How To Backup & Restore A Mac With Time Machine.

You may also want to reformat an external hard drive to that you can install Windows on it and run Windows from an external drive on your Mac.

However, if the drive is formatted in NTFS format, it will only work with Windows and you will need to reformat the external drive to work with your Mac.Īlternatively, you might just want to wipe an external hard drive to recover storage space, use it for Time Machine backups, delete the contents of it or sell it. If the drive is formatted in exFAT format then it will work with both macOS and Windows. Many external hard drives however are formatted for use with Windows PCs out of the box. Some external hard drives like the WD My Passport For Mac are formatted for macOS and work out of the box. If you’ve just bought an external drive and are having a hard time getting your Mac to recognize it, it may be because it needs reformatting. Why do you need to reformat an external hard drive for your Mac?īy default, most models of hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) are formatted for a Windows operating system.If you’ve bought an external hard drive but it’s not working with your Mac or you want to delete everything off an external drive, here we show you how to format an external hard drive on a Mac. This often causes difficulties when opening external drives on a Mac. For example, if you buy a new HDD, you will most likely first have to format the external disk to be able to use it on your Mac.

Mac computers use a different file system called HFS+. There are also FAT32 and ExFAT formats, which are compatible with both operating systems. If you are only going to use the hard drive on your Mac, then you should choose the HFS+ format. If you want to be able to work with your hard drive on both Mac- and Windows-based computers, then you will have to choose other formats.

Keep reading, and we will explain the differences between disk formats in more detail, as well as how to format a hard drive for your Mac. What is the best format for an external Mac hard drive? Let’s take a closer look at each file format for external drives for your Mac.

Format hard drive in mac