#FORMATTING DRIVES FOR MAC AND PC HOW TO#
#FORMATTING DRIVES FOR MAC AND PC WINDOWS 10#
#FORMATTING DRIVES FOR MAC AND PC PC#

GPT is a newer format supporting larger capacities but isn’t compatible with older versions of Windows. The former is older and only supports capacities up to 2TB, but is compatible with older versions of Windows. If you see an Initialize Disk pop-up window, it provides two formats: Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT). Even more, it won’t have an assigned drive letter in File Explorer (This PC), and may not even have allocated space for saving data. That means it’s not formatted correctly to work with Windows.

However, you may encounter a “Not Initialized” error when connecting the device to your PC. Typically, external drives are formatted out of the box.

#FORMATTING DRIVES FOR MAC AND PC WINDOWS 10#

Windows 10 lists optical drives differently. Windows 10 typically lists an external drive as Disk 2 along with the next successive alphabetic label if you don’t have any other internal disk-based storage.

#FORMATTING DRIVES FOR MAC AND PC PC#

If your PC has a secondary “data” drive (D:), Disk Management assigns it as Disk 0. Your PC’s primary boot drive (C:) hosting Windows and other programs appears as Disk 1. Step 1: Right-click on the Start button and select Disk Management on the Power User menu. The process is less straightforward in Windows than what you see on a Mac, but it’s now easier than ever. But let’s go through the important steps you need to know to quickly partition the drive while working on Windows.

#FORMATTING DRIVES FOR MAC AND PC HOW TO#

We have a full guide on how to complete the process from Windows 10 here. Partition the drive on Windows 10 Bill Roberson/Digital Trends We have guides for Windows and MacOS in case you need a helping hand. Make sure you back up anything important before beginning the formatting process. It’s not the ideal solution - we get it - but it works nonetheless.īefore digging in, select a primary format you’ll use the most: MacOS Extended if you primarily use Mac with a secondary exFAT partition, or NTFS if you mainly use Windows 10 with a secondary exFAT partition.įinally, formatting deletes all data stored on the drive. That said, our guide splits the external drive in half: One primary section capable of storing files larger than 4GB, and a secondary section capable of sharing files between MacOS and Windows 10. If you want to save larger files, you’ll need to create a second, dedicated space using a format optimized for MacOS (Extended) or Windows 10 (NTFS). That puts you in a peculiar pickle, limiting any shared file between the two platforms at 4GB or smaller. Meanwhile, the NTFS system used by Windows 10 supports large files, but this format can’t be read natively by MacOS. However, this format doesn’t support larger files, which can be problematic for transferring 4K videos and so on between Macs and Windows 10 PCs. It’s a simpler, universal method if every file you store is less than 4GB in size. It’s a split, niche scenarioĪ quick Google search may lead you to believe you’re on the right path by formatting the entire drive with Extensible File Allocation Table, or exFAT. Both computers have the necessary tools to help you partition a new drive once you have it connected.

In this case, you can partition your drive so that part of it works properly with MacOS and part of it works properly with Windows.

You can “partition” your hard drive, or divide it into different sections with different rules and functions. Today, if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between the two is an often demoralizing task.įortunately, there is a solution. Fitbit Versa 3Ĭompatibility issues between Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s MacOS have diminished sharply over the years, but that doesn’t mean those issues have completely disappeared.

Formatting drives for mac and pc