Disk Utility User Guide
For this reason, a Mac-formatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a Windows computer. The HFS and HFS+ file systems are not readable by Windows. What are my options? Using a third-party application, it may be possible for a Windows computer to read a Mac-formatted hard drive. A few of the popular applications used. Here in this article we would use certain third party tools to read the Mac formatted drive on Windows. Just carry on reading to learn the methods in real. Method #1: Use HFSExplorer To Read Mac on Windows. It is freeware software available easily on the internet and can be used to read Mac files on Windows interface.
In Disk Utility on your Mac, you can format an external disk for a Windows computer.
WARNING: Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting.
- In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices.
- In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with Windows computers.
- Click the Erase button .
- Click the Scheme pop-up menu, then choose Master Boot Record.
- Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose one of the following:
- MS-DOS (FAT): Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32 GB or less.
- ExFAT: Choose this format if the size of the disk is over 32 GB.
- Enter a name for the volume.The maximum length for the volume name is 11 characters.
- Click Erase, then click Done.
You can also partition a disk using the Master Boot Record partition layout, which is compatible with Windows.
See alsoFile system formats available in Disk Utility on MacPartition schemes available in Disk Utility on Mac
Sep 21, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
What Should I do First after Formatting a hard drive?
Formatted your hard drive by mistake, and didn't back up the crucial data stored on it? The good news is that you still have the chance to unformat a hard drive. Remember, the faster you unformat hard drive, the more chance you'll have to recover your data. Also, after formatting the hard drive, you should keep the following things in your mind:
- Don't partition the hard drive
- Don't write any data into it
- Don't install the Operating System or any program on it
- Don't format it again
- Don't try any untrusted unformat software to it
When the hard drive is formatted, you can't find any data on it. The data are not immediately erased out of the drive. They still stay somewhere, in an invisible status and this is because the space taken by the formatted data is marked as available to reuse. When you write new data, it will occupy the space for reuse. My virtual home for mac. Then the formatted data is really and permanently cleared, and you can't get it back in any way. Things like photoshop for mac. Thus, well protecting the formatted hard drive is extremely important, which can determine if you can unformat hard drive or not.
Unformat Hard Drive Recovery Program
As long as you protect your formatted hard drive well, it's quite easy to unformat hard drive and get the vital data back. To get professional and secure unformat hard drive software, Recoverit can help you to recover data from the formatted hard drive.
Your Safe & Reliable Formatted Hard Drive Recovery Software
- Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely and completely.
- Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders.
- Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.
Select the recovery scenario for recovery
Select a recovery scenario that you are planning to recover data from the formatted hard drive. If your formatted hard drive is an external device, you should choose 'External Devices Recovery'. If your formatted hard drive is an internal drive on Windows or Mac, you need to select 'Deleted Files Recovery' to recover all files.
Select the formatted hard drive location for recovery
After selecting the recovery scenario, you need to specify the location for the scan. If it's your computer's hard drive formatted, you need to search your whole computer. If it is an external device, you should select your formatted hard drive location.
Begin to scan
If a quick scan cannot find your files, please go to 'All-Around Recovery', it supports raw file recovery.
Preview and recover
The 'All-Around Recovery' will take you a bit long time, and you can have a cup of coffee during the time. After the scan, all the recoverable data are found out and listed in categories. You can check them one by one and select those you need to recover.
Note: please don't save it on the source hard drive to avoid data overwriting.
Video Tutorial on How to Format an External Hard Drive
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