Disk Utility User Guide
Disk Utility on Mac supports several file system formats:
Then you can follow the steps as below to format USB drive for Mac and Windows on a Windows PC. Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition by clicking the following button. Install and launch it to get its main interface. Right-click the drive you want to format and select Format Partition from the left. Once you have done with formatting, the drive will be compatible to be read and written to on both a Mac and PC, and the resulting FAT file system is compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, and Windows, including Windows 10, it's one of the most widely recognized and usable file system formats. 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 a drive using Disk Utility on a Mac. Launch Disk Utility (Applications Utilities). Select your external hard drive or USB flash drive from the list on the left. Click on the Erase tab. Select the format – Mac OS Extended (HFS+), MS-DOS (FAT32), or exFAT – then name the drive.
- The overwhelming majority of USB flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats: FAT32 or NTFS. The first format, FAT32, is fully compatible with Mac OS X, though with some drawbacks.
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)
Mac Hard Drive Format Options
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.
Apple File System (APFS)
Mac Hard Drive Format Options
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): 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): 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.
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.
Whats new mac catalina. 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
Choose one of the following Windows-compatible file system formats if you are formatting a disk to use with Windows.
MS-DOS (FAT): Use for Windows volumes that are 32 GB or less.
ExFAT: Use for Windows volumes that are over 32 GB.
How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
The Windows drive in your Dell itself will be in NTFS format. As standard a Mac can read NTFS but cannot format or write to NTFS. I have no idea what format the Lacie will initially come as but for arguments sake lets say it will be HFS+ which is the standard format used by Macs. As standard Windows cannot read or write to HFS+ drives.
It is possible to format a hard disk on a Mac (or a PC) as an ExFAT format. This format is both readable and writeable by both Mac and PCs. It cannot be used as a boot drive on either, nor can it be used as a Time Machine backup drive by a Mac. ExFAT is however fine for use as a transfer drive.
It is possible to get additional software for the Mac to allow it to format and read/write to NTFS volumes. See https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
It is possible to get additional software for Windows to allow it to format and read/write to HFS+ volumes. Seehttp://www.mediafour.com/software/macdrive/
Seagate a maker of hard disks have done a deal with Paragon Software as listed above. This deal means a Seagate drive comes already formatted as NTFS and includes a 'free' copy of the Paragon software to all your Mac to read and write to that NTFS drive. See http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/item/ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-maste r-dl/
I would be a little concerned over the above 'free' copy of the Paragon software in that a) is this still valid?, and b) is the version of the software up-to-date so that it still works in El Capitan on a Mac. Older versions of the software will not work in El Capitan.
A different approach you could consider is using Apple's 'Migration Assistant' software to transfer files over a computer network between the Mac and Windows PC. See Move your data from a Windows PC to a Mac - Apple Support and Windows Migration Assistant v1.0.5.7 the concern here is that this tool does not appear to have been updated for Windows 10, it may or may not work therefore in Windows 10.
Jun 22, 2016 5:21 AM
