- Access Hard Drive On Mac
- Mac Show Hard Drive Icon
- Read Mac Drive Windows
- Best External Hard Drives For Mac
Most external hard drives are designed to work for Windows computers. So if you're trying to connect an external hard drive to a Mac, you might have to format the drive before you can use it. Here's how to do that:
How to Show (or Hide) Hard Drives, Disks, and Volumes on the Mac OS X Desktop This feature is available in all versions of Mac OS: Go to the desktop of the Mac if you haven't yet Launch the Finder Preferences from the 'Finder' menu, or hit Command+. How to Fix on Android File Transfer Not Working on Mac. Part I: Why isn't my external hard drive showing up mac. You might be panicking right now because your external hard drive cannot be recognized by your Mac device. But you really don't have to go crazy. Most likely, nothing has happened to your files within the external Hard drive.
The Mac exhibits all the same symptoms as a failed hard drive. The best way to figure this out is to remove your hard drive and try it in another Mac. If the hard drive works on another computer. Click 'My Computer' (in XP or previous) or 'Computer' (in Vista or beyond). A window should open that shows icons for your CD or DVD drives and any hard drives you have connected to your computer. The main hard drive built into your computer is called 'Drive C.' How do I use Disk Utility to reformat my hard drive? Open Disk Utility. Select your new hard drive from the sidebar. If you don't see it, go to View Show All Devices. Click the Erase button at the top of the window. Choose a new name for your Mac's hard drive. Change the format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac
Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it.
- Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work.
- Go to Spotlight Search, type in Disk Utility, and click the first option. This will open the Disk Utility app, where you will find all the internal and external drives that are connected to your Mac.
- Then click View in the top-left corner of the window and select Show All Devices.
- Click the external hard drive you want to format. You can find this on the left-hand side of the screen under External Hard Drives. For the best result, select the disk (the highest option in the external tree).
- On the top menu, click Erase. This will open a small pop-up window with a warning that erasing the drive will delete all data stored on it and that it can't be undone.
- Choose a name, format, and scheme for your drive. You can choose whatever name you want, and you should choose GUID Partition Map for the Scheme in most cases. However, you can choose between the following formats:
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the best option for most Mac users since it is compatible with all Macs.
- APFS (Apple File System) is only for newer Macs running macOS 10.13 or later.
- exFAT is compatible with both PC and Mac.
- MS-DOS (FAT) is also compatible with Mac and PC, but you can only transfer files smaller than 4GB.
- When you're done with providing the setup details, click Erase. This will immediately wipe the entire drive.
If you get an error message that states, 'Erase process has failed. Click done tocontinue,' don't freak out about it. Mac pro plus. This is an issue caused by Time Machine running on your externaldrive.
You will need to turn off Time Machine. You can do this by opening System Preferences and unchecking the boxnext to 'Back Up Automatically'.Then click Options beside 'ShowTime Machine in menu bar.' This will open another window. How to boot mac with usb. Click Cancel and it will turn off the Time Machine.
Access Hard Drive On Mac
After you turn off the Time Machine, redo steps 4 to 6.
How to Partition anExternal Hard Drive on Mac
If you have formattedyour drive, you can then partition the drive, which will splitthe drive into two formats. How to unzip 7z files on mac. This is perfect for anyone who uses Macs and PCsand wants to transfer files between the different operating systems with anexternal drive. Here's how to do that:
Mac Show Hard Drive Icon
- Open Disk Utility and select the drive that you want to partition. It is best to click View > Show All Devices so you can selectthe disk rather than a container.
- In the top menu, select Partition.
- Then click the plus sign at the bottom of the pie chart. Every time you click this plus sign, a new partition will becreated.
- Choose a name, format and size for each partition. You can also change the size of each of the partitions bydragging the white dots at the edge of the circle.
- Finally click Apply.
Read Mac Drive Windows
Why Partition a Hard Drive?
Partitioning an external hard drive allows youto have separate drives for Mac, PC, and any other operating system. Now youdon't have to go out and buy hard drives for every computer you use.
Best External Hard Drives For Mac
A partition also gives you a dedicated space foryour Time Machine back-up files or a bootable backup of your operating system.It also helps protect your data if your drive gets infected with malware, as itwould be contained within one of the partitions.
Now that you know how to format an external drive for Mac, check out our blog on the difference between an HDD and an SDD.