format external hard drive for both mac and pc 2018

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 HOW TO#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 UPGRADE#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 WINDOWS 10#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 PORTABLE#
#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 SOFTWARE#

If you plan to use your drive for File History backups on a Windows computer, and you use only Windows, stick to NTFS (New Technology File System).

So what do those four file systems mean, and which one is right for you? Non-Linux computers can use four main file systems: NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT. If you use a Mac, the likelihood that you’ll have to reformat the drive is higher.

If you use Windows, chances are good that you won’t need to reformat your external hard drive-unless you buy it secondhand, or you plan on switching between operating systems, your drive should come ready to use.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 PORTABLE#

Using the variety of hard drive formatting and partitioning utilities featured in this post, you should have no problems getting hard drives or even USB flash drives formatted correctly.If you buy an external drive-such as one of our recommended desktop hard drives, portable hard drives, or USB 3.0 flash drives-you may need to reformat it to work with your operating system of choice, since different operating systems use different file systems to process data.Īlthough it’s true that any drive is compatible with both Windows and macOS, most drives come preformatted for Windows out of the box. The next option is to use command line, but that’s more complex and not for everyone. Overall, the formatting utilities that are offered by Windows and OS X will format hard drives, but there may be cases when they will fail to format a hard drive correctly. This ultra simple formatting utility has just a few options, but it is effective and has received some great reviews.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 SOFTWARE#

While the other software on this list focus specifically on external hard drive formatting, the HP Disk Storage Formatter specializes in USB devices such as flash drives. If you only need to perform a one-time task and one program doesn’t work for you, I suggest trying another one before making any purchase. This is true for all of the programs mentioned above. Some options will be available in the free version while others will require the paid version. It’s also regularly updated and supports Windows 10. It’s pretty much got all the same features as the other programs mentioned above and it also has a freeware version. The last recommended partition manager is AOMEI Partition Assistant. They also have a paid version that supports more features and works on bigger drives. For those who are uncomfortable with making these kinds of changes, the software does a good job of easing you through the process. What I like about Paragon is that the each function in the software has its own wizard. It’s four basic functions: backup and recovery, partition manager, disk wiper and drive copy.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 WINDOWS 10#

Paragon Partition Manager free is another great little utility that supports Windows 10 and has a lot of features. You can use it to extend your system partition, migrate your OS from a standard HDD to a SSD, convert file system, and lots more. It supports Windows 10, just about all file system formats, UEFI and EFI boot, MBR and GPT disks, RAID storage, and SSDs. The interface is quite straightforward and the software is excellent at making complex formatting options simple. MiniTool Partition Wizard Free is a freeware disk partitioning and formatting utility that is simple to use and effective.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 UPGRADE#

If you need to perform some more advanced tasks like convert the partition or clone it, you’ll have to upgrade to the paid version. You can resize or move partitions, merge partitions, check partitions, wipe partitions, format partitions and change the label. If you need to manage partitions, copy partitions or even create boot disks, EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition is an excellent utility that can handle all of that and more.Ĭurrently one of the highest ranked hard drive utilities on many websites, this lightweight Windows app is a bit more intuitive than the built-in Windows Disk Management function, offering several additional options and features. In many cases, these utilities are often more effective than the built-in options that Windows and OS X offer as well. In those cases where a hard drive is simply not formatting, partitioning, etc., you may want to consider using a specialty hard drive formatting utility, which will often times make things simpler. If this is happening, this guide may be useful.

#FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FOR BOTH MAC AND PC 2018 HOW TO#

If you’re comfortable using command line, then you may want to check out our guide on how to format external hard drives to FAT32.Īdditionally, your computer may not recognize the external hard drive whatsoever. If you are unable to get a hard drive formatted or partitioned correctly using the built-in apps that are offered by Microsoft and Apple, then your next step may be to try and format the drive directly, using command line.

Format external hard drive for both mac and pc 2018