How to check for and fix os x boot drive errors cnet. Msdos fat can be used for earlier versions and smaller sizes. Formatting an sd card from a mac is simple and quick thanks to the disk utility application. All options, including format, is greyed out except to delete volume.
Here are 10 of the best external hard drives that are fast and secure. Buy wd my passport gaming for ps4 wdbzge0020bbkwesn 2tb usb3 portable black at the best price same next day delivery worldwide free business quotes. If you require more complicated behind the scenes action then read these. Checklist for reformatting your mac os x asian efficiency.
How to clean up your mac without full reinstall macpaw. If a hard drive is beyond disk utilitys aid, it may need reformatting or service. Formatting a drive so you can install and boot macos requires the guid partition map. Now the files are on another trekstor external drive that the camera guy lent me. Reformatting old mac mini to like new macrumors forums. Buy wd wdbzge0020bbkwesn my passport gaming for ps4 2tb usb3. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. I have the mac osx install disc that came with it, its 10.
How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. For sd card size greater than 64gb and mac os lion and greater, usually exfat is used. Mac os x is actually capable of writing to a ntsf drive, just not by default dont ask.
In this tutorial, i will show you how to reformat the hard drive in your mac and reinstall os x for that factory fresh finish. How to install macos high sierra ifixit repair guide. Plug the external hard drive into your mac and use the drive. Buy wd wdbzge0040bbkwesn my passport gaming for ps4 4tb usb3. Even if the mac is unable to mount the storage, following this method will enable you to format the storage. Hi, can you try citrix workspace app for mac 1812 if it fixes your issue. Jul 24, 20 nearly all mac s sold after july 20, 2011 came with factory installs of os x 10. After you reformat your hard drive and reinstall os x, the computer restarts to a. Im really hesitant to re format the disc before moving the files onto. For macs, the drive will ask you if you want to use time machine as your backup application and the seagate drive as your backup device.
How can i format this drive in windows 7 home premium. Begin by connecting the storage device to your mac, and then launch disk utility using spotlight. If youre still using a mac os x the time will come when your computer wont boot, or a problem may arise where you cant take control of the device, and booting from an os x installation media will be required. Read this usb drive data recovery guide for more information. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wifi menu in the menu bar. Cant download the additional components needed to install. Jun 27, 20 im looking to purchase an external hard drive for my macbook pro mid 2012 which will be compatible with both mac osx and bootcamp. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Sometimes when a drive has a physical bad sector, reformatting it could spread the damage. Ms windows requires reformatting for mac os maximum capacity.
Lets see how to format and prepare the ssd to use for your mac time machines backup with os x. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows. Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended filesystem. Perform a clean install of macos sierra on your mac. But, if you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead. If youre thinking about reinstalling because something has gone. By default, they format disks with the mac only os x extended file system. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to install os x after formatting your hard drive.
Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. This method should work on all apple computers and with all recent versions of mac os. Well a mac is a mac and is sometimes precious about its external hard drive. Partition mbr external usb hard drive when disk utility cant. Hello shan, thanks for contacting stellar data recovery. This is why its recommended that you make a mac os x bootable usb when your mac is in working conditions. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Select disk utility from the utilities window in macos recovery. How to perform a clean install of macos sierra the os supports two clean install options. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. There are a few reasons why you might want to reinstall macos or even mac os x. A clean install requires the mac hard drive to be erased, meaning all data, files, photos, movies, apps everything will be erased from the computer. I erased the disk, went to reinstall os x apple community.
I made the mistake of reformatting my disk with casesensitive thinking itd be a great idea years ago and its still creeping in and breaking stuff all the time like this. We reformat a hard drive if we are switching from one platform to another windows to mac and vice verse back to the main topic, below is a step by step instruction on how to format reformat a hard drive for mac os. Welcome screen and asks you to choose a country or region. External hard drive for my macbook pro mid 2012 macrumors. When theres just not enough space on your laptop to store hundreds of downloaded movies, music, software and everything else, you need extra external data storage. Reformatting an external hard drive for mac step 1. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. 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. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your backup files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Mac computers are capable of formatting any storage device internal or external such as hddssd, usb flash drive, and external storage. And sometimes youll find that you end up reformatting anyway. Youll be met with an os x utilities screen where you can access time. For instructions on how to format a drive in mac os 10.
Im not the best with computers lol id like to refresh it and start it off as a new mac. At that time, its a good idea to erase the disk and install a fresh copy of os x for the next owner. Youll probably pay extra for this preformatting convenience. But some mac users might need to erase them from the command line on mac os.
Be glad to know it now than later on and takes your data with it. Once disk utility is open youll see the list of available drives on the left. How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. Click on the apple icon in the upper left corner of your macs screen. Unfortunately, disk utility in macos high sierra doesnt make that option easy to find. To do that, the only thing you need is a bit of precise syntax to make sure that you are erasing the proper disk. How to quickly make a mac os x bootable usb on windows.
How to wipe your mac and reinstall macos from scratch. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support. As far as i know, it is same procedure for earlier mac os x versions. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Im stuck in a pickle, and could really use some help. To this end, osxfs features a number of unique capabilities as well as differences from a classical linux file system. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows.
Prepare macbook for sale when os x lion reinstall requires apple id. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility. Here are our top 0 products for external dvd drive for mac, based on customer ratings and staff picks. There may be occasions, however, when you want to reformat your mac s hard drive. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive.
Also, since i dont know whether you are on a pc or mac to perform this operation, im here to break down this guide into two parts. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. 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. If, during the macos reinstallation process, the installer. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Both aaron and i have recently decided to reformat our macbooks and start from scratch. I put in an entirely new 2tb wd sata drive and then preformed a fresh install of snow leopard onto it. Once you select these options, it pretty much runs automatically. Most of the ssds come in default exfat format that is compatible with both windows and mac. By capability minimum supported version of mac os x. Did you try erasing the apple hard drive via recovery mode.
If you connect your wd hard drive without reformatting, youll be unable to copy files to the disk as mac read only supports ntfs file system. This is a commonly required task before an sd card or micro sd card can be used as a storage medium for another electronic device, or even to remove any data stored on the sd card. It seems that the hard drive is formatted for windows but it does work read and write on my imac. The model i have can be used for either a pc or mac. This is particularly necessary for purchases of generic pc drives, which almost always come preformatted to be windows compatible rather than for mac os x. Is there a way like earlier microsoft teams version which can be installed on mac os x version 10. Contribute to radeksimkovagrant osx development by creating an account on github. Heres how to format a drive if you are planning to use it with a mac.
Backup your files, apps and settings on an external hard drive. Start the disk utility, located under applications utilities. It is important to be aware of the format type you are going to perform, which will depend upon the size of sd card and the osx version you are running. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive step 1 back up your files. Power on the computer while holding down the option key. Apr 10, 2020 as long as the problem isnt hardwarerelated, reformatting the startup drive and performing a clean install of an os can help to revive your mac. The minimum supported version of the mac os required to sync content via itunes on a mac for each ipod, iphone and ipad is listed below. Some times we want a fresh start, so here is how to format and reinstall mac os x 10. Buy wd my passport gaming for ps4 wdbzge0040bbkwesn 4tb usb3 portable black at the best price same next day delivery worldwide free business quotes. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. An overview the main difference between the two clean install methods comes down to the target for the clean install. For example, if you need to reinstall mac os x on a macbook in your office and want to clear all the data off of the computer, you can use disk utility to reformat.
Find the name of the drive in the left side of the utilities window and select it. Connect the external drive or the usb drive to the mac. Most users use disk utility to erase a disk or hard drive. Once the external hard disk gets erased to guid partition map, the disk utility will allow all the actions to be performed without any hassle. Perhaps your mac is working erratically and you think that a clean install of the operating system might fix the. Its not the most economical option, but there it is. The solution to partition the external hard drive conveniently requires reformatting the entire hard drive to guid partition i. After reformatting the hard drive, i have loaded firefox v 2. Prepare macbook for sale when os x lion reinstall requires. Wd my passport for mac is made to be plug and play. I am preparing to move to a windows laptop with windows 8 that will be arriving later this month. For the time machine, you have to format the ssd from the default shipped format.
Apr 22, 2012 some times we want a fresh start, so here is how to format and reinstall mac os x 10. To format external hard drive on mac, all you have to do is plugin your hard drive and launch disk utility. The boot drives format and partition structure can be checked both in the os x graphical interface and in the terminal. While buying a new mac is expensive financially, a clean reinstall costs you time, as its a tricky process that requires attention and careful preparation. First off if the machine is bootable to os x, head to the apple menu about this mac and. Before we begin there are a few things you need to know, including the most.