Format a new hard drive for mac os x

How to format external ssd for mac time machine mashtips. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Click on disk utility then continue first of all to get your macs hard drive. How to restore os x macbook pro in new hard drive supersimple howto tutorial in technology. That means you can take an older mac os x hard drive pop it into almost any mac with a sata to usb cable or ssd adapter and it will. Nov 24, 2014 how to restore os x macbook pro in new hard drive supersimple howto tutorial in technology.

By default, they format disks with the mac only os x extended file system. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended filesystem. Formatting hard drive in any operating system is not a complicated procedure, and its the same with mac os x. Its a multipurpose tool that handles formatting, erasing, repairing, and partitioning hard drives, among other things. Step one if your hard drive is an external drive, connect it to the computer. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. There are several reasons you might need to install a new copy of macos or os x on the hard drive in your mac or macbook. With the new hd, i want to get off on the right foot, to format for my mac. Disk utility can be used to format external drives as well. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window. The format is good for handling the files between both os under 4gb size. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central.

The first option allows you to restore your machine to the latest time machine backup, if you have one. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support asean. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. Starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Jul 16, 2019 how to install os x or macos onto a new blank hard drive. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Erase mac hard drive when you erase a hard drive, you basically format ntfs on mac and change the format to a compatible one like afps or mac os x extended journaled.

When you get a new hard drive, it may already be formatted for windows or mac. How to restore os x macbook pro in new hard drive youtube. If the sata drive will simply be a storage drive, please see the 3rd section of this article installing a. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. This is particularly necessary for purchases of generic pc drives, which almost always come preformatted to be windows compatible rather than for mac os x. How to format a drive with the apfs file system on macos sierra. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. The usb drivers come with the fat format by default. Verify that the correct hard drive is selected in the left column. But, if you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead. Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help.

Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. How do i install and format new hard drive in mid2012 macbook pro. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. If youre preparing a mac for resale or troubleshooting a misbehaving machine, you might opt to format your mac s hard drive. Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Whether youre selling your computer, trying a new operating system, or setting up an external drive for backups, sometimes you need to completely erase and format a hard drive. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Jul 05, 2017 macs support a variety of file systems. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Tutorial how to format hard drive on your mac os x the. Youll use os xs disk utility app to format the drive. How to format a hard drive in mac os x dumb little man.

While os x can read and write to fatbased filesystems, ntfs is read only on. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Wait as the os x utilities window appears on the screen. How to install os x or macos onto a new blank hard drive. Heres a look at how to use disk utility to perform this function. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Following the erasing of your macs hard drive, you are returned to the os x utilities options. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive.

How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra. You can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. How to clone mac hard drive with disk utility hdd sdd macbook pro imac 20102019. Format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility iclarified. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought a new external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. You can format an external drive in os x using disk utility and terminal. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. Any other partitioning, or reformatting of the drive must be done using a 3rd party drive formatting software, such as intech hard disk speedtools or using disk utility under mac os x.

Click on disk utility then continue first of all to get your mac s hard drive. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. The best new features in macos sierra and how to use them the new apple file system is currently experimental. Choose mac os extended journaled partition for the volume format. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. In this tutorial i will go through all steps you need to follow in order to format your entire hard drive or just a. Whether you are planning to make a clean installation mac os x or you need much larger file to store more files, in both cases you will need to format your hard drive. Power on and insert your snow leopard disc, restart and press option key, select the snow leopard disc and press enter, go into disk utilities and format the new hard drive as mac os extended journaled, and name it macintosh hd or whatever you want. How to install os x on new hard drive on a late 2012 mac mini. When trying to save large files in final cut pro, the hard drive would save numerous files with none over 2gb in size. Jan 02, 2016 formatting a drive on your mac is quite easy. If you move a hard drive between the two operating systems, heres what you need to know.

Fortunately, there are also several ways to do it, ranging from internet recovery to installation discs. The format apple support for mac owners for time machine is mac os extended journaled. If you need to erase your drive in the future, simply highlight the drive you wish to erase and select erase disk from the special menu in the finder. Aug 30, 2016 this is an article for mac, it is erasing a hard drive from a mac command line, it is not a windows tutorial. The mac os x operating system is designed to make formatting the hard drive easy, quick and painless.

These are instructions on how to format a hard drive using mac os x disk utility. This is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it will be. Fat32 is the crossplatform format for windows and mac os x. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. From this you can select one of two options in order to restore the operating system. Can not install mac osx snow leopard on new hard drive ifixit.