Feb 21, 2020 another common cause for the external hard drive read only problem on mac is the formatting errors of the storage device itself. Hi, i have a wd essentials 1tb external hard drive formatted to windows 7. The disk utility gives no options for formatting under the erase. Windows is loading, data on the disk is not necessary, the task is to restore operability of the drive.
The external mac hard drives are available in different capacities to accommodate large data as well as users who do not require much space on their mac hard drives. Dec 31, 2017 hi, i have a wd essentials 1tb external hard drive formatted to windows 7. Scroll through the list and locate the external drive you plan on using to install windows. I dont like automatic backups because i need to access the only specific files from an external hard drive. Dec 29, 2015 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. Another is creating a drive for testing your mac s hardware. Give your drive a name, choose os x extended journaled for format and guid partition map for scheme. I have been trying to walk her through reformatting it but nothing is working. Installing new 4tb hard drive with gpt wont format. May 21, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. Tackle os x only booting in safe mode safe mode in os x is a limited boot environment where only essential system services are active. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. You can also check this in the finder with a few clicks.
If youre not sure, eject and disconnect each drive, then only reconnect the drive you want to. Mac os x uses the hfs plus file system, while windows uses the ntfs file system. The easiest and quickest way to get rid of raw is to format the hard disk into another file system this is what windows offers to do. In some cases, youll only be able to select usb devices or similar in this menu. Then, select your hard drive from the left sidebar.
How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. Here are the steps to partition an external hard drive for mac and windows pc, which is a little tricky. Ntfs format hard disks can be connected to mac os but the drive will run with readonly permission which means you can only copy from hard disk but cant add or delete anything from hard disk. How to format external hard drive on mac recoverit. Apr 16, 2020 if your answer is yes, you just come the right place. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Formatting an external hard drive for macwindows use. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. 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. Most or we can say almost every external hard disk comes in ntfs windows nt file system format but ntfs format is not supported by mac os.
You can then treat the target disk as you would any other external firewire drive. When the disk utility recognizes it the drive is read only. How to fix internal hard drive not showing up on mac. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Ssds are highspeed, and that makes them the goto memory option for ardent gamers, graphic designers, and other professionals who value speed over all else. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another.
How to solve an external hard drive not showing up on macos. There is a however a driver available which will allow your mac to write to ntfsformatted drives. Macs can boot into a target disk mode that causes them to function like an external hard drive. So, we suggest that its better to use a pc to partition an external hard drive for macos and windows. How to boot windows on your mac from external hard drive. Make external hard drive bootable on windows 10 free. I got a seagate external hard drive so i can back up my first laptop which runs on windows vista yes, i know its the worst operating system but its a long story as to why i am still using it. In those cases where a hard drive is simply not formatting, partitioning, etc. Formatting a volume will destroy any data on the partition.
It is a great option to have when troubleshooting software problems on your system, and when you invoke it by holding the shift key at startup, your mac should show a gray progress bar and then an indication in. To format an external storage device, connect it to one of the ports on your mac. If repairing the drive says it cant repair it, then there is a serious issue and the data needs to be backed up or recovered, then the partition or drive erased hard drives use security erase zero, or one selection from the left on 10. This step ensures your drive can be used to boot a mac. Its good to have an external hard drive which can be used for backup and other purpose.
Upgrading your computer always comes with some degree of risk. Can verify and repair internal drive very slow but cannot boot from it. Jun 09, 2014 installing onto an external drive may take a while, depending on the speed of the destination disk. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Some people may want to format a storage because they want to clean hard drive mac and others might want to install fresh os x. How to format external hard drive for mac and pc iskysoft. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Using external dock, i can now boot from the external drive. Because the external hard drive has been assigned to the virtualbox machine, it is the only drive that will be listed. Because fat32 supports only up to 4 gb large files, it should be used only with flash drives. Just pop in the install disk for the intel mac, select your external hard drive and.
Another common cause for the external hard drive read only problem on mac is the formatting errors of the storage device itself. Speaking of speed, its hard to overstate that performance of yosemite or os x, or any other os for that matter running off an external volume is often considerably slower than running off an internal volume, and hardly representative of the true native experience of running on an full speed. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. The only exception is with target disk mode, which requires a different sequence to use. Formatted to windows but need to reformat to mac help wd. How to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran jan 2, 2016 mac most external drives ship in formats that are universally recognised amongst nearly all operating systems fat, im looking at you, but there may be times where you might want to completely wipe a drive andor set it up to be compatible with apples mac lineup only. Lacie mobile drive 4tb external hard drive usbc usb 3. Sep 19, 2014 she has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. Booting your intel mac to an apmformatted drive owc. Actually, it is possible to boot mac from external drive or a hard drive, but there are a few specific requirements needed for your mac to become eligible for that process.
I would suggest you to take the backup of all the files present in the external hard drive in the mac computer and then connect it to windows 7 and format the drive and choose ntfs format and check if the issue is fixed. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. Solved wd elements wont boot external drives for mac. Basically, it depends on if you can boot the mac when internal hard drive is not showing up.
How to format an external drive in os x make tech easier. Shop our selection of mac external hard drives at staples. For pc and mac compatibility, select exfat format and master boot. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. This makes it very easy to reuse an old hard drive from a laptop or desktop that was previously used to boot an os. How to format hard drive and fix disk format errors on mac. I am planning to get a macbook next month and would like to eventually back that up onto the drive as well. There are various reasons why you might need to format external hard drives. The internal hard drive is not showing up but mac boots up.
Then, click erase at the bottom to format the drive. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. With the windows external hard drive, you can load windows os on your macbook. If you bought an external hard drive, it too needs to be formatted before use. At times, formatting your drive could be the only logical solution to fixing it. I have seen in shops that you can buy external hard drives in both windows and mac format. External hard drives are handy tools in storing files, data and documents.
Now in this interface, you will see a format option. Trouble formatting external hard drive macrumors forums. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. There are tens of thousands of products that can be used to get the work done easily when it comes to subjected question. This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into. Compare portable, usb and external hard drive models for office and home and shop online. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Discover the world of external hard drives for mac.
Macbook pro, imac, and imac pro, and trailing only the 20 mac pro. Along the same lines, if you want to remount a drive you can usually just physically unplug the. If so do i use mac os extended, or mac os extended journaled. Check if an external hard drive is ntfs formatted in the finder. Is anyone successfully booting mojave on an external apfs. If you purchase an external hard drive as an addition to expand the storage space of your computer, most likely you would need to format it. If the drive is internal, it should already show up in. Here is a guide on how to create a bootable external mac hard drive to run macos from an external hard drive.
If you see a warning says the device is only being mounted in readonly mode while connecting, your hard disk is diagnosed to have formatting errors that prevent you from writing files to it. However, there is a 12 minutelong delay in between the startup chime and the system actually booting. Bootable usb hard disk format tool free download easeus. As is usually the case, macos trades power for usability. Connect one mac to another mac and you can access its files in the finder. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition.
This post will teach you how to format your macs hard disk and fix common errors. For many users, the easiest way to unmount a drive in mac is to either just drag a volume into the trash, use the eject keys, disconnect the drive, or use one of the force eject methods. However, you may face the big problem that formatting will cause your data loss permanently. Make external hard drive bootable windows 10 is what well known create windows to go based on windows 10. Booting your intel mac to an apmformatted drive by m. Mac hard drives are available in three primary forms. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Both mac os x and windows also support the fat32 file system, but we dont recommend it for hard drives.
Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Being able to create a bootable usb flash drive and start from the disk, this program is a popular bootable partition tool that can help you format hard drive without windows installation cd. Boot a sick mac into target disk mode for troubleshooting. How to boot your mac in target disk mode for easy file. Install, boot, and run mac os x from an external hard drive. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it.
By default, your mac starts up from its builtin hard disk, but a startup. This software will scan your external hard drive and display the scanning results on the left pane. Read only ntfs from native mac os x to readwriteformat ntfs from mac os x, here are some alternatives. How to get an external drive formally used with a mac to be. In my case, i have five because i have windows installed using boot camp. Id like a bootable clone of my laptop, so i went and bought a 1tb wd elements yesterday.
Currently i store about 64gb of an itunes library on there. The capacities range from different gigabytes gbs to terabytes tbs for maximum storage of all types of data ranging from music, videos, photos, and documents. How to solve an external hard drive not showing up in 2020. You dont get nearly as many tools to diagnose your drive, but theyre.
Find your external hard drives name or classification e. The only way to deal with a beeping hard drive and salvage its data is to send the drive to a professional data recovery company. It means that the user needs to ensure that the programs or the software mentioned in this part are the ones which will get the work done for the user easily. All the data on your external hard drive will be formatted, you can. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. Mar 16, 2017 this makes it very easy to reuse an old hard drive from a laptop or desktop that was previously used to boot an os. One of the main reasons is backup of your current system. Using an external hard drive to boot means you can upgrade your storage. How to use external hard drive on mac without formatting. Luckily, this can be done without any complicated booting procedures all you have to do is plug it in, open disk utility while your mac is working as usual, select it in the sidebar and follow the same procedure described above in the using disk utility section.
Windows to go is to put windows, including system files, bootable files, drivers, etc. How to install os x yosemite on any external drive thumb. Be sure to back up any data you want to save before you begin. How to format seagate external hard drive for both mac. Unformat mac hard drive recover formatted hard drive on. Additionally, your computer may not recognize the external hard drive whatsoever. What is the benefit of purchasing a mac formatted external.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. Dec 11, 2019 make external hard drive bootable windows 10 is what well known create windows to go based on windows 10. Before i do all this, do i need to format the external hard drive in the disk utility program. 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. Ive just bought my first mac and understand that i now need to reformat the disc to mac. Jan 02, 2016 how to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran jan 2, 2016 mac most external drives ship in formats that are universally recognised amongst nearly all operating systems fat, im looking at you, but there may be times where you might want to completely wipe a drive andor set it up to be compatible with apples mac lineup only. Jul 05, 2014 tackle os x only booting in safe mode safe mode in os x is a limited boot environment where only essential system services are active. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
In this video i format a hard drive to use as backup. This is a lot like opening up your mac, removing the internal drive, placing it in an enclosure, and then connecting it to another mac. Launch easeus mac data recovery software, and select the disk location and click scan. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Hardware or software incompatibility issues can turn even a routine upgrade into a massive headache. Hi, i recently got a samsung t5 external ssd to use as a new boot drive for a late2012 imac.
Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. And if i use one of these methods will it run on a windows machine. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. There are quite a few reasons for why you may want to be able to have an additional startup drive for your mac. Here, easeus partition software is available for free download to help. Unetbootin downloads the selected linux distribution, creates the live linux install files, creates the bootloader, and copies them to your usb flash drive. I read the internal hard drive disk not recognized thread and believe a lot of it does not apply to me because i used the sata cable from ifixit successfully for several months. The hard drive is already formatted in mac os extended. How to select a different startup disk apple support. The type menu should be populated with usb drive, and the drive should match up to the device name you made a note of earlier when you were formatting the usb flash drive. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
Turn the drive on, and make sure it appears in the finder. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Formatted as apfs, used ccc to clone the internal drive to the ssd. When i modify a file and put it into an external hard drive, date modified section does not change. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data.
Mar 31, 2020 if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. How to boot a mac from an external drive or alternate startup disk. Then, after making sure that it is the windows ntfs file system that makes your external hard drive readonly on mac, you can go head to fix this problem. To solve external hard drive recognized but not accessible problem, formatting will be the sure shot way.
If you need to format external hard drive mac or windows, you. For some mac models, the partition option would be greyed out in disk utility. Using an external hard drive on mac without formatting. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. The good news is the disk utility built into the os x comes in handy, like a visual assistant making the process easier. The reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. For 32bit mac os x, install ntfs3g for mac os x free does not work in 64bit mode. In the volume format list, select mac os extended journaled. If all above ways cannot solve the external hard drive is not accessible problem, you should format it. Use the exfat file system and never format your external.
Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. We did this because disk utility cant format with ntsf, but the windows installer would recognize msdos. I am a complete novice and need help in obtaining an idiots guide to this process otherwise im in danger of losing all my itunes.
In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. Ntfs format hard disks can be connected to mac os but the drive will run with readonly permission which means you can only copy from hard disk but cant add or. If you cant see the internal hard drive but you can start and use your mac normally, the good news is that your macos volume which usually is the macintosh hd is working fine. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. When you do that, you should see at least four icons.