Disk Utilty - Reformating Windows-formated drive to MAC OS Extended Format

Can a drive previously formatted as Windows FAT32 or NFTS subsequently be reformatted to the MAC OS Extended format, via OS X Panther Disk Utility's Erase and/or Partition options?
If so, is it straightforward to do, or are there any potential pitfalls?

Hello! Yes, it should work fine to use disk utility to format the drive to HFS+. Tom

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HT201250 reformat FAT-formatted drive in Mac OS Extended

I am using an external disc to backup my whole Mac, using Time Machine. I want to include in the back-up another external hard dirk INTENSO where I am already saving lots of pictures. Time Machine tells me that I can not include it in the back-ups because it is formatted for Windows (FAT32).
How can I format it for Mac? I know I would delete all the existing files so I need to make firstly a copy of them. THANKS

Open Disk Utility, and follow the sequence in the pictures below. Please note that step 2 is in the last picture.

HT1604 Is there any difference between Mac OS Extended Format and ExFat?

Is there any difference between Mac OS Extended Format and ExFat? I read in a blog that the ExFat was a good way to format an external drive because it avoided many of the pitfalls of the other formats, as long as it is supported by the operating system. I tried to format my new Seagate drive, and got an invalid option error. I was able to format it in Mac OS Extended format. Can you please tell me if this is similar to ExFat. Thanks.

The Mac OS format can only be natively read to and written to by a computer running the Mac OS. This creates a problem if the user wishes his external, or other drive to have seamless compatibility between two different OS's, such as Windows and Mac. Yes, there are software solutions that enable a Windows PC to work with a drive formatted as Mac OS, but it gets complicated if you wish that drive to have compatibility "on the fly" with any PC you may encounter.
It turns out that the format known as ExFAT is able to be natively read by both a Mac and a PC, without running any additional drivers on either machine. ExFAT also doesn't have some of the limitations of FAT32, which both OS's will also read/write.
ExFAt is not perfect though. Formatting the drive as Mac OS Extended has some advantages on a Mac. First, it is the only format that permits all functionality of the Mac OS, such as using the drive for Time Machine.
ExFAt is often thought of as the best middleground for an external partition/drive that needs to have easy cross platform compatibility between a Mac and PC running Vista or Windows 7.

Understanding Mac OS Extended format for DVD media

I am typically burn my files and folders on the Desktop. The reason I do this is that I hope the files will be readable on both a Mac and a PC. They seem to be do that just fine. But it was not until today that I noticed that these DVD's end up being formatted as "Mac OS Extended" even though Windows XP with Service Pack 3 can read them just fine. But I also have an older DVD that was burned the same way and also says it is formatted in the "Mac OS Extended" format. But that DVD is not readable on my PC even though it is readable on my Macbook. I am trying to understand if something changed in the Mac operating system that changed with this format. I am also trying to understand the Mac OS Extended format and primarily what is the BEST way to burn a DVD that works on a PC and a Mac.
Thank you for any help you might be able to offer.
Garry

On the Mac, it says the format of the DVD is Mac OS Extended but when you run it on WIndows XP with SP3, it says the DVD is formatted as UDF (Universal Disc Format) which I think is interesting because I burned several DVD's on my PC in the UDF format version 2.5, which is the latest, but the Mac OS could not read them. So it must be an older version of UDF Apple is using or some type of custom format that Apple uses.

HT5628 Is it possible to format entire hard disk and install windows 8 only in mac mini?

Is it possible to format entire hard disk and install windows 8 only in mac mini?

You can, but it's not recommended. If you are going to use Windows all the time, at least give some GBs to OS X, because you will need it to install firmware updates.
Use Boot Camp Assistant to create a Windows partition. You can find it in /Applications/Utilities. Then, follow Apple's steps to install Windows 8 > http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.8.pdf You must use a 64-bit version, and note that not all Mac minis support Windows 8. Check if yours is supported > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Boot Camp Assistant will ask you to download the Windows support software onto a USB drive. You will need to install it in Windows, so it's very important to download it. If not, you will have problems in Windows.
If your Mac doesn't support Windows 8, install the Windows version the site gives you

Formatted External drive for Mac OS extended

Hi,
I actually change from windows to Mac (no comparison...!!) but trying to transfer my photos (Pictures in finder) to an external hard disk i can`t drag and drop and i do not know why....i read in one forume that i have to formatted the external drive for Mac OS extended. First question: how could i do that? if my hard disk was originally formatted for windows, do i lose the info when i formatted?
Thanks!!

You will lose the files on the HD when you reformat it. So copy what you want off the drive to a folder on your Mac temporarily.
select the HD on the Desktop and launch Disk Utility.
select the HD in the left hand page of DU.
click on the Partiton button
select 1 Partition
select OS X Extended (journaled) in the drop down Format menu.
click on the Apply button
drag the folder of files onto the EHD to copy back and then delete from your Mac's drive after verifying that they all copied back successfully.
OT

Unable to format external drive as Mac OS Extended

I just bought a WD 3TB My Book Essential external hard drive so I can free-up space on my Mac Mini. When I used Disk Utility to erase the data and reformat the drive as Mac OS Extended, I got the following error:
+Disk Insertion+
+The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer+
There were three options; Initialize, Ignore or Eject. Choosing either Initialize or Ignore resulted in the following error:
+Disk Utility Internal Error+
+Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility+
So I Googled it and found the following thread http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11461203
This suggested using First Aid; Repair Disk. When I ran this, I got the following error:
+First Aid failed+
+Disk Utility stopped repairing “disk4s1” because the following error was encountered:+
+Filesystem verify or repair failed+
I'm stuck; does anyone have any ideas how to resolve this?!

Not sure what the problem was on the MacMini (10.5.8), but I just managed to format the disk on my MacBook Pro (10.6.4).
Problem solved!

How to format FAT drive as MAC OS EXTENDED?

Hello,
Does anybody can help me to format a FAT drive as MAC OS EXTENDED? It is an external FW drive. I cannot find the way in the laptop.
Thanks!!

I've discovered one subtlety with Disk Utility that wasn't at all apparent until I smashed into it headlong. I have a number of machines that have been running Tiger Server since the day it came out, incrementally updating from 10.4 to 10.4.11 as each release came out- so I have a number of 10.4 install disks to support them. I have also been painstakingly backing them up weekly via SuperDooper to emergency firewire backup drives, so that when disasters would occur I could theoretically simply reboot from the external drive and keep going.
At some point, Apple changed both Disk Utility and the requirements for a bootable external disk, and apparently I didn't get the memo. The old Disk Utility present on the original 10.4 disks lacks the "Options" feature found on the current one under the Partion tab- which allows the user to select the partition table format. There are now three options: Master Boot Record (FAT/DOS), GUID Partition Table (used to support the Intel OS X machines), and Apple Partition Map for the PPC machines.
Regrettably, PowerPC machines running 10.4.11 apparently *will not boot* from disks reformatted from DOS/FAT as Mac OS X Extended with the old disk utility, as I found to my woe when I installed Security Update 2008-008 and all my Server machines stopped working. They appear on the list of bootable drives when booting in select mode, they appear in the list for selecting the boot disk in System Utility, they can be selected- but the machine will simply not boot from them. The old utility apparently used to leave the FAT/DOS Master Boot Record partition table in place when reformatting to Mac OS Extended. I discovered that it was necessary to use the new utility, and specifically go into the options and select "Apple Partition Table", if you intend to be able to boot from an external drive reformatted from FAT/DOS with 10.4.11-era machines. And it should be noted that the new disk utility *does not* do this table selection by default: you have to use the Options button under the Partition tab and set it appropriately yourself.
Consequently, I spent several days reformatting, repartitioning, changing partion table types, and recloning my backup drives so as to render them bootable once again under this apparently new scheme. So, as a word to the wary: if you have been maintaining bootable external drives since the early (perhaps pre-10.4.7) releases of Tiger, it would behoove you to take a few minutes to go make sure that they are actually *still bootable*- and correct this gotcha before you run into it in an hour of need.
The other bad news if that, if you have the original 10.4 Server disks, "Archive and Install" does not appear to be an option, and you only have a disk utility that can't produce a bootable external disk in any case when booting from them. So it can be a painful exposure.

Is it safe to format ANY external drive to Mac OS Extended?

Some Seagate tech told me a while back that Seagate drives should ONLY be formatted with their proprietary formatting and that my data is vulnerable if I use something else. (I may have misunderstood this, but I'm 98% certain that's what he said.) I do remember him saying not to use the Mac's Disk Utility to format the drive.
I want to reformat this drive so that it's 100% compatible with my new Mavericks iMac.
Is there any concern about formatting ANY external drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Or are there some hard drives that should not be formatted to Mac using Disk Utility?
I'm under the impression that all external drives are basically the same and I can format them however I want. No drive is "made" to be formatted with a certain OS or a certain format.
Is that correct?

Formatting a drive simply will remove any data currently stored on it. There is no such thing as "proprietary formatting." Drives come out of the factory with no formatting.
Whatever the person told you it was patently wrong not to mention mis-informed.
To use a hard drive properly with any computer it needs to be formatted with the tool that is required for the operating system with which it will be used. For the Mac you use Disk Utility (the tool) and you format the drive using Mac OS Extended, Journaled (the format.)
Your impression is correct.

Greeting, I want to reformat my external hard drive using Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted ) but before formatting it, I want to make sure that if I loose the hard drive or the hard drive get stolen, no one will be able to retrieve or recover the in

Greeting,
I want to reformat my external hard drive using Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted ) but before formatting it, I want to make sure that if I loose the hard drive or the hard drive get stolen, no one will be able to retrieve or recover the information on it so could you tell me what kind of encryption will be used or is there any way to recover the information?
Thanks!

I think FileVault is used to encryp internal hard drive but I wanna encrypt an external hard drive with Mac OS Extended Journaled Encrypted which is completely different!

HT4407 Hey, I am unable to install windows 7 using 'bootcamp 5.0' . I have already partitioned the drive as (mac Os Extended Journaled) and yet it seems bootcamp won't acknowledge this?

Hey, I am unable to install windows 7 using 'bootcamp 5.0' . I have already partitioned the drive as (mac Os Extended Journaled) and yet it seems bootcamp won't acknowledge this?
My first thoughts were that 'bootcamp' was out of date...needed an upgrade to register windows 7. Since then I am once again met with the same problem... how can it not see the I have already have a paritioned drived ready to be used for installition, is there a way to fix this problem? I don't really want to pay out for 'i-parition' only to merge my 2 drives back into one and start again from scratch =/. Seems silly to do so...what are my options?
Regards Swishi...p.s If anyone can help me...it'll make my day :3.

ONE PARTITION.
You don't need to buy anything but you should have backups.
you can delete #2 you created. Then resize to full drive.
There are already
GPT
EFI
Mac
Recovery
and there needs to be Windows which cannot be higher ID
Reading the instructions first and just swallow whatever pride or inidignation. It is a "my way or highwar" setup and utility,.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf
create a Windows support software (drivers) CD or USB storage media
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4407
The Boot Camp Assistant can burn Boot Camp software (drivers) to a DVD or copy it to a USB storage device, such as a flash drive or hard drive. These are the only media you can use to install Boot Camp software.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4569
Installation Guide Instructions for all features and settings.
Boot Camp 4.0 FAQ Get answers to commonly asked Boot Camp questions.
Windows 7 FAQ Answers to commonly asked Windows 7 questions.
http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

After formatting Western Digital 4 TB hard drive to Mac OS extended (Journaled) 1.11 TB of space has been used. Number of folders 11 number of files 59. I am running lion Is this a normal use of space?

After formatting Western Digital 4 TB hard drive to Mac OS extended (Journaled), 1.11 TB of space has been used.
Number of folders 11. Number of files 59.
I am running lion10.7
Is this a normal use of space?

Wait.... can the BIOS on your machine support greater than 3TB?
Most cannot.
4TB drives, from what I've read, require an all new drive controller. As older drive controllers would max out at 3TB's.

Why i can't find the external HDD plugged to airport extreme. i already format it with mac OS extended (journaled)

Why i can't find the external HDD plugged to airport extreme. i already format it with mac OS extended (journaled).
Does only certain branch of HDD can be connected to aireport extreme?
I collect some information and i knew i have to partiion the HDD into Mac OS extended (journaled),
and i did so. Still the usb HDD cannot be found.
The other question is, can i partition the HDD into two sections, one of it is Mac OS extended(journaled) while the other is Fat32?
I want to share Fat32 section with another PC with windows system.
Thanks a lot if you have any suggestions.

I had tried to set up the connection via usinb a powered usb hub as the bridge between external HDD and the airport extreme. i still cannot found the HDD in the "airport utilities".
This is my setting.
1. Set airport extreme as "sharing-single-ip" mode. The wireless network functions correctly.
2. Connect external HDD to MBA. Partition it into single-partition with Mac OS extended (journaled).
3. The HDD can be found if i plugged it directly to my MBA.
4. Connect a powered usb hub to airport extreme.
5. Connect external HDD to the powered usb hub.
6. Open airport utilities.
a. Select "airport extreme" in the sidebar.
b. Change the "Disks" sheet.
7. Cannot find an external Disk
Is there any problem here?
Please help me. Thanks a lot!!

Which MAC OS EXTENDED format? journaled, case-sensitive?

I'm going to be using my new Mac Pro for editing corporate videos and I want to use an external firewire800 LaCie 1tb drive from my windows computer on my Mac.
I've gone to the disc utility screen and not sure which format I should re-format it as. I've been told to use MAC OS EXTENDED but there is several flavours: journaled, case-sensitive, etc.
I need it to be as fast as possible but also reliable and able to handle large video files (e.g. 60gb HD files.

The Mac can read and write FAT32 and FAT16 volumes, and it can read NTFS volumes (cannot write to NTFS). FAT32 will only allow files up to 4 GB in size, so it's really not acceptable for video. The Mac generally reads it's own format, Mac OS Extended faster and more reliably.
If you need platform independence, you have a few options.
1 - Get Windows machines to read Mac OS Extended with special software.
2 - Get the Mac to write to NTFS with special software
Because of the way the Mac manages external hard drives, option #1 is ideal. But you should keep in mind, the Mac will run your FireWire 800 drive faster than the Windows machine not because of compatibility, but due to the fact that Windows doesn't support FireWire 800 and limits transmission with those devices to FireWire 400 speeds (or so I've been told).
The Mac Pro will partition using the GUID Partition Table scheme by default. This partition scheme is required to boot an Intel Mac, but not for simple reading and writing of data. I'm not sure what implications this might have on the ability of your Windows system to read the data, but it's worth checking. It's possible that the Windows software might not recognize GUID, but I'm not sure.
I think most people who edit video professionally on the Mac are choosing to alleviate this confusion by avoiding Windows altogether. That works very well.
Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Case-sensitive can sometimes cause problems and is best avoided.
Interesting to note, Adobe software won't run on a case-sensitive volume.

I have an iMac OS 10.7.5 I have been sent a disc using Mac OS extended format which I am unable to open. Any suggestions?

I am using an iMac OS10.7.5 I have been sent a disc using Mac OS extended format but I cannot open it. Any suggestions. I have also tried on my laptop (10.5.8) similarly without success

The disc appears to b an ordinary CD and it contains the text of a manual which comes quarterly. In the past I have had problems because it came as an exe file and I had to contact the organization concerned to get an alternative Mac friendly disc. In this instance the information under Find Info is that it is a volume created on 18 September 2013. It is formatted as indicated and its capacity is 135 KB. There is no indication what I should use to open it.

Disk Utilty - Reformating Windows-formated drive to MAC OS Extended Format

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