How to Partition and Format a WD Drive on Windows and macOS. Disk Management will proceed to display all the hard drives detected by Windows. The window may need to be maximized in order to see all the drives listed. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen.
Back Up the Drive’s Data First First, back up the data on the Mac-formatted drive if you have anything important on it. This process won’t actually convert the file system. Instead, we’ll just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Any files on the drive will be erased. If you have a Mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a Mac and back up the files. If you only have Windows systems available, you can use to copy files from the drive onto your Windows system drive or another drive. HFSExplorer unfortunately requires you install Java to use it, but it’s the only free option here.
You’ll probably want to. Erase the Mac Partitions, Including the EFI System Partition RELATED: First, open the. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type diskmgmt.msc into the box, and press Enter to open it. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer — internal ones or external ones connected via USB. Locate the Mac drive in the list of disks.
Be sure you’ve identified the Mac drive — if you accidentally delete partitions from another drive, you could damage your Windows installation or lose your files. If you’re lucky, you can just right-click each partition on the Mac drive and select Delete Volume to remove the partitions. You can then right-click in the empty space and select New Simple Volume to create a partition and format it with the Windows NTFS or FAT32 file systems. The Mac drive may have an “EFI System Partition” on it. This partition is marked as protected, so you can’t just right-click and delete it — the delete option will be disabled. To erase this partition, we’ll have to wipe the entire disk. This process erases everything on the disk, including its files and all its partitions.
First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. For example, in the screenshot below, the Mac-formatted drive is Disk 2. Next, open a Command Prompt window as administrator. To do this on Windows 8 or Windows 7, press the Windows key once, type cmd, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Type diskpart into the Command Prompt window and press Enter. Type list disk at the DISKPART prompt and press Enter to view a list of disks connected to your computer.
Identify the number of your Mac disk in the list. It should be the same as the number of the disk in the Disk Management window. Be sure to double-check this — you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here.
Type select disk # and press Enter to select the Mac disk, replacing # with the number of the Mac disk. For example, here we’d type select disk 2. Finally, type clean and press Enter. This command erases the entire selected disk, including all its files and partitions — whether they’re protected or not. You’ll have an empty, uninitialized disk after you do this. Close the Command Prompt window when you see a message saying “DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.” Create an NTFS or FAT32 Partition You can now open the Disk Management window again.
If you’ve left it open, you may have to click Action Rescan Disks to update the data. Locate the Mac disk in the list. It will be completely empty and display a message saying “Not Initialized.” Right-click it and select Initialize Disk. Select the and click OK to create a partition table for the disk.
Right-click in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select New Simple Volume. Use the wizard to create a partition with the. The drive will now be formatted for use by Windows systems. There will be no space wasted by protected Mac partitions. Some Mac functions require an HFS+ formatted drive.
For example, can only back up to HFS+ formatted drives. Image Credit.
Before you go messing around in the Disk Utility application, make sure you know what the drive is going to be used for. If it’s an external hard drive, for instance, do you plan on hooking it up solely to Macs or Windows PCs as well? Each one has its own compatible format, so you’ll have to be careful which you choose.
FAT 32 is the most compatible disk format which is why it’s the most widely used on USB thumb drives — it’s compatible with both Mac and Windows PCs. HFS+ is the native Mac OS file system, and NTFS is Windows’ (Macs can read what’s on NTFS-formatted drives, but they cannot write). Before you start formatting any hard drives, make sure you’ve backed up your data! Formatting an external hard drive will delete any information on the device, likewise reformatting your system will essentially bring your Mac back to a clean factory state, thus removing all information you’ve stored on it.
Conclusion: Be sure to backup first. Formatting an external hard drive or internal hard drive partition:.
Step 1: If you plan on formatting an external hard drive then make sure it’s plugged in an appears on your desktop. If you plan on formatting an extra internal drive, make sure you’ve partitioned one (note: if you have yet to do so check out our ). Step 2: Open Finder (either through Spotlight or the icon in the dock). Step 3: Click on Applications (on the left). Step 4: Scroll down and find a folder named Utilities.
Double-click on it. Step 5: Once in the folder, you’ll see an application named Disk Utility, double-click on it to launch the program. Step 6: Find the hard drive you want to format, and highlight it.
If it’s an external hard drive then it should appear in the left nav bar. If it’s an internal drive partition then it should also appear in the left nav bar as whatever you named it after partitioning.
Step 7: If you look to the right, there’s tab named Erase, click it. Step 8: Underneath it you’ll see a “Format” option.
Here you’ll find a drop down menu with MS-DOS (FAT), which you would select if you’re planning on using the drive with Windows and Mac systems or installing Windows; and Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which you should select if you plan on using the drive solely with Mac computers or installing another version of Mac OS. If you’re looking to dual-boot with Linux or run Windows Boot camp, you can format the partition as “MS-DOS (FAT),” however, these programs typically come with an option to partition your drive during setup. Just make sure you know how much hard drive space you can allow to dedicate to another operating system. Step 9: After choosing the format, press the “Erase” button, which will begin the formatting process.
Reformatting your internal system hard drive: Reformatting your internal drive means a fresh start; the drive will look like it just came off the factory line. Those who usually want to reformat the entire internal drive are generally looking to get rid of any personal information so they can sell the device, or perhaps they’re looking to clear their system after downloading some unsavory software off a certain P2P network. Either way, you’ll need your Mac OS X installation DVD that came with your Apple system, as you’ll be booting your computer from this disk to reformat your internal drive. Step 1: Insert the Mac OS X install disc and restart your computer while holding down the C key on your keyboard, so the Mac boots from the install disc. Step 2: Double-click the “Install Mac OS X” icon. Step 3: There will be an opportunity to click an “Options” button to save existing files, a setting to “Archive and Install” and “Preserve Users and Network Settings.” However, if you want to erase everything and reinstall, select “Erase and Install.” From here the install disk should guide you through the reformatting process.
And that’s how to format a Mac hard drive! Leave any questions below. And if you want to know we’ve covered that as well.