
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC HOW TO#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC MAC OS X#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC INSTALL#
- #HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC WINDOWS 8#
Type diskpart into the Command Prompt window and press Enter.

#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC WINDOWS 8#
To do this on Windows 8 or Windows 7, press the Windows key once, type cmd, and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Next, open a Command Prompt window as administrator. For example, in the screenshot below, the Mac-formatted drive is Disk 2. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. This process erases everything on the disk, including its files and all its partitions. To erase this partition, we’ll have to wipe the entire disk.

This partition is marked as protected, so you can’t just right-click and delete it - the delete option will be disabled. The Mac drive may have an “EFI System Partition” on it. You can then right-click in the empty space and select New Simple Volume to create a partition and format it with the Windows NTFS or FAT32 file systems. If you’re lucky, you can just right-click each partition on the Mac drive and select Delete Volume to remove the partitions. Be sure you’ve identified the Mac drive - if you accidentally delete partitions from another drive, you could damage your Windows installation or lose your files. Locate the Mac drive in the list of disks. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer - internal ones or external ones connected via USB. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type diskmgmt.msc into the box, and press Enter to open it.

RELATED: Understanding Hard Drive Partitioning with Disk Managementįirst, open the Windows Disk Management tool. You’ll probably want to uninstall Java when you’re done.Įrase the Mac Partitions, Including the EFI System Partition
#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC INSTALL#
HFSExplorer unfortunately requires you install Java to use it, but it’s the only free option here. If you only have Windows systems available, you can use HFSExplorer to copy files from the drive onto your Windows system drive or another drive. If you have a Mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a Mac and back up the files. Instead, we’ll just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. This process won’t actually convert the file system. Fifth St., Los Angeles CA 90071 or call (213) 228-7555.First, back up the data on the Mac-formatted drive if you have anything important on it.
#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC HOW TO#

#HOW TO FORMAT HARD DRIVE MAC AND PC MAC OS X#
You must have Mac OS X 10.6.5 or newer, and PCs need to be Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, or newer. exFAT is not compatible with older operating systems. Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB.ĮxFAT was introduced in 2006 and has very large limits on file and partition sizes, allowing you to store files much larger than the 4 GB allowed by FAT32. Flash drives you purchase will often come formatted with FAT32 for maximum compatibility across not just modern computers, but other devices like game consoles and anything with a USB port. Before you begin the digitization process, make sure that your USB or external hard drive is formatted in FAT32 or exFAT following the instructions below.įAT32 is the de-facto standard file system that works between PC and Mac operating systems since 1995.
