Feb 08, 2020 now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. How to fix raw external hard drive without formatting. Connect the raw external hard drive to your pc step 2. Follow offered methods here to repair the corrupted external hard drive, usb drive or sd, etc. Now, im trying to format it so that i can use it on pc instead of mac. When the disk utility recognizes it the drive is read only. Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. I have a mac and downloaded and formatted my 3tb hard drive to ntfs3g, but when i plug it into my xbox it wont even recognize it. I assume youre trying to format it on a mac, probably the error is because it failed to unmount the disk. How to recover files from a crashed external hard drive. How to fix a corrupted external hard drive on macmacbook. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. Usually, that means your data is destroyed, and your bits are blastedunless you backed up, of c. I used disk utility to reformat the partition that wouldnt mound.
I at first tried to reformat the drive to afps, and that failed. The drive might not be present there if changing the secondary ide. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. It is urgent to fix a not working seagate external hard drive, at the same time, to recover critical data from it. Though, if you dont want to encounter it in the first place, then make sure you take all the right steps to erase a hard drive on mac. The disk utility gives no options for formatting under the erase. I bought a toshiba stor e 2tb external hard drive which comes factory formatted for windows pcs only and tried to format it for mac using the same instructions as found in this forum for os 10. If you need to erase your disk before installing high sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose mac os extended journaled. I attempt to format anyway since i know theres no programs using the drive, and after a minute the formatting comes to a stop and i get a message saying its unable to format. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. First, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. Have it plugged into usb port, shows up in disk manager, but not in this pc.
I did restart the computer as you suggested, but again received the message the disk you inserted is not readable by this computer. To format or reformat an external hard drive on mac, youll need the builtin disk management tool called disk utility. Complete guide to fix erase process has failed on mac. Dec 29, 2015 follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac. External hard drive corrupted so you cannot access all saved data. Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. Change format to mac os extended journaled, and change scheme to either apple.
A complete process to erase hard drive on mac by following the abovelisted techniques, you would be able to overcome the disk utility erase process has failed issue. Any hard drive can be formatted for mac and here is how you do it. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for os xs time machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible. Solve wd quick formatter doesnt work by formatting via aomei partition assistant. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. I had no trouble formatting my external hard drives in older operating systems. Have you ever tried to format a disk in mac os x and disk utility wont unmount the hard drive for formatting. How to format hard drive and fix disk format errors on mac. If you get an error message that states, erase process has failed.
How to recover files from external hard drive without formatting free download and install recoverit data recovery on your computer, connect your external hard drive to your computer and follow the next steps to recover files from external hard drive that is undetected, crahsed, corrupted or dead. Your pc wont even work if you end up making any change to the settings of this transfer mode. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. Now youre good to go with a lovely mac os extended formatted drive. There is a button on the top left of the disk utility window for view.
You can have problems with your mac refusing to format your elements drive if. I have an lg external hard drive which i unplugged one day without doing the safe eject. I can go on db and download files, but of course, if ive made changes on the hard drive before opening db for the sync, they are not online, but only on the passport. It can happen for external usb and firewire as well as internal disks. It is not only very helpful in settling wd external hard drive wont format issue, but also in c drive full, file is too big to copy to external hard drive problem and etc. She has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your macs external drives list. The drive does not appear on the desktop or the finder. If you work solely on a mac, but need to send files to someone working on a pc, your external hard drive needs to be set up for both operating systems. Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on mac. Sounds simple, but first boot after an os upgrade or with a failed disk mount due to timing problems. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. If your external hard drive is readonly on mac because it was formatted with microsoft ntfs file system, you can free download iboysoft ntfs for mac and feel free to copywriteeditdelete and transfer files on this drive without formatting it. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data.
I have a mac and downloaded and formatted my 3tb hard drive to. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. I get a notification that says disc erase failed with the error. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Open the disk utility and select the external drive. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Error message when formatting a new drive external drives. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. A progress bar will show how the formatting of your drive is going and how long, roughly, it will take to complete.
Is it a good idea to format my external hard drive as. Cannot format my external hard drive windows 10 forums. Unable to format external hard drive microsoft community. Apr 23, 2014 its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. Locate your drive under external drives it should show something like disk1s1 3. Yes, im trying to format it on a mac sorry, i thought i had posted in the mac section. Imagine how will one access the videos, documents like spreadsheets etc. Then, you need to choose the best file system for your external hard drive and follow these steps. How to repair corrupted external hard drive without losing. Unable to format external hard drive formatting an external hard drive i cant get my external hard driver to format, the window says it cant be formatted, so can somebody please help me to get this formatted. Lets take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production. I am trying to partition my harddrive so it can be read on both mac and pc.
Disk utility error message when formatting in macbook pro, imac, mac mini, mac pro, macbook air. I know their is nothing wrong with my external hard drive because it works on my pc. I have tried all the above suggestions and each time drive says formatting no matter how long i wait, never finishes. If you see the messages telling you that the first aid failed, the external hard drive is too corrupted to be fixed by first aid.
Oct 06, 2016 have you ever tried to format a disk in mac os x and disk utility wont unmount the hard drive for formatting. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard. The hard drive is already formatted in mac os extended. Trouble formatting external hard drive macrumors forums. This would have changed your raw drive into ntfs file system and the data you have stored in it can be used again. If the builtin disk came apfsformatted, dont change it to mac os extended. However, the partition option remains greyed out for my hard drive and when i place the cursor over the greyed out partition. If your seagate external hard drive has only one partition that is recognized, you can use this pc. Device failure may happen any time without warning. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. This article will show you how to fix and repair a corrupted hard drive without losing data. Jul 31, 2019 it is not only very helpful in settling wd external hard drive wont format issue, but also in c drive full, file is too big to copy to external hard drive problem and etc.
Your seagate usb external hard drive is not working, not responding, or fails to detect by windows. Seagate external hard drive not working without losing. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. The next section describes the 15 worst mac hard drive problems with their solutions. If its an inconvenience when your system crashes, its a disaster when your hard drive heads south. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. Mac os x fails when trying to format external hdd super user. Is it a good idea to format my external hard drive as exfat if i use it for both mac and windows. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers. This post will teach you how to format your macs hard disk and fix common errors. While its convenient to purchase the hard drive that will work with your computer right out of the box, most external hard drives can also be reformatted so youre not limited to your initial choice. If you read my previous post about how to format an external drive for mac, you know that i bought a 2tb seagate expansion external hard drive and managed to create two partitions on the disk one for mac backup purposes, and the other for personal use in this article, im going to show you how to back up your mac data to an external drive.
A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Are you about to install macos high sierra or later on the disk. How to fix external hard drive io device error 3 solutions. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows.
Its a good idea to backup your data for your mac using time machine. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. One way to do this is to convert the raw hard drive to ntfs using the cmd command method. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. Cannot format my external hard drive so i try to do so, and windows tells me that theres a program using the external drive. Mac external hard drive not mounting or is unrecognized. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. Formatting an external hard drive i cant get my external hard driver to format, the window says it cant be formatted, so can somebody please help me to get this formatted. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. To deal with the raw external hard drive issue, there might be the need to format the drive to turn the raw files to ntfs.
How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Before you trash your drive, it is also worth restarting the mac. From there, try selecting the highest level of that disk, and try to erase it. Exfat may have some limitations that cause problems it depends. Feb 03, 2020 are you formatting the disk that came built into your mac. Click on the first aid button, or rightclick the external hard drive and choose first aid from the options.
Note that you should replace f with the letter of your external drive, which you can see in my computerthis pc wait for chkdsk to complete the scan, and give you the report. Are you formatting the disk that came built into your mac. There will be two lines corresponding to the drive. Click start button and search commond, then rightclick one it and afterward press run as administrator. Here in this article, we provide seagate users with workable troubleshooting guide and data recovery solution. Choose 1 partition from the volume scheme and then click on options. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system answer id 291 a western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Formatting failed external drives for mac wd community. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. When you connect an external hard drive to mac, it mounts and shows up. Error message when formatting a new drive external.
For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. I plug it in, the light is on, but unless i toggle it a bit it wont see the the external drive. Apr 14, 2020 select the external hard drive at the left side. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data.
Error message when formatting a new drive external drives for mac. Primary id channel, device 0 is used for system disk so dont change that. This way will erase all data on wd external hard drive. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. The computer recognize its existence on the f drive and disk management says the status is healthy primary partition but it will not format. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with mac and windows. When you get a new hard drive, it may already be formatted for windows or mac. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. I have tried to reformat a new wd 4tb external usb it arrived ntfs shocker.
Wd quick formatter failed in formatting external drive. Apr 14, 2020 if your seagate external hard drive has only one partition that is recognized, you can use this pc. Besides, if you plan to resell the external drive, hard drive or partition erase is also available with wipe hard drive or wipe partition functions. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Sep 19, 2014 she has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive.
Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Be sure to choose your wd elements drive at the top level. If there was any issue with the drive, chkdsk will most likely fix it and tell you when its done. Wd external hard drive wont format what should i do. The loyal external hard drive may not show up or mount in finder. Hi all, i have having problems in regards the process of formatting my external harddrive. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.