Format new hard drive for mac os x

Either way, youll need your mac os x installation dvd that came with your apple system, as youll be booting your computer from this disk to reformat your internal drive. The original mac floppy disk format was mfs, for macintosh file system, and it is only used for 400k singlesided floppies the only kind of floppy drive supported by the original macintosh, the mac 512k fat mac, and the lisa 2 a. Troubleshooting erasing your hard drive or reinstalling macos. Rightclick the new hard drive and select the format option. This may be apfs, or it may be mac os extended journaled depending on how the drive is currently formatted and whether you using macos. Even though most people associate formatting with system installation, there are many other reasons why you might want to format your hard drive. Are you formatting the disk that came built into your mac. It is professional partition magic which is designed to optimize partition and disk use. Power on the computer while holding down the option key. For instructions on how to format a drive in mac os 10.

Clone bootable apple mac hard drive from disk utility mac os sierra 2017 duration. Follow the instructions that appear on screen, license agreements and all, and choose the hard drive to use in. Ntfs, fat, and all derivatives of fat are only for msbased operating systems. What disk utility looks like in lion through yosemite. The msdos fat32 or exfat volume formats are compatible with windows. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. When trying to save large files in final cut pro, the hard drive would save numerous files with none over 2gb in size. If the builtin disk came apfsformatted, dont change it to mac os extended. After you connect an external drive to your mac, open the applications folder from the finder window. Installing a clean copy of os x macos on your new drive.

The below steps can be used to format mac internal hard drives, external hard drives or usb flash drives. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. If it says guid partition table, you can format the drive by selecting mac os x extended journaled in the format popup menu, giving the drive a name, and then clicking erase. Learn more about erasing hard disks on mac from apple. When you get a new hard drive, it may already be formatted for windows or mac. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. 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. Usually this is reserved for more advanced users, as a clean install means the hard drive is formatted and completely erased, removing the existing mac operating system, and erasing all contents, data, files, applications everything from the mac is completely removed. Most external hard drives and usb drives are compatible for use on mac computers as long as you format the devices for use with mac os x. Both mac os x and windows allow users to format their hard drives using builtin utilities. Use the file system dropdown menu, and select ntfs recommended. Click on the partition button and wait until the volumes mount on the desktop. Apple is targeting a final release in 2017, and your macs system driveand the drives inside iphones, ipads, apple tvs, and apple watchesshould automatically convert to apfs at that point.

In earlier os versions, quitting disk utility will take you back to the installer. Continue using this guide to format the disk as an afps volume, however if a mac os extended journaled volume is desired you may now stop. Launch disk utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. 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. If you dont create a bootable drive for macos catalina, you may have to install an older mac operating system first and then upgrade to macos catalina afterward. Quit out of the disk utility app, and this time choose reinstall os x and continue. 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.

Just follow these steps to format and erase your hard drives on mac. In the value label field, type a descriptive name for the drive. To format a hard drive, you can take advantage of a piece of thirdparty software. Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a name for the drive. 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. After the nonstartup drive is erased, you can jump to the section titled, clean install of macos sierra. The ssd has now been formatted as a mac os extended journaled volume named macos. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. After installing the new hard drive will i be able to boot with command r or will i have to boot from a dvd. Then proceed to highlight your computers hard drive. How to install mac osx sierra on a new hard drive ifixit.

The new apple file system is currently experimental. Formatting hard drive in any operating system is not a complicated procedure, and its the same with mac os x. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support asean. How to format external hard drives on a mac sweetwater. While os x can read and write to fatbased filesystems, ntfs is read only on. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. Floppy disk compatibility and incompatibility in the mac. How to format a hard drive with ease in windows 1087. Make your mac feel like new again with a fresh install of os x. These drives had a variable speed motor that allowed the mac to pack 400k into a disk that would only hold 360 kb on a fixedspeed drive. Use the disk utility application to erase the drive.

How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. For now, the only reason to format a drive with apfs is to experiment with it. How to install os x or macos onto a new blank hard drive. The previous defunct hd was also fat32, which i did not realize upon receiving and using.

Click the erase tab, choose a volume format from the dropdown menu and then type a. The mac os x extended volume format is optimal for macs. Once youve formatted the drive, you can close disk utility. In this tutorial i will go through all steps you need to follow in order to format your entire hard drive or just a. In this video we look at the process of formatting a hard drive, flash drive, or ssd on an apple computer. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the new disk.

Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy. How to create a bootable installer for macos catalina. Select the volume you just created this is the subentry under the drive entry from the left side list. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. If you selected the drive name instead of its description you wont see the scheme option. If you dont see this option, try typing create and format hard disk partitions into start. How to format a drive with the apfs file system on macos.

Weve shown you how to securely wipe a hard drive with your mac, and doing so in recovery mode isnt really different from doing so within macos. How to wipe your mac and reinstall macos from scratch. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. It has many powerful features, such as migrate os to ssd, clone disk and so on. When prompted, select the mac os extended journaled format. But both of them cant format the hard drive which the mac os is installed on because the mac system doesnt allow other software to destroy the system. Preliminary steps for a clean install on a mac startup drive follow the instructions for how to make a bootable flash installer of os x or macos. The disk utility application is located in the utilities subfolder. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac.

If you desire encryption, then select mac os extended journaled, encrypted format instead. One of the major limitations of this format is that its not able to write files larger than 4gb, which can be quite a setback. This is the new file system that apple bought to macs with high sierra and it will be. But formatting a drive so that it can be used as your macs startup drive requires a slightly. 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. Depending on how you started recovery mode, you may be presented with the option to start disk utility right away, as seen above.

If you already have your new mac on hand, you can transfer all of your data from your old mac or use an older time machine backup. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. With the new hd, i want to get off on the right foot, to format for my mac.

Now in this interface, you will see a format option. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. The two hard drive formatting software for mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under mac os. Learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. How do i install and format new hard drive in mid2012 macbook pro. Youll use os xs disk utility app to format the drive. Disk utility will automatically choose the format for you. Tutorial how to format hard drive on your mac os x the. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Some mac users like to perform a clean install when a new operating system is released.

Fortunately disk utility, built right into macos, can help. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Thus, the professional partition manager minitool partition wizard is recommended. How to restore os x macbook pro in new hard drive youtube. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Connect your mac to the internet via wifi or ethernet. How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Usb drives and external hard drives on macos catalina are used for storing and backing up important data such as photos, videos, audios, images, notes, messages, music. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. The current 160gb hard drive is running fine, its just full. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Click your hard drives name in the window near the bottom of the screen.