When you attach a storage disk to a Mac with the purpose of erasing or repartitioning it, you'll be presented with the option of selecting one of the three available partition maps: GUID Partition Map, Master Boot Record, and Apple Partition Map. In this article we will explain what a partition scheme is and which one to pick when formatting a drive.

Select OS X Extended (Journaled) for Format 6. Select GUID Partition Map for Scheme Note: If you do not see the scheme option, then you have selected the volume and not the drive. Click on the view button in the upper left-hand side, change to Show All Devices. Select the non-indented entry for your Seagate drive.

What Is a Partition?

• NTFS: As the default file system in Windows, it can only read by Mac OS, writing to it is not available. Luckily, there are third-party tools to help you do so. Part 2: Format External Hard Drive for Mac with Disk Utility. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it.
• Then click the second partition, name it 'Mac,' and change its format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Give your settings a final lookover and click Apply. Step 2: Plug the hard drive into your.
• How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac. Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work.
• Western Digital (WD) portable hard drives are really helpful. They offer high capacity storage, universal connectivity and are also compatible with USB 3.0 and 2.0. If you want the WD external hard drive to work on your Mac or PC, you need to format it first. So, if you are looking for how to format your WD drive, you are on the right page.

The fixed-sized subset of a disk drive treated as an individual unit by the operating system (in our case macOS) is defined as a partition. On every drive there are multiple partitions, and for this you will need a partition table or partition map – maintained by the operating system – to detail the status of the partitions.

Download CleanMyMac X from MacPaw’s website and clean up to 500MB of junk data from your computer while enjoying all the features of the software without major limitations.

GUID Partition Map

This is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a storage disk using globally unique identifiers (GUIDs). As part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) standard, GUID is a bootable standard for systems with EFI firmware such as macOS. Non-Intel Macs won't support this bootable standard, hence the only option available to them is the Apple Partition Map (APM).

Apple Partition Map

Used on disks formatted for use with 68k and PowerPC Macs, the Apple Partition Map is the scheme that defines how the data is organized. Starting with OS X Tiger, both APM and GUID partitions can be used for accessing volumes, but PowerPC-based Macs can only boot from APM disks. While Intel-based Macs generally boot from a GUID Partition Table, they are all able to start the operating system from APM and Master Boot Record (MBR) using the BIOS-Emulation called EFI-CSM.

Master Boot Record

Introduced by IBM in 1983 to support the 10MB hard disk, the Master Boot Record is a type of boot sector developed for use with IBM PC systems. It is currently used for Windows partitions formatted as MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT.

Choosing a Partition Map

Now you know which partitioning map is which, the next time you insert an external drive or want to partition the built-in storage disk of the Mac, it will be easier to choose between the available options.

When formatting or erasing a volume with Disk Utility, you'll see a format menu prompt asking you to choose from:

• Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)
• Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
• Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
• MS-DOS (FAT)
• ExFAT
• APFS (macOS High Sierra’s new file system)
• APFS (Encrypted)
• APFS (Case-sensitive)
• APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted).

Be aware that APFS is compatible only with macOS High Sierra and higher, so earlier versions of OS X or macOS won't mount an APFS volume. If you want maximum reach, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the right choice.

Below the file system format, the Disk Utility dialog box will list another contextual menu, the partition map scheme, which gives you another great tool to create targeted volumes. If you are looking to format a disk that will be shared with Windows users, the MBR scheme and MS-DOS (FAT) are the best choices. For drives used with Intel-based Macs only, the GUID Partition Map should the option to go for.

If you don't see the partition map scheme option, it is likely because Disk Utility doesn't list all volumes. This will prohibit Disk Utility from erasing the disk and show you an error message. To address this issue, you should click on the View button located in the top-left side of the Disk Utility dialog box and select “Show All Volumes”. From that point on, Disk Utility will ask for your partition map preference, and the formatting process will be smoother.

Best Mac Optimization Software of 2020

Get the Best Deals on Mac Optimization Software

Stay up to date on the latest tech news and discounts on Mac optimization software with our monthly newsletter.

There are many reasons why you may want to format an external HDD or small flash drive. For instance:

• You brought a new unformatted hard drive
• If the drive is not properly formatted, it won’t work
• You want to use your external hard drive in both MAC, PC and Linux (use FAT32)
• Before you sell your SDcard or Pendrive, you should format it to erase its data
• Your camera’s SD card (FAT32) can only hold a file up to 4GB file. To get larger file size format it to exFAT.

Warming: Formating a drive, also erase its data. Although you can still get it back, but it’s much harder after formatting. So if you can’t afford losing you data, take backup.

Which Format to choose?

Choosing a right file system is a bit tricky, so here are some pros and cons of all file system.

NTFS: This is windows propriety file system. Most external drives come preformatted in NTFS so that they can be used easily with Windows. However, NTFS drives are read only in MAC, but you can get write access by using software like NTFS-3g. It also works in Linux. And to support NTFS on Android use Stick mount or Paragon NTFS, HFS and exFAT.

HFS+: This MAC propriety file system and is used in iOS and MAC. If you format your external hard drive to HFS, you can use it on MAC and Linux (by removing journaling). However, to use it on Windows you can HFS explorer (read only).

ext4: This is a default file system for linux OS (including Raspberry Pi). To read an ext4 drive on Windows, you can Ext2Read and OSXfuse for MAC. However, I have not really use this format much, so we just skip it.

FAT32: This oldest file system and work with all OS i.e. Windows, MAC, Linux, Android, even TV, and PS3 etc. This is why it’s used in all small flash drive. Although it lacks all modern features and comes with 4 GB limit for single file size.

exFAT: is the extended version of exFAT. It works fine with Windows and MAC (all the modern version). For Android, you can use Stick mount app (root needed). However being a windows propriety file system, it does not play well in open source environment. But unlike FAT32, it does not have 4GB limit for single file size. Thus making it ideal for SDcards of the high-end camera.

How to Format an External Hard drive or Pen drive

Now that we know the good and bad about every file system, let see how to format a drive in Windows, MAC, and Linux.

Windows

Formatting a drive on Windows is quite simple. Plug in your external HDD to the USB port of your computer> then go to my computer > find your external drive > right-click it > and select format.

A new window will open, select the desired file system, keep the allocation unit size to default and check mark quick format (or it will take more time). Once done hit the format button and that’s it. Within seconds, you will have your drive in the new format.

Note: While formatting a pen drive you will see FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS as the available file system. However for external HDD you won’t see the FAT32 (windows don’t suggest fat32 for bigger drives) However to get other format option you can use third-party software.

MAC

Start by connecting your external HDD to MAC’s USB port. Under the finder men, go to Go > utilities > Disk Utility or type disk utility in the spotlight and hit enter.

Once under disk utility. Select your external HDD on the left side and then select partition option.

Now in the Partition area, click under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition. Then, click on Options. A new window will open, here select Master Boot Record and then click Ok.

Now in the right side of windows, give a name to your drive, from the drop-down select desired file system format. Make sure the size is set to an entire volume of your external drive. And once done, click on Apply.

Note: Here you will also see an option to format a large hard drive to FAT32 which is not available in Windows.

See this animated gif (Imgur)

Linux

Unlike windows and MAC, Linux does not a have built-in partition tool. So, you will have ti install a GUI tool called GParted and then plug in your external drive in the computer.

Open your terminal and type in the following command to install GParterd.

sudo apt-get install gparted

Once installed, type the following command to launch the program.

sudo gparted

A new window will open. Click on the top right side, select the volume you want to format.

Once you see the volume you want to format, right click on the block and select format > choose the file system you want > and click OK to confirm.

Note: Since, I am running Linux in a virtual machine, in final step my Format to option is not highlighted, But in your case, you will be able to click it and select the file system you to format in. To see the final step, I suggest you check out this howtogeek article.

Format Mac Hdd On Pc

Android

Format For Mac

Say you don’t have any computer with you, now can you still format your external HDD? Well, if you have an Android (ROOT) then yes, you can still format your drive to popular formats like NTFS and HFS.

To do this, install Paragon exFAT, NTFS & HFS+ from Play store. The main function of this application is to mount NTFS or HFS formatted HDD on Android, but there is another useful option hidden under settings — i.e. formatting a drive.

Hdd Format For Mac Os 10.13

Once installed, open the app, mount your drive and then go to the settings, There select the new file system for your drive, give it a name and hit format.