How to Format Hard Drive for Mac and PC on Mac? Just like Windows, macOS also gives us a seamless option to format the hard drives for Mac (and PC). The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as Disk Utility. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. In this video tutorial, I show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a Mac and a PC. If you run into the issue of not having enough.
- Format External Hard Drive Mac
- Format Hard Drive Mac Os
- How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
- Hard Drive Format Compatible With Mac And Pc
Disk Utility User Guide
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Format External Hard Drive Mac
Disk Utility on Mac supports several file system formats:
- Apple File System (APFS): The file system used by macOS 10.13 or later.
- Mac OS Extended: The file system used by macOS 10.12 or earlier.
- MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT: File systems that are compatible with Windows.
Apple File System (APFS)
Apple File System (APFS), the default file system for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later, features strong encryption, space sharing, snapshots, fast directory sizing, and improved file system fundamentals. While APFS is optimized for the Flash/SSD storage used in recent Mac computers, it can also be used with older systems with traditional hard disk drives (HDD) and external, direct-attached storage. macOS 10.13 or later supports APFS for both bootable and data volumes.
APFS allocates disk space within a container on demand. The disk’s free space is shared and can be allocated to any of the individual volumes in the container as needed. If desired, you can specify reserve and quota sizes for each volume. Each volume uses only part of the overall container, so the available space is the total size of the container, minus the size of all the volumes in the container.
Choose one of the following APFS formats for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later.
- APFS: Uses the APFS format.
- APFS (Encrypted): Uses the APFS format and encrypts the volume.
- APFS (Case-sensitive): Virtual desktop for mac free download. Uses the APFS format and is case-sensitive to file and folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.
- APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted): Reduce image size without losing quality mac. Uses the APFS format, is case-sensitive to file and folder names, and encrypts the volume. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.
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You can easily add or delete volumes in APFS containers. Each volume within an APFS container can have its own APFS format—APFS, APFS (Encrypted), APFS (Case-sensitive), or APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted).
Mac OS Extended
Choose one of the following Mac OS Extended file system formats for compatibility with Mac computers using macOS 10.12 or earlier.
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Uses the Mac format (Journaled HFS Plus) to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system.
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted): Uses the Mac format, requires a password, and encrypts the partition.
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): Uses the Mac format and is case-sensitive to folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted): Uses the Mac format, is case-sensitive to folder names, requires a password, and encrypts the partition.
Windows-compatible formats
Format Hard Drive Mac Os
Choose one of the following Windows-compatible file system formats if you are formatting a disk to use with Windows.
How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
- MS-DOS (FAT): Use for Windows volumes that are 32 GB or less.
- ExFAT: Use for Windows volumes that are over 32 GB.
Hard Drive Format Compatible With Mac And Pc
See alsoPartition schemes available in Disk Utility on MacAbout Disk Utility on Mac