How to Format an External Drive in OS X

Connect the drive to the Mac.
Open Disk Utility. ...
Select the drive you want to format.
Click Erase.
Give the drive a descriptive name and leave the default settings: OS X Extended format and GUID partition map. ...
Click Erase and OS X will format the drive.

How do I completely format an external hard drive?
How do I format my external hard drive for Mac and PC?
What is the best format for a Mac external hard drive?
How do I format an extended OSX?
Do you have to format an external hard drive?
What is the best format for an external hard drive?
How do I make my external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without formatting?
Do I need to format external hard drive for Mac?
Why can't I format my external hard drive?
What format is Mac hard drive?
Which is better NTFS or exFAT?
Is Apfs better than Mac OS Journaled?

How do I completely format an external hard drive?

To reformat a drive on Windows:

Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer.
Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu.
Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under Volume label, and make sure the Quick Format box is checked.
Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.

How do I format my external hard drive for Mac and PC?

Right click on the external hard drive. Select "Format" from the context menu. When prompted by the system, click "OK" to proceed and then "OK" again to confirm your choice.

What is the best format for a Mac external hard drive?

The Best Format for External Hard Drives

If you want to format your external hard drive to work with Mac and Windows computers, you should use exFAT. With exFAT, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years.

How do I format an extended OSX?

How to format your drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on macOS 11 (Big Sur) and later

Open Disk Utility. ...
Click View in the upper left and select Show All Devices.
Select the non-indented entry, you will see Media in the name.
Click the button labeled Erase in the menu which will bring up this window.

Do you have to format an external hard drive?

No and yes. It depends on your need. If you use it to move files between Mac OS, Windows, Android, and Linux you may need to use FAT32 which is compatible with all. It has limitations but most external drives come preformatted this way so this would be the no formatting required part of the answer.

What is the best format for an external hard drive?

If you want to use your external drive with Windows machines only, NTFS is a fine choice and probably the best option overall. However, if you need to use the drive beyond the confines of the modern Windows ecosystem, it's better to go with exFAT instead.

How do I make my external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC without formatting?

Try to repair the read-only external hard drive with or without formatting.

Solution 1: Using NTFS for Mac tool.
Solution 2: Enable NTFS read-write with Terminal (not recommend)
Solution 3: Format this external hard drive to exFAT/FAT32.
Solution 1: Change the permission of this external hard drive.

Do I need to format external hard drive for Mac?

Format an External Hard Drive. External hard drives use either spinning disks or solid memory to save your files. On Mac computers, use the Finder app to browse and manage files on your computer and external hard drives. Before a hard drive can read or write data, it must first be formatted, or erased and reconfigured.

Why can't I format my external hard drive?

There are several reasons why the external HDD won't format problem may occur, this include: Malware or virus infection. Missing or damaged DLL, SYS, or EXE files. Incorrect drive format.

What format is Mac hard drive?

As mentioned before, Macs can only read NTFS-formatted hard drives by default. If you want to write to NTFS formatted hard drives in Mac OS X, you're going to need the help of a third-party driver.

Which is better NTFS or exFAT?

Maximum file size 4 GB and partition size 8 TB. ... FAT32 is an older type of file system which is not as efficient as NTFS. exFAT is a modern replacement for FAT 32, and more devices and OS support it than NTFS, but i not as widespread as FAT32. NTFS is the most modern file system.

Is Apfs better than Mac OS Journaled?

Newer macOS installations should use APFS by default, and if you're formatting an external drive, APFS is the faster and better option for most users. Mac OS Extended (or HFS+) is still a good option for older drives, but only if you plan on using it with a Mac or for Time Machine backups.