- #HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC AND PC LARGE FILES FOR FREE#
- #HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC AND PC LARGE FILES MAC OS#
Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work. Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it. From that point on, Disk Utility will ask for your partition map preference, and the formatting process will be smoother. Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it. 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”. This will prohibit Disk Utility from erasing the disk and show you an error message. If you don't see the partition map scheme option, it is likely because Disk Utility doesn't list all volumes.
For drives used with Intel-based Macs only, the GUID Partition Map should the option to go for. 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.
#HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC AND PC LARGE FILES MAC OS#
If you want maximum reach, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the right choice.īelow 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. APFS ( macOS High Sierra’s new file system)īe 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.Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted).Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).When formatting or erasing a volume with Disk Utility, you'll see a format menu prompt asking you to choose from:
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. It is currently used for Windows partitions formatted as MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT. 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.
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. 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. 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. Non-Intel Macs won't support this bootable standard, hence the only option available to them is the Apple Partition Map (APM). As part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) standard, GUID is a bootable standard for systems with EFI firmware such as macOS. This is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a storage disk using globally unique identifiers (GUIDs).
#HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC AND PC LARGE FILES FOR FREE#
Clean 500MB of Junk for Free GUID Partition Map