Backup your Mac with a portable or desktop hard drive. Either head to Applications Utilities, or tap Command + Space and start typing. If you are using a Mac, you can run the built-in Disk Utility to quickly format a hard drive or external hard drive under Mac OS.

For Windows, it offers quick format feature when you right-click the hard drive on the computer. MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT: File systems that are compatible with Windows.īoth Windows and Mac OS offer built-in disk formatting tool. Mac OS Extended: The file system used by macOS 10.12 or earlier. The overall best external hard drive for Mac or PC.ĭisk Utility on Mac supports several file system formats:Īpple File System (APFS): The file system used by macOS 10.13 or later. NOTE: If the above steps do NOT resolve the problem, please back up your data and request a replacement using our online web form.Western Digital My Passport 4TB. Some older operating systems must have a patch installed before they can use the exFAT file system. NOTE: MacOS 10.6.2 or higher is required for exFAT file system. NOTE: exFAT can be used on flash drives or memory cards to transfer files larger than 4GB. NOTE: exFAT is used on SDXC card (64GB and higher). When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Choose Master Boot Record for the Schemeĥ.Choose exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT) for the format.Choose how you would like to format the drive Select the upper level of the drive you would like to format and click the Erase buttonĤ. In the top menu bar, go to View, and choose Show All Devicesģ. Please See Answer 20985: How to access Disk Utility macOSĢ. Instructions below are for 10.13.x (High Sierra)ġ. Select this capacity.Ħ. Verify Volume Format is set to MS-DOS file system or exFAT, Scheme is set to “Master Boot Record” ( Do NOT select GUID Partition Map) then click Erase. Select the capacity of the drive respective to the one containing the device you wish to format then click the Erase tab.Įxample: If the drive is called 'NO NAME', directly above that, you should see the drive capacity of 'XXXX'. On the left side of the window are the drives connected to the computer. Click the Applications folder - if using a Finder Window Applications will be in the left side menu.ĥ. Double-click on Macintosh HD - or in the Finder menu click File > New Finder WindowĢ.

Instructions below are for 10.11.x (El Capitan) and 10.12.x (Sierra)ġ. WARNING: Formatting will erase all data on the device.

Mac disk utility format scheme