

If you need to back up any information on the drive, first connect your drive to a computer that does recognize the drive and transfer the data to a new storage device. Choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" to use the default Mac file system format. One way out is to reformat external hard drive Mac and Windows would be able to recognize such as the exFAT format. Then, on the top side under the Disk Utility, click on the Erase button. Step 2 On the left side of the Utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it. Click the "Format" drop-down menu and select the format you want to use. Step 1 Connect the external hard drive you want to format to your Mac, then start the Disk Utility app that you can find under Applications -> Utilities. Select your hard drive from the list and click the "Erase" tab. Restart "Disk Utility" if you had to restart your computer to perform a repair and you still don't see your drive. Step 3: Select the drive in Disk Utility. Locate Disk Utility in Applications > Utilities and open it. You may need to restart your computer and follow the prompts to complete the repair.Ĭlick the "Finder" icon in the Dock and look for your drive in the sidebar. You’ll use OS X’s Disk Utility app to format the drive. If the operating system already mounted the drive, an "Unmount" button displays instead.Ĭlick the "First Aid" tab and select "Repair Disk," if available. Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive.
BEST WAY TO FORMAT EXTERNAL DRIVE FOR MAC MAC OS
Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Uses the Mac format (Journaled HFS Plus) to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system. Select your hard drive, optical drive or other attached drive in the sidebar. Choose one of the following Mac OS Extended file system formats for compatibility with Mac computers using macOS 10.12 or earlier. Check Format line under the General section. The latest MacBook Pro or MacBook Air have only USB-C type connectors, so. Next, select it and use Command + I key combination to bring up the information dialog. To format a USB drive, follow these steps: 1. Start the Finder and locate the disk in the Sidebar.

BEST WAY TO FORMAT EXTERNAL DRIVE FOR MAC HOW TO
Click "Go" and select "Utilities" from the drop-down list. How to know which file system is on my external drive One way to find is by using the Finder app. Click the background to bring up the Finder menu in the the top bar.
