Mar 12, 2020 connect the usb flash drive or other volume that youre using for the bootable installer. To format a usb flash drive, simply plug the drive into your mac, and choose it from disk utilitys sidebar menu. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. The file format has to be mac os x journaled and you have to use the guid partition map. Disk utility to create a bootable macosos x installer. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Rightclick or controlclick the drives icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. Just launch the disk utility, rightclick or controlclick the drive containing your apfs partition, and select erase. Open the finder window and navigate to applications install macos sierra.
Download hard drive format software for mac and use it to. How to erase a disk from command line in mac os x osxdaily. How to create a bootable installer for macos apple support. Apr 26, 2016 the easiest way to format a disk in mac os x is using disk utility. When you do that, you should see at least four icons. How to format hard drive exfat on windows 10 in three steps. If partitioning a drive with disk utility gives you unmount or resource busy errors, there may be workarounds you can use. Force an external mac drive to mount via command line terminal commands in mac os x duration. Feb 21, 2020 for apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. Type or paste one of the following commands in terminal. Jul 12, 2017 just launch the disk utility, rightclick or controlclick the drive containing your apfs partition, and select erase.
With mac os extended journaled format, you can setup os x startup drive. One interesting feature of os x extended is that it is casesensitive, i. The command line approach to disk erasure in macos is a bit different and it requires precise syntax to insure that you are erasing the proper disk, making this method of erasing any disk only. How to format a drive with the apfs file system on macos. You can skip the o option and use the o capital letter o to write save output to a local file named like the remote file we get. Sep 12, 2019 when you format a partition or drive in windows 10, there are three types of file system you wont be unfamiliar, ntfs, fat32 and exfat. How to format a disk to ntfs using mac os x ask different. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. Here are two outstanding mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on. Youll see the drives file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata.
How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus. The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os. You can still use the software to format a startup driveits similar to the steps in the previous. Format external driveusb exfat in windows 10 in simple steps. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup.
Owc ben m recently, some owc customers have reported experiencing a situation where their new ssd will not show up in disk utility in high sierra. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Starting with os x lion, apple did away with dvds and other media as a method of installing software and switched to a download model instead. You can use this drive to reinstall the os on a freshly formatted drive. Refer to detailed steps of using both tools for fat32 format. Please note that all data on selected partition or volume will be lost. To do this, open disk utility and connect the drive to your mac. Jan 02, 2016 either way, youll want to format your drive accordingly. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with. Some suggested to download and older version of diskmaker x, and then first upgrade to mavericks osx with the older versions of diskmaker x is not allowed to create bootable. Install, boot, and run mac os x from an external hard drive. Not only this, we will help you pick the best file system for your usb flash drive that you are planning to use on a mac. Step 2 choose your connected external hard drive as the bootable media, and click start. This will completely wipe the drive, deleting all the files on it and converting it to whatever file system you choose.
Format is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solidstate drive, or usb flash drive for initial use to accept windows files. Although disk utility should always be tried first, a macs terminal can be used to format the drive in these cases. The most recommendable way to create a bootable install usb drive for mac os is using createinstallmedia command with terminal application. In this guide, we show you virtually every method to format a usb flash drive and quickly erase its contents or fix data corruption and other issues using windows 10s builtin tools. The use of sudo is required to get superuser privileges to actually install the updates. A clean installation of macos can speed up your mac and rid it of problems. Before the formatting, remember to back your drive data up. Once you have found the proper drive to erase, just copy its identifier so you can use it for the next command. How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra. Here are the methods to create a bootable usb drive on mac. If you do not have the install macos sierra app in the applications folder, then you might have already upgraded to macos sierra. The hard drive in my early2007 macbook cracked, and i had to get a new one.
Apple really, really wants you to download apps from the app store so theyve. How to format a startup drive for a mac if you want to format a drive that will be used as your macs startup disk, the procedure is a little different from formatting it for use as a secondary. And we can use it to format the usb on mac as well. The first thing youre going to need to do is format the external hard drive properly. Learn more for more information about the createinstallmedia command and the arguments that you can use with it, make sure that the macos installer is in your applications folder, then enter this path in terminal. This will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If you are having trouble with the disk utility app for erasing or formatting a drive, you can try using the command line in terminal to erase or. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. Even so, its still easy to create a usb installation disk for os x lion if you want to install lion on a freshly formatted hard drive, if youre in an emergency booting situation, or if you need to repair your macs hard drive. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk. Whilst the process of downloading and installing an os through the mac app store is straightforward enough, its painful for people with a slower internet connection, or if theyve multiple macs in their home.
Click the erase button and confirm again on the next popup window, this will erase all data on the drive and format it to be compatible. Or use the os x installation disc that came with your machine or buy a new one to boot up and install os x on your macs hard drive. Open terminal, which is in the utilities folder of your applications folder. Unfortunately, disk utility in macos high sierra doesnt make that option easy to find. This format will allow you to use your flash drive on mac without any limitations. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. How to download full macos installer applications from terminal. I have the new hard drive, and understand how to put the the physical drive into the computer, but im not sure how to reinstall osx lion without having a disk to reinstall from.
Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Formatting an external drive on your mac is quite easy, though it isnt as evident and obvious as it is on a pc. How to format a new internal ssd in macos high sierra tuesday, november 28th, 2017 author. Download hard drive format software for mac and use it to format hard drive on mac. In my case, i have five because i have windows installed using boot camp. It is better than os x recovery as you dont have to download the 5gb. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under mac os.
I havent tried this one, but it should also do the job. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. What disk utility looks like in lion through yosemite. How to make a windows 10 usb using your mac build a. The first thing to do is to download the mac operating system that you. You will receive a requirement of formatting the device.
Formatting a drive so you can install and boot macos requires the guid partition map. How to clean install macos catalina and older versions. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Working with terminal start off by running the following command in the command line. Mac os extended journaled this format is considered as default file system format of the mac os x drives. Terminal, bootable usb, sierra osx apple community. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Fat32 is most compatible file system format that can be readandwrite in many. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. This simple guide will teach you how to format a flash drive on mac. Proceed and follow the next steps for creating bootable usb drive. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os, a task which is typically performed through the disk utility application from the gui.
Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. This guide covers how to format a hard drive using macos. Then proceed to highlight your computers hard drive. We also have a command line disk utility interface in mac. Probably both programs has same problem with lion osx.
All external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box. Dec 01, 2017 force an external mac drive to mount via command line terminal commands in mac os x duration. Formatting a disk to msdos fat32 from the command line in mac os x. You can select to use a fat, fat32, exfat, ntfs, or refs file system when formatting. To erase a disk from the command line on the mac, well use the familiar diskutil. Step 3 wait for a while, and recoverit will format your drive and start creating the bootable media. How to format an os x terminal hard disk small business. Either way, youll want to format your drive accordingly. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility.
How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. You can format a drive in os x using two applications. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Its recommended to use this format whenever you need to use an external drive with os x only.
Verify and repair disk permissions via terminal mac os x. Some suggested to download and older version of diskmaker x, and then first upgrade to mavericks osx with the older versions of diskmaker x is not allowed to create bootable usb for sierra. In this tutorial, the name of the drive am going to format is seth and its path under the filesystem is devsdc1. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format a drive with the apfs file system on macos sierra. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. Then you can choose one of the hard drive and format it by click on format button. Make sure that it has at least 12gb of available storage and is formatted as mac os extended. How to create a bootable usb drive for macos sierra. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us. Look for the usb drive you want to format, by running. Only the file part of the remote file is used, the path is cut off.
How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. Diskutil list this is going to list all the mounted drives on your mac. You may want to get rid of all this junk data and reuse your hard drive.
Mac os x mountain lion gives users several ways to access the terminal and three common options for formatting a hard drive. Terminal is the default gateway to the command line on a mac. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Ntfs, a modern file system, is used in system drive by default due to its advanced features what benefit system running. Jul 05, 2017 rightclick or controlclick the drives icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info. You will see output like this note your macs terminal may be black text on a white background if you havent customized it. The command above will display the directory path of your various drives.
When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. Before you start, connect the hard drive to your windows 10 and make sure it is detected. Terminal automatically erasing and copying installer data to usb drive. After years of use, thousands of files and gbs of file fragments have been stored on your mac hard drive.
Create a bootable drive with the help a third party compression software, which is available for free. Download the relevant macos or os x installer from apple, then use terminal to create a usb installer you can boot up from. Choose another file system from the format box and click erase. A popup menu will appear, and you can customize many options here. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. Most external hard drives and usb drives are compatible for use on mac computers as long as you format the devices for use with mac os x. How to make an os x yosemite boot installer usb drive. Otherwise, you can only use data recovery software to recover data from a. Sep 06, 2019 download the relevant macos or os x installer from apple, then use terminal to create a usb installer you can boot up from. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Connect the usb flash drive or other volume that youre using for the bootable installer. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives.
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