How Do I Format A Disk On Mac

• Mac Disk Utility Format Options
• How Do I Format A Disk On Mac Hard Drive
• How Do I Format A Disk On My 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 Format a Hard Drive for Mac

Move the cursor to the top left and choose the disk you want to format. To achieve this you have to double click on your external drive and click the Erase icon, which is at the top of your Mac screen. After doing so, a command dialog box will be displayed that give you options of formatting your drive. Launch Disk Utility. Either head to Applications Utilities, or tap Command + Space and start typing Disk Utility. Once Disk Utility is open you'll see the list of available drives on the left.

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.

If you want to change the format of the disk such as PC format like FAT or exFAT to Mac format. If you see the message that the disk is not readable by Mac. If you want to resolve a disk issue that can't be fixed by the Repair feature of Disk Utility. If the macOS installer can't see the disk or unable to install it. If you have any files you want to save, copy them to another storage device. Open the Disk Utility app on your Mac using one of the following methods, depending on the type of disk or volume you want to erase. If you want to erase your startup disk: Start up from macOS Recovery, then choose Disk Utility from the Recovery window. If you want to erase any other type of storage device: Double. Step 1 Connect the external hard drive you want to format to your Mac, then start the Disk Utility app that you can find under Applications - Utilities. Step 2 On the left side of the Utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it.

1. Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work.
2. 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.
3. Then click View in the top-left corner of the window and select Show All Devices.
4. 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).
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

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: How to get snapchat on mac 2018.

1. 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.
2. In the top menu, select Partition.
3. Then click the plus sign at the bottom of the pie chart. Every time you click this plus sign, a new partition will becreated.
4. 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.
5. Finally click Apply.

Why Partition a Hard Drive?

Mac Disk Utility Format Options

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.

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by Shirly Chen, updated on 2020-08-28 to Mac Data Wipe

If you want to format hard drive partition or system volume on Mac, you are at the right place. In this article, we will introduce easy-to-use tools to help Mac users to format Mac hard drive partition or Mac volume. However, before format your Mac hard drive partition or volume, please back up your data to iCloud or a secondary hard disk drive. And please note that you can't format the hard drive partition in which the macOS or OS X is installed. Now, let's begin the process to format Mac hard drive partition.

Part 1: Format hard drive on Mac with MacClean360

Download MacClean360

Format hard disk and device on Mac

MacClean360 is an all-in-one Mac cleaner and manager. It offers a tool named 'Disk Manager'. This tool can help you easily and quickly format hard drive or external device on Mac. But, the formatted data can be recovered by Mac data recovery software. However, if you want to quickly and securely format a hard drive on Mac, MacClean360 is your best choice.

Part 2: Use disk utility to format Mac hard drive partition or volume

Disk Utility is a built-in application in Mac OS or OS X. It allows Mac users to easily format hard drive partition or volume. You have no experience in formatting hard drive partition on Mac? Don't worry, it is super easy and quick. Just launch Disk Utility on your Mac, then you will see all the hard drives and external devices on your Mac. Select the target hard drive partition and click 'Erase'. Disk Utility will quickly format selected the Mac hard drive partition.

Once the formatting process is finished, the Mac hard drive partition is properly formatted. But the data removed from the formatted Mac hard drive partition is still can be recovered. Mac data recovery software can easily recover the data that is erased by Disk Utility. If you want to permanently erase the data during the formatting process, you can try another way to format the Mac hard drive partition. The solution bellow can help you format Mac hard drive partition and permanently erase the data on the formatted Mac hard drive partition.

Part 3: Format Mac hard drive partition with data eraser

Mac data eraser – DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac can easily format Mac hard drive partition and erase all data permanently on the hard drive partition. During the formatting process, it will format the Mac hard drive partition first, then overwrite the disk space with blank data. Once the formatting process gets finished, the data on the formatted Mac hard drive partition is lost forever, just like you have reset the Mac hard drive partition to factory status. Download DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac here:

This Mac disk formatting software is pretty simple to use. Run it on your Mac, choose this mode 'Wipe Hard Drive'. Select the partition you want to format and click on 'Wipe Now' button.

This tool will quickly format the selected Mac hard drive partition and permanently erase all data information on the hard drive partition.

It is strongly recommended to format the Mac hard drive partition with DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac if you are going to sell or lend your Mac computer. Permanently destroy sensitive data, leave no room for data recovery. Both of the two Mac disk formatting tools are 100% safe, will not affect the service life of your hard drive. We recommend you to use DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac to format your Mac hard drive partition before you dispose your Mac or hard drive.

Other tools offered by DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac

Disk Manager - this tool can help you quickly format hard drive or external device on Mac. It also can help you rename hard drive or eject external device in safe mode.

Erase Files - selectively and permanently erase files from HDD, SSD, USB flash drive, memory card, digital camera.

Wipe Free Space - securely wipe free disk space of a hard drive to quickly and permanently erase deleted data on this hard drive without affecting the existing data.

DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac also can help you uninstall unwanted applications on Mac, and clean up internet browsers' cookies, password, histories, etc. Download it here:

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