Format Drive For Windows And Mac With Multiple Partitions

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ExFAT in Windows 10 Another easy way to format a drive to use is by using Windows' built-in Disk Management.. Select the Scheme (Partition Table Scheme) from the drop-down menu See image below.. If there's no needed information within the drive, then click on Partition If there is data on the drive that is needed or is not backed up, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding.. Step 1: Backup Data in HFS+ Partition on Mac Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on Mac.. Quick Navigation: As we know, external hard drives are widely used to backup data or interchange files among different computers.. Then, click on Options In the Options window select Master Boot Record and then click Ok.. The drive is now formatting and a status bar will be seen at the bottom that says formatting the disk and gives the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name that was specified.. How to Convert HFS+ to FAT32 or exFAT without Losing Data Besides, you can format an external hard drive for Mac and Windows by converting HFS+ to FAT32 or exFAT without losing any data.. How to Share External Hard Drive Between Mac and PC Without Formatting If you want to use an external hard drive formatted with NTFS on Mac, you'll need to install programs that let you use your NTFS drive on your Mac.. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left (Not indented) for the drive to be formatted.. Here, you need to choose that partition and click on ' Create Partition' from the left action pane.. To do this kind of conversion, we just need a Windows computer, a Mac machine, and a professional partitioning program.. When done, click on Apply A window will come up showing that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all data that is on the drive.. This could quickly damage the drive's partition and corrupt the data on the drive.. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below: Right-click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen, and click Disk Management.. Finally, click ' Apply' button to make all changes performed Note: You might be unable to share all files saved on external drive since Windows doesn't support HFS+ partition while Mac doesn't support NTFS partition completely.. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below: Connect the WD drive to the Mac computer.. Firstly, open the software to enter its main interface as follows Here, please select the NTFS partition or HFS+ partition of external hard drive, and click ' Delete Partition' feature from the left action pane.. At the same time, you can also set some other parameters for this partition, including ' Partition Label', ' Drive Letter', ' Size And Location'.. Currently, hard drives for Windows PC are always formatted with NTFS, while hard disks for Mac are formatted with HFS+.. Click on Erase The Erase dialog window will now appear Assign the name that will be given to the drive.. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue.. Click next to Format to display a drop-down menu, and select exFAT This is the format that the drive will be formatted to.. Choose Applications from the left-side panel From the Applications folder, open Utilities, and lastly double-click on Disk Utility.. At last, click ' Apply' button to make all changes performed Step 2: Format the FAT32 Partition to HFS+ Partition on Mac Please go to Utilities → Disk Utility to get the window below: Then, select the external hard drive and click ' Partition' tab on the top.. Now, please specify partition label ( Windows is recommended), partition type (primary or logical), drive letter, file system (NTFS), cluster size, and partition size (you can change the length of the handle to adjust partition size).. How to Make an Empty External Drive Compatible with Mac and PC If there is no file saved on your external hard drive, how to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC? It's very easy to share it between Mac and PC and you also need a Windows computer, a Mac machine, and the free partition manager MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.. Solution 3: Create One HFS+ Partition for Mac and One NTFS Partition for Windows Alternatively, you can create 2 partitions on the external hard drive: one is for Mac, and the other is for Windows.. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives.. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen.. Disk Utility will now be open From the left-side pane, choose the drive that is to be re-formatted.. Then, you can create an exFAT partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition by following steps introduced in the section Step 2: Create exFAT Partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard.. Thirdly, you will see a pop-out window Here, you can choose ' exFAT' from the ' File System' setting option.. Well, is there an external hard drive that could be shared between Mac and Windows PC? Of course, there is.. Once selected, click on Partition on the right-side area In the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition.. Partition Click on Partition on the top menu of the Disk Utility window The Partition window will now appear.. Critical: Never attempt to connect any external drive to multiple computers at the same time.. If you are a personal user, you can try its Professional Edition Step 1: Install MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Edition Download this software to your computer.. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step Step 2: Create a FAT32 or exFAT Partition on Windows PC Some people may ask why create such partitions on Windows rather than Mac.. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below: Begin by connecting the WD drive to the Mac computer.. However, single files on a FAT32 drive can't be larger than 4GB If your external drive saves files larger than 4GB or you plan to save larger files to this drive, converting to FAT32 is not recommended.. After that, you should click ' Apply' to keep this change Secondly, the target partition will become unallocated.. Step 2: Convert NTFS to FAT32 with This Software After running the program successfully, we can see its main interface as follows: Here, please select the NTFS partition of external hard drive and choose ' Convert NTFS to FAT' feature from the left action pane.. After that, an unallocated space will be released Secondly, you can create one or more FAT32 partitions in unallocated space.. There are 3 solutions for this case, so please choose the one you like most to format external hard drive Windows 10/8/7.. This may take several minutes Note: If an error message is received stating that the drive is unable to be unmounted, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive.. Once a FAT32 or exFAT partition is created on your external hard drive, you can share it on both Mac and Windows PC.. Step 2: Create exFAT Partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard The Free Edition of this software also enables you to do this job.. Share Pin Email If you created multiple partitions on this physical hard drive.. For more information about what these limitations are please see The easiest way to format the drive to or is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32, or both macOS and Windows' built-in tools, Disk Utility or Disk Management respectively for exFAT.. Well, is it possible to make an external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without formatting it? Definitely, it is, but third party program is required.. Then, you can share external hard drive between Mac and PC You Can Convert NTFS to exFAT in 3 Steps However, if you want to convert NTFS to exFAT to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC, 3 steps are required.. It is usually directly above the name of the drive In the example below, the one to be selected would be WD Elements SE.. Erase After selecting the appropriate drive, additional option buttons will become available on the top part of the Disk Utility window.. Note: when you connect an external hard drive which is formatted with HFS+ with computer, Windows may ask you to format the drive.. Select the Format (file system) from the drop-down menu For this article, we chose exFAT, see image below.. To the right, insert a name for the drive, and click on Format From the drop-down, select ExFAT.. When it is done, this bar will go away and the drive should now be listed on the desktop.. Step 1: Transfer Data out from External Hard Drive You can choose to copy and paste those files to other external devices or internal hard disk of Windows, but it will cost much time.. When ready, click Apply Disk Utility will begin the formatting and repartitioning process.. Here, select the unallocated space and choose ' Create Partition' feature from the left action pane.. When MiniTool Partition Wizard shows it applies the change successfully, the original NTFS will finally become a FAT32 partition.. However, if there is more than one NTFS partition, view to get specific operations.. If there is more than one NTFS partition, convert all of them one by one At last, click ' Apply' button to make the change executed.. FAT32 has several limitations, including a 4 GB per-file limit This is a file system limitation that affects both macOS's and Window's, and the only workaround is to format the drive to exFAT.. Then, you should choose ' FAT32' from the ' File System' option in the pop-out window.. Then, select the external hard drive and choose ' Delete All Partitions' to create an unallocated space.. This is a detailed tutorial on how to format a hard drive in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.. This is useful if a drive is being used under both to move files between the two environments.. It is usually directly above the name of the drive, and is the drive selection that has the total size being displayed.. Instead, you can use to create a copy for your external drive, which is faster If there is only one NTFS partition on external hard drive, refer to the tutorial to get instructions.. Actually, most external hard disks could be compatible with Mac and PC as long as you format them correctly.. Further Reading Both FAT32 and exFAT have advantages and disadvantages FAT32: FAT32 works with all versions of Windows, Mac OS, Linux, game consoles, etc.. Nevertheless, a lot of users complained that exFAT is slow, and they highly suggest using FAT32 if you can avoid file size constraints.. Then, click ' OK' to continue Now, you can see a NTFS partition is created Please use the same way to create a FAT32 partition labeled with Mac.. Why Need to Format External Hard Drive for Mac and PC To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between Mac and PC, you need to format an external hard drive for Mac and PC.. Most WD Drives come formatted in the NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (macOS) format For a hard drive to be able to be read from and written to on both a Windows and macOS computer, it must be formatted to or file format.. How to Quickly Format External Hard Drive for Mac and PC Without Losing Data Your external hard drive might have saved lots of files.. However, when we connect a NTFS formatted disk to Mac, Mac OS X doesn't allow us to write files to the drive neither edit files, though it can read a NTFS drive.. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted.. Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down before trying to format the drive again.. At last, click ' Apply' button to make all changes performed Solution 2: Format External Hard Drive Windows 7/8/10 to exFAT Firstly, please delete the NTFS or HFS+ partition in either MiniTool Partition Wizard or Windows Disk Management to release unallocated space.. It is best to use Master Boot Record only for MS DOS format All Intel-based macOS computers and drives larger than 2 Terabytes should use the GUID Partition Map.. Please choose Cancel Please download and install this program on your Windows computer to format an external hard drive for Mac and PC.. Confirm that the name of the drive is correct in the Partition area, and update it if necessary.. Note: Only legacy macOS systems, using non-Intel CPU's, will utilize the Apple Partition Map.. ExFAT in macOS 10 11 (El Capitan) and above There are two easy ways to format a drive to use is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility; using Erase (Step 4) or Partition (Step 7).. Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive.. Once the drive appears on the desktop, click on Go on the top tool bar From the drop-down menu, click on Utilities.. Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless there is more than one partition on a particular drive.. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Reddit This answer explains how to format a drive in the exFAT or FAT32 file system.. Solution 1: Format External Hard Drive Windows 10/8/7 to FAT32 Since users are unable to create a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB in Windows Disk Management, they need to use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free.. If there are multiple partitions on the external disk, please select the disk and click ' Delete All Partitions' feature instead.. As to size for each partition, it depends on your own demands By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for Mac and Windows.. That is because there are cases reporting FAT32 (MS-DOS) or exFAT partitions created on Mac did not work well on Windows.. ExFAT in macOS 10 10 (Yosemite) and earlier One of the easiest ways to format a drive to use is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility.. Select the unallocated space and choose 'Create Partition' feature from the left side.. Please skip to Solution 1: Format External Hard Drive to FAT32 to get steps to create a FAT32 partitions or go back to Step 2: Create exFAT Partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard to get operations to create an exFAT partition.. However, if you want to use an external drive formatted with HFS+ on Windows PC, you'll need to install programs that let you get read and write access to HFS+ partition on Windows PC.. Then, you can open the software and input the license key to the pop-out window to get its Professional Edition.. Then, choose the target partition and click ' Delete Partition' from the left action pane.. If you want to share such an external hard drive between Mac and PC, please convert NTFS and HFS+ to FAT32 or exFAT.. Of course, there is that can help create a FAT32 volume up to 2TB, which also functions correctly.. As long as we format the external hard drive to one of these 2 file systems, it can be shared between Mac and Windows.. ExFAT: exFAT has very large file size and partition size limits, which means it's a good idea to format your external hard drive to exFAT.. Now, find the FAT32 partition and format it to OS X Extended (Journaled), which is the desired HFS+.. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere.. In Utilities, select and open Disk Utility When Disk Utility opens, select the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted from the left-side panel.. In addition, a FAT32 partition must be not more than 32GB if you create it in Windows Disk Management.. After that, please click on ' OK' Fourthly, you will go back to the main interface.. Similarly, Windows OS will ask us to format the HFS+ formatted drive when we connecting such a disk, let along edit files saved on HFS+ formatted hard disks unless we resort to third party programs.. Meanwhile, you can set properties for this new partition and click ' OK' to go back to the main window of Partition Wizard.. Firstly, you need to delete the partition by using this software Just open the software to enter its main interface.. Click Erase to begin the format process When the Erasing process is completed, click on Done.. Just search for the software on Google to have a try Bottom Line Are you planning to format an external hard drive for Mac and PC? If yes, now try one of our methods to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC.. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for Mac and PC without losing any data.. Should you have any problem, just feel free to leave us a message in comment part below or send an email to.. If the error message persists, restarting the computer may resolve the issue If additional assistance is required, please.. Then, please click on ' Apply' to save these changes Finally, an exFAT partition will be created on your external hard disk so that it could be shared between Mac and Windows PC Step 3: Transfer Data back to External Drive If you want to share files that you have backed up between Mac and PC, now please transfer these files back to external hard drive.. This allows the drive to be used on both Windows and macOS END A Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and macOS.. Step 1: Create a NTFS Partition and a FAT32 Partition Please run, then delete all the original NTFS or HFS+ partition(s), and create a new NTFS partition as well as a FAT32 partition, and the latter will be formatted to HFS+ in Mac machine.. For specific steps, please keep reading How to Convert NTFS to FAT32 or exFAT Without Data Loss To format hard drive for Mac and Windows without data loss, we suggest using MiniTool Partition Wizard and its ' Convert NTFS to FATS32' function.. But luckily, there are well supported by both Mac and Windows PC, and they are FAT32 (it might be called MS-DOS on Mac) and exFAT.. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully Click on Done.. How to Format a Hard Drive You must format a drive before using it in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, or XP.