Dec 29, 2015 These will format the drive in OS X's HFS+ filetype so it will be compatible with Time Machine. Click Erase and OS X will format the drive. With the drive selected in Disk Utility, click. Installing the Mac operating system on an external drive is the safest way to get a good look at a new OS without changing anything on your Mac. It'll leave your current configuration intact.
How to format an external hard drive or USB flash on a Mac computer?
With technology growth, use of data storage formats such as CDs and DVDs are on the decline, but physical storage remains useful, especially if you do not have an Internet connection or file sizes are large. In these circumstances, external hard drives help, but unfortunately these are not always reliable. Apple products are usually able to read Windows-based formats such as MSDOS, FAT, FAT32, ExFat, and NTFS. In most cases, however, Mac machines can only read these formats and are unable to write or change data.
The best way to solve this issue is to reformat your external drive. Changing an external drive or USB flash key format is useful if you are planing to use the device only with Apple products, and especially if you wish to store a Time Machine backup file or create a bootable drive. These are not the only reasons to format your drives - they can often show less space than is actually available or require cleaning of junk files. By formatting your external drive, you also can choose an encrypted file system, which decreases the chance of data or file theft. In this article, we describe recommended file system formats for Mac computers and how to perform a reformat.
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How to format an external drive using disk utility?
Formatting an external hard drive or USB flash key is straightforward. Note: before you start formatting, bear in mind that all data from the drive will be erased, so ensure you have made a copy of your data. Once you have the copy, follow the guide below.
First, connect the drive to the Mac and launch Disk utility, which is under Utilities located within Applications. Find your drive in the left sidebar of the Disk Utilities window, select it, and click the Erase button.
In the pop-up window, choose a format from the drop-down menu. We recommend Mac OS Extended (Journaled). In the second line, enter your drive name or leave it unchanged.
Click the Erase button to confirm the formatting process. The duration of the process depends on the size of the drive and amount of data contained on it. When complete, the external drive or USB flash key will be empty, fully compatible with Mac OS, and ready for work.
If you are still experiencing problems with your external drive, look for a possible solution in this article, in which we describe the most frequent issues when using external drives.
Video Showing how to format external hard drives on a 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:
![Benefit Of Different Mac Os Formats For External Hard Drive Benefit Of Different Mac Os Formats For External Hard Drive](/uploads/1/2/7/2/127234108/699329344.jpg)
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. 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. Click Cancel and it will turn off the Time Machine.
After you turn off the Time Machine, redo steps 4 to 6.
![Format my external hard drive Format my external hard drive](/uploads/1/2/7/2/127234108/889750830.jpg)
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. 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:
Jan 05, 2019 (If you do not see this, then Mac OS is not blocking the Oracle VirtualBox kernel driver extension). Search for an extension named Oracle and check the box next to it to allow it. Restart your Mac. Aug 06, 2019 With Kernel 5.2+ install gcc-8 before installing virtualbox. Ubuntu 18.04.x comes with gcc-7.x. The newer kernels are build with gcc-9 and use some instructions that are not available with gcc-7. Kernel driver not installed rc 1908. May 02, 2012 ModEdit Specifically for VirtualBox 6.0.8 on OSX 10.4.5, see 'installation fails for vbox 6.0.8 on osx 10.14.5'. The majority of the problems on 10.13.x, 10.14.x is solved by following the Apple Documentation: User-Approved Kernel Extension Loading.In summary: If your installation fails, you might not get prompted to go to the Security settings. No one knows why it does/doesn't work.
- 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.
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.
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.