Start the Disk Utility, located under Applications > Utilities. Connect the external drive or the USB drive to the MAC. Disk utility - the MacOS utility application can help you with this. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.Īll is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your Mac. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them.
#MOUNT HARD DRIVE MAC OS TERMINAL FOR MAC#
Part 2: Format External Hard Drive for Mac with Disk Utilityįormatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Luckily, there are third-party tools to help you do so. NTFS: As the default file system in Windows, it can only read by Mac OS, writing to it is not available. Nevertheless, this older file system is limited to no more than 4GB and there might be security issue and disk errors.ĮxFAT: It is similar to ExFAT which can be read by both Windows and Mac, but it can store more than 4GB files. It enables you to regularly share files with your friends who own a PC. MS-DOS FAT (aka FAT32): In addition to Mac, it can also be written and read by Linux and Windows. You can encrypt it so that no one can access the contents on your drive. Mac OS Extended (encrypted) would be an ideal option if you probably carry your laptop or external drive here and there. Mac OS Extended (Journaled/HFS+): If you didn't update your Mac OS to High Sierra, the default file system on your Mac shoule be Mac OS Extended. What's more, it is compatible with SSD and flash storage devices only. However, it won't be readable and usable on machines that are not running Mac High Sierra, and Windows or Linux PCs. Architecture design for mac.ĪPFS: This is the default file system in Macs with High Sierra. Which one is right for your circumstance? We'll describe them here, you'll know your choice after reading the details. There are a few file formats you can use, but it depends on the purpose you want to use the drive for. The most important, you should decide which format to use.
Part 1: Which File Format You Should Choose?īefore you begin formatting the drive, there are a few things to do.
Keep in mind that a MAC can generally read other file formats, but for the best performance and to create a bootable disk, formatting exclusively for MAC is required.
In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your back-up files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with Mac OSX is not as difficult as it might seem.
#MOUNT HARD DRIVE MAC OS TERMINAL HOW TO#
Bonus: How to Recover Data from Formatted External Hard Drive on Mac
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