Actually, most external hard disks could be compatible with mac and pc as long as you format them correctly. How to install windows 10 directly onto usb external hard. Oct 25, 2016 usb devices,that are formatted in mac format. But before you click the format disk button and erase all the contents of the mac formatted drive, consider the alternatives. Nov 25, 2015 but dont worry, there are workarounds. Therefore, you can create bootable usb for your mac using transmac on windows 10788. To spare you the trouble of looking for them yourself, we have compiled a list with the absolute best.
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 support. Please back up all your data before you format the usb drive. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. There are several issues that may lead to this problem. 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.
I uninstalled the usb drivers from the device manager and reinstalled them. 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. New apple devices will be formatted with apfs while old mac drives can use the hfs file system. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. Run gparted and select the hard disk in the dropdown list at the top right. 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. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing data. 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. 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. When a volume is mounted in write mode, you can do everything with files and folders it contains.
Recover usb files on mac after it got formatted on windows pc. Mac data recovery can help you retrieve deleted data from hard drive hfs drive. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. This format will allow you to use your flash drive on mac without any limitations. 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. 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. This is the required format for a bootable mac hard drive.
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. 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. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac.
This is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. Read and write mac format cds, dvds, hard drives, high density floppy diskettes, and most removable drives. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. How to create mac os extended journaled partition and. Supports most drive interface types including usb, ide, atapi, firewire ieee94, scsi, etc. Launch disk utility by selecting applications utilities disk utility. 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. But formatting a drive with exfat offers one huge advantage. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple palaikymas. File system formats available in disk utility on mac.
Uses the mac format journaled hfs plus to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system. It should also be mentioned that you need the java runtime environment to use hfs explorer. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window. Its worth noting that starting with mac os high sierra 10. Macs may also create a protected efi partition on these drives that you cant delete with the usual diskpartitioning tools. It is also referred to as mac os extended or hfs extended, where its. The recovery process to recover usb files on mac after it got formatted on a windows pc is complete. Neither mac os nor windows recognize each others volume formats. Mac os extended was the default file system used by every mac from 1998 until 2017, when apfs replaced it. It doesnt even give me the option to yesno format the disk. 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.
However, windows by default cant read these file systems. If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure. 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. You can format your hard drive to fat32, exfat and use it on both windows and mac. Dec 02, 2019 usb drives and external hard drives use the windows fat32 to format for compatibility. So i hooked it up to my vaio pc, running xp and formated it. How to ntfs format usb for xbox one on mac duration. An hfs file, then, organizes data in the same way, except that all the files are contained in a single file with the. 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. 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 dont have access to my mac, its thousands of miles away and i wont have access to it for three months.
How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive. In here just follow my steps to create a bootable usb installer for your mac. Mac os extended journaled this format is considered as default file system format of the mac os x drives. 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. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk.
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. Select the drive you want to format from the list on the left. Or if you want to keep your hfs format then use hfs explorer. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. With this software, you can read the content of hfs formatted hdd on windows. 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. If your system is compatible with the update, then simply visit apples official website for high sierra right here. By default, macs use hfs, while pcs use ntfs, which are not compatible with each other. If you want to use the usb devices in windows you have to know how to do it. System utilities downloads paragon ntfs hfs converter by paragon software and many more programs are available for instant and free download. 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.
May 29, 2018 ntfs is the default file system for windows operating system and hfs for mac operating system. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. 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. 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. 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 was first introduced on september 17, 1985 with system 2. How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. Aug 27, 2019 from here, you can check that the file system format would be mentioned as apfs. 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. This afternoon, ill be setting off on a short trip to see my parents. Apple formatted wd drive on windows 10 microsoft community.
Best for mechanical drives, or drives used with older macos versions. To this day, it remains the default file system for mechanical and hybrid hard drives, both while installing macos and while formatting external drives. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat. This tutorial will use a usb thumb drive as the example. This tutorial is called the magnified version due to the first instance being difficult to see on small phone screens. So i hooked it up to my vaio pc, running xp and formated it with powerquest partition magic to. Jul 28, 20 this will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. Additionally, if he will only put images on media you send him, hes a. This will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. When i right click on it in disk management i dont have the option to delete the hfs partition. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If youre formatting a usb drive external hard drive or memory stick, memory card, etc. The best news is that most devices included mac computers can read and write from fat32 devices.
Although other forums suggest starting in os9 and formating to fat32, this option is not listed in the format window. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. In disk utility on your mac, format disks or volumes using apple file system. But if you didnt foresee that, you may have formatted your drive with apples hfs plus, which windows cant read by default. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. In this tutorial we look at formatting disks via the gui app called disk utility and its equivalent command line tool diskutil.
Hfs plus mac os extended hfsx mac os extended casesensitive write access. With mac os extended journaled format, you can setup os x. Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility. When i right click on it in disk management i dont have the option to delete the hfs. All external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. Click on the upgrade now button and download the update. 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. 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. Microsoft windows uses file systems fat, ntfs and exfat for internal devices. 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.