format a mac external hard disk in windows

This will erase all the files on the drive. Click the Erase button when you are done and the Disk Utility will format your disk with the settings you specified. Then select the default GUID Partition Map (GPT) scheme. You will be asked to provide the disk name and then select the file system as exFAT. If you have a USB flash drive inserted in your Mac, you can see it under the External in the Disk Utility. Go to Open Disk Utility, which is located under Applications in the Finder menu.

To format a drive on a Mac, you'll need the built-in Disk Utility application. You will see the drive's file system shown on the right 'Format'.įormatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep.

Right-click the drive icon in the Finder sidebar (or on the desktop) and select Get Info. So how do you know if your USB drive is in the correct format? You do not need to do anything special on the 'Disk Utility' - simply insert the USB drive and open Finder. How to format a USB drive as exFAT on Mac

Part 2: Format a USB drive as exFAT on Windows.

Part 1: Format a USB drive as exFAT on Mac.

You can format the drive on your Mac or Windows computer. If you plan on using an external drive with both Macs and PCs, you should format the disk with the exFAT file system instead.

By default, Macs use HFS, while PCs use NTFS, which are not compatible with each other. Since the PC and Mac are two different operating systems, they use different file systems. How to Format a USB Drive as exFAT for Mac and Windows Compatibility

Format a mac external hard disk in windows