropdown list at the top right.
Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. Ive ordered a usb to sata cable to format the drive from another mac, but can i format the drive, as os x extended journaled, in windows. To this day, it remains the default file system for mechanical and hybrid hard drives, both while installing macos and while formatting external drives. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. Neither mac os nor windows recognize each others volume formats. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. Aug 27, 2019 from here, you can check that the file system format would be mentioned as apfs. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial.
Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. The recovery process to recover usb files on mac after it got formatted on a windows pc is complete. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Please back up all your data before you format the usb drive. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple support. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. If you want to use the usb devices in windows you have to know how to do it.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. But formatting a drive with exfat offers one huge advantage. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive. New apple devices will be formatted with apfs while old mac drives can use the hfs file system. How to install windows 10 directly onto usb external hard. When i right click on it in disk management i dont have the option to delete the hfs. To spare you the trouble of looking for them yourself, we have compiled a list with the absolute best. If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure 360 then this will be deleted on format, so you may want to. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. Ntfs is the default file system for windows operating system and hfs for mac operating system.
This afternoon, ill be setting off on a short trip to see my parents. If your system is compatible with the update, then simply visit apples official website for high sierra right here. If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure. If you want to make your drive compatible with mac and windows, you need to format it with a common file system for mac and windows. Initially external disks may be formatted for windows and after you connect it to your mac it appears in the device list in the finder, but is a read only disk meaning that you cant write to it in its current format. It is an upgrade from the original mac os standard format known as hfs hfs standard, or hierarchical file system, supported by mac os 8. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. May 29, 2018 ntfs is the default file system for windows operating system and hfs for mac operating system. This is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. It should also be mentioned that you need the java runtime environment to use hfs explorer. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. So i hooked it up to my vaio pc, running xp and formated it. Click on the upgrade now button and download the update.
Mar 15, 2018 if you know youre going to use a drive on both mac and windows, you should use the exfat file system, which is compatible with both. 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. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. How to ntfs format usb for xbox one on mac duration. You can format your hard drive to fat32, exfat and use it on both windows and mac. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing data. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Uses the mac format journaled hfs plus to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system. With mac os extended journaled format, you can setup os x. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write. It is also referred to as mac os extended or hfs extended, where its. Nov 25, 2015 but dont worry, there are workarounds. Dec 17, 2019 hfs stands for hierarchical file system and is the file system used on a mac computer for describing how files and folders are to be structured.
System utilities downloads paragon ntfs hfs converter by paragon software and many more programs are available for instant and free download. I dont have access to my mac, its thousands of miles away and i wont have access to it for three months. Mac data recovery can help you retrieve deleted data from hard drive hfs drive. When i right click on it in disk management i dont have the option to delete the hfs partition. How to format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility since the pc and mac are two different operating systems, they use different file systems. This format will allow you to use your flash drive on mac without any limitations. Aug 30, 2016 this is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. Hfs plus mac os extended hfsx mac os extended casesensitive write access. Best for mechanical drives, or drives used with older macos versions. So, ive had my synology ds214se for a few months now, and its done a sterling job of hosting my wireless time machine backups as well as my movies and tv shows. How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. The format dates back to 2006, and was made by microsoft to provide some of the crossplatform compatibility of the older fat32 format without the file and partition size limitations. Hfs is the hierarchical file system, the native volume format used on modern macintosh computers.
File system formats available in disk utility on mac. Apple formatted wd drive on windows 10 microsoft community. Read and write mac format cds, dvds, hard drives, high density floppy diskettes, and most removable drives. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat. Supports most drive interface types including usb, ide, atapi, firewire ieee94, scsi, etc. In disk utility on your mac, format disks or volumes using apple file system. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. Mac os extended journaled this format is considered as default file system format of the mac os x drives. This tutorial will use a usb thumb drive as the example. There are several issues that may lead to this problem. Dec 02, 2019 usb drives and external hard drives use the windows fat32 to format for compatibility. Launch disk utility by selecting applications utilities disk utility. Actually, most external hard disks could be compatible with mac and pc as long as you format them correctly.
Disk drill, a premium data recovery solution for mac os x with support for all popular file formats and common storage devices, is here to help you recover deleted files from usb flash drive. I am supposed to recover the personal data from this disk, and im not yet sure if the filesystem is corrupted or the disk is dyin. Select the drive you want to format from the list on the left. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. When lost data in hfs hierarchical file system drive, where stored almost all important data and documents, dont panic, mac data recovery is a professional tool you can rely on. If youre formatting a usb drive external hard drive or memory stick, memory card, etc. Jul 28, 20 this will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. How to create mac os extended journaled partition and. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. All external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box. Mac os extended was the default file system used by every mac from 1998 until 2017, when apfs replaced it. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window.
Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility. The best news is that most devices included mac computers can read and write from fat32 devices. Microsoft windows uses file systems fat, ntfs and exfat for internal devices. In here just follow my steps to create a bootable usb installer for your mac. An hfs file, then, organizes data in the same way, except that all the files are contained in a single file with the. So i hooked it up to my vaio pc, running xp and formated it with powerquest partition magic to. Its not a particularly optimized file format its far more vulnerable to file fragmentation than apfs or mac os extended, for one thing, and metadata and. Oct 25, 2016 usb devices,that are formatted in mac format.
It doesnt even give me the option to yesno format the disk. In this tutorial we look at formatting disks via the gui app called disk utility and its equivalent command line tool diskutil. I uninstalled the usb drivers from the device manager and reinstalled them. Hfs stands for hierarchical file system and is the file system used on a mac computer for describing how files and folders are to be structured. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple palaikymas. To conclude generally speaking, when data becomes inaccessible due to any reason be it deletion, formatted, or any other, it is not lost forever, provided you have not overwritten it. This tutorial is called the magnified version due to the first instance being difficult to see on small phone screens. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. This will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. By default, macs use hfs, while pcs use ntfs, which are not compatible with each other.
I right click it in the control panel to troubleshoot the device, and i get a window that says it may not work due to being a usb 2. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. But if you didnt foresee that, you may have formatted your drive with apples hfs plus, which windows cant read by default. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. Macs may also create a protected efi partition on these drives that you cant delete with the usual diskpartitioning tools. This format was optimized to minimize the amount of drive storage space used for a single file the previous version used sectors loosely, leading to rapidly lost drive space. Additionally, if he will only put images on media you send him, hes a.
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