Format a hard drive mac and pc how to#
Format a hard drive mac and pc mac os x#

Realizing that you’ve forgot to back up a critically important file from a newly formatted hard drive feels horrible. After you confirm your selection, it should take just a few moments for the formatting process to finish. Windows will present you with a formatting window where you can specify various formatting parameters. Keep in mind that you can only format storage devices that are currently not in use. Right-click on it and select the Format option from the context menu. If the hard drive you want to format is connected to your PC, it should be there. To format a hard drive for Windows, open the File Explorer and click on This PC. Click on the Erase button again to confirm your decision and wait for the process to end. Select your storage device, choose your desire file system, specify the name, and click on the Erase button. The main window of the utility contains a list of storage devices, storage device details, and formatting options. You can launch it from the App list or use Spotlight. With it, it’s possible to easily format and storage device with just a few clicks. Mac OS X users have at their disposal a handy tool called Disk Utility. Developed by Microsoft, this modern file system is optimized for situations where the NTFS file system is not a feasible solution, and the file size limit of the standard FAT32 file system is unacceptable. If you need to format external hard drive Mac or Windows, you may also consider the exFAT files system. Because FAT32 supports only up to 4 GB large files, it should be used only with flash drives.

Format a hard drive mac and pc mac os x#

Both Mac OS X and Windows also support the FAT32 file system, but we don’t recommend it for hard drives. Mac OS X uses the HFS Plus file system, while Windows uses the NTFS file system. First and foremost, you need to decide which file system to use. Regardless of why you want to format your hard drive, there are some considerations to be made before you begin. Of course, you may also just want to quickly delete the content of an entire hard drive.

Format a hard drive mac and pc how to#

Data fragmentation remains an issue even in the era of mobile devices, and in some cases formatting is the fastest way how to solve it. Optimization is another good reason for hard drive formatting. When you purchase a brand-new hard drive, there’s no guarantee that it will be pre-formatted from the factory, nor is there any guarantee that it will come with the right file system. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Both Mac OS X and Windows allow users to format their hard drives using built-in utilities.