Should i use fat32 when formatting an external hdd wd element 1tb to be able to use both on a macbook and windows machine. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. The purpose of the extra external hdd was for pictures and videos that i could share across pcs in my home network. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Creating windows 10 bootable usb on mac is a common task for people who have multiple computers at home. I am having a huge dilemma with my new western digital 4tb hard drive. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. I copied over all my important data from mac and ubuntu laptop in my seagate 1tb hard disk and hp 32 gb pen drive, both formatted as fat32 so that mac. The usb external hard drive is made by seagate and it has a 1tb capacity.
As you are not allowed to format 1tb internal or external drive as fat32 via windows builtin utilities, you need to find out a professional and reliable third party tool to help you to change the file system of 1tb drive to fat32 file system. The problem windows cannot format drive to fat32 that is larger than 32gb1tb. As earlier stated, you need to first back up your usb drive before formatting the drive as you may not be able to recover the contents again. There is nothing difficult to format it to fat32 or exfat.
Online shopping from a great selection at electronics store. Apart from windows and mac, fat32 is compatible with. Learn to format hard drive that compatible in windows and macos. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. You can format external drive to use on mac and pc. I might partition the drive in two 2tb then format to fat32 on mac osx and on windows format in ntfs and then try to. If you want to format transcend hard drive for both mac and windows pc use, you can format it to fat32 or exfat. For example, if you have a 1tb hard drive, 500gb of storage can be used. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. Besides, you can also use the paid thirdparty file system converters to convert ntfs to fat32 or exfat which are compatible with both mac and. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3. The good news is that formatting usb on mac is also as easy as on windows 10. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos.
You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. Fat32, ntfs, and exfat, lets have a look whats the difference between these formats. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. Linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to format transcend hard drive for mac and windows. After your mac computer detects the wd my passport ultra 1tb hard drive, mount it. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. How to format a 2 tb external hard disk as fat32 quora. The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. Windows 10 not recognizing my fat32 usb hard disk and pen. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide.
Supports up to 2tb for computer internal hard disk, windows external hard drive with a xbox360 and sony external hard drive with a ps3. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Cant format external drive as fat32 apple community. According to the list above, formatting your hard drive to fat32 so that you.
For whatever reason, the option to format usb drives larger than 32gb with the fat32 file system isnt present in the regular windows format tool. I am wanting to format all 6tb to fat32 so i am able to use it on my playstation 3, along with my mac and pc. I just recently bought my 6tb my book studio edittion ii wd hard drive. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. It came formatted for mac os and i need to format it under ntfs. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with windows and mac os.
We here will show you the full guides on how to format fat32 and ntfs drives on mac as an example. I have a 500gb wd external hdd not a mybook one partitioned with 160gb in hfs for time machine and the rest in fat32 for storage on both my pc and mac, and it doesnt take very long at all for both partitions to be detected on my macbook. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. You have to format the drive to exfat or fat32 if the burning process failed due to the wrong partition scheme. Both of fat32 and exfat are suitable for seagate drive to be used with mac and windows computer. How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. So you figured, fine, ill just get an external hard drive. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps. Should i use fat32 when formatting an external hdd wd element. 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. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it.
How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. Proceed with the following instructions to know how to format the wd my passport ultra 1tb setup drive on the mac computer. I can copy, paste, move, create new folders, or delete files. Refer to detailed steps of using both tools for fat32 format. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. The usb drivers come with the fat format by default. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. No worry, actually it is not impossible to realize it no matter you use an external or internal drive of your windows system. From the content above, it is no doubt that aomei partition assistant could make it possible and easy to format 2tb hard drive to fat32. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems.
How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. 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. Connect the hdd to a mac and format the drive as fat32 and then connect the same mac hdd to windows and convert it to ntfs. There are three common file system types to format an external usb or hard drive, ssd drive, sd card and etc. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. Currently it is in windows ntfs format and wont work on my answered by a verified mac support specialist. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. It functions just fine when connected to a windows pc, playstation3, or even a chromebook notebook. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. You can apply the thirdparty solution to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 explorer or disk management. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. Follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. Then, should you format the hard drive to fat32 or exfat file system. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. How to erase a disk for mac partition a physical disk in disk utility on mac file system formats available in disk utility on mac format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac encrypt and protect a storage device with a password in disk utility on mac. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Wondering what the best format for your new external hard drive is. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps and the os. How to format usb to fat32ntfsexfat on windows and mac. Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Many people think it is hard to format the windows drive on macintosh. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. How to format 2tb hard drive to fat32 successfully in. So no matter you want to format 64gb, 128gb, 256gb, 1tb or 2tb large drive with fat32 file system, this freeware is a great choice. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Establish a connection between the western digital my passport ultra 1tb and the mac computer. I have got a new thinkpad which runs windows 10, before this i used to have mac and linux laptops. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. Fat 32 format external drives for mac wd community. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. But as of right now the time capsule only recognises the drive if i format it as mac os extended.
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