How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Wd quick formatter, also known as wd advanced format drivers afds, is an external hard drive format utility for windows and mac, developed by western digital technologies, inc. In the format window, keep allocation unit size set to default.
In the format window, feel free to label your volume as you wish under volume label. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. This is a tutorial explaining how to format a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32 file system using seagate discwizard. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. It is quite easy to get disk formatter or hard drive formatting software. Overview of formatting usb drive on mac mac systems have a different os to windows and this is where most of the problems like. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use.
Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. I have other 4tb external drives already formatted as fat32 see. A small, yet effective disk formatter with few features. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. 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. Formatting sandisk usb flash drives in fat32 format using.
Miniaide fat32 formatter free download and software. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. But both of them cant format the hard drive which the mac os is installed on because the mac system doesnt allow other software to destroy the system. How to format an external hard drive on windows formatting a hard drive on windows is a simple affair, especially if you leave everything as default. In this video i go over how to format an external hard drive to fat 32 on a mac. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. If youve just bought yourself a shiny new external drive and cant get it to work on your mac, its possible that the drive isnt compatible with macos. Go to disk management in your windows pc, or disk utility on a macos operated device, and click on the hard drive disk panel for your desired disk.
In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. All things considered, if you need to quickly repair a western digital hard drive by formatting it so it returns to the original state, you are surely going to need wd fat32 formatter. Formatting large hard drive in fat32 is no longer a problem by using the features of format volume and convert to fat32 partition in macrorit partition expert, the former format feature could assist you to reach the format the large drive in fat32 without size limit this feature will erase all data that stored in the target drive, so the. Select the quick format option, and then click the start button. Now you are sure not to be formatting a wrong disk this way. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Now here is how to format your fat32 external drive on mac. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. To format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. But if you want to find a reputable and easytouse one, freeware minitool partition wizard is recommended as this hard drive format tool is trusted by tens of millions of people and it is also very userfriendly. If it is already partitioned then right click on the panel that shows the 4tbs of space and right click to show format options.
No matter whats your reason to format your hard drive to fat32, youve landed in the right place. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. For instance, you want to make your drive faster when writing large files to it or make the drive works with nonwindows operating systems. You can also format the drive in a variety of other formats depending on your needs. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily recoverit. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. Most usb flash drives on sale are designed to work with windows operating systems that run on fat32. There are various free thirdparty windows applications that can be used to format sandisk usb flash drives in the fat32 file system for use in devices that do not support the exfat file system. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use.
If given a choice, the two common modes are ntfs and fat32. But unlike other electronics on the market, its possible to reformat an external drive to work wi. Go finder window on you mac then click on applications the image right. Formats hard drives larger than 4gb to a fat32 filesystem.
How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. You can the close disk utility your drives icon will be on your desktop. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os atto digital. Formatting with the fat32 format tool will provide full storage support for use in. You can have a drive format to fat32 on an apple mac computer using apples disk utility, which comes with macos. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. Next navigate to applications and select utilities, then select disk utility by doubleclicking on it. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on.
First, plug in the usb drive and open the file explorer. And since you have a 4tb hard drive make sure it is partitioned to gpt. Next, drag the usb data to a safe location for backuprecovery measures before. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Backup your files before performing these steps this lee sapara with a 30 second short video on formatting a usb drive to. Once a fat32 or exfat partition is created on your external hard drive, you can share it on both mac and windows pc. Paragon disk wipe allows you to create a bootable usbflash drive or external hard drive that will help you to completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or just clean free space. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. As of now, fat32 formatter has worked on disks 2tb.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. Creates fat32formatted drives including hdd, sdd, sd and memory cards. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. I have tried to format it to fat32 in disk utility, but the only options i have to format the disk to are mac os extended theres a couple, msdos file system, and unix file system. I have a 4tb gpt external usb hard drive that i need to format as fat32. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on windows 2000 xp vista win7, mac, linux, the ipod.
Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Free8 best diskusb format tool for hard drive usb tested. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing. Right click your windows button and choose command prompt or command prompt admin type the following at the prompt. If youve ever tried to format an external hard drive larger than 32gb to fat32 in windows, you will have seen that your operating system doesnt allow you to do. Format hard drive with minitool partition wizard free edition. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. The two hard drive formatting software for mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under mac os. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external drive formatted in a file system both oss can read. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac.
Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. My external hard drive is formatted to mac os extended journaled but i want to transfer some files from my pc. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. Since we are using the command prompt, you need to know its drive letter before formatting the drive. This will make it readable by both macs and microsoft windows computers. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. In this case, move on to the second option of fat32 formatter tool. Tokiwa fat32 formatter is also a free disk formatting program which also helps everyone format hard disk and partition into fat32 for free. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. With a single line command, you can format large drives in fat32 format. Formatting a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32 file system using seagate discwizard. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. Therefore, scroll down until you see a folder utilities double click on it. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it.
With an easytouse interface, this software is also able to help delete or initialize a drive or partition smoothly. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. This is because we need the drive letter to target the drive. How do you format a 4tb hard drive to fat32 format. How to format a flash drive with a mac to fat32 techwalla. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. Format external hard drive in fat32 using professional format tool.
How to reformat an external drive for mac warehouse. You can however still use command prompt to format in fat32. When you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Hard drive formatters software downloads for windows. We recommend using fat32 format tool from ridgecrop consultants ltd. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. You can format a fat32 usb drive on a mac using disk utility.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. The option to format a drive in windows 10 only gives you the exfat and ntfs option in file explorer with its drop down. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily. Formatting a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command. H is the drive letter of your external hard drive in windows 10. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Download verbatim hard drive formatter manage and maintain verbatim hard drives with this utility that can convert or reformat external hddss and supports fat32 and ntfs formats.
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