Reformat a hard drive for mac

I just bought an external HD to back up my files but its in ntfs how to i reformat it to work for tiger?

How do you do a low level format on a disk (to get rid of bad blocks)? Disk Utility does not give this option from what I can see.

Similar Messages

  • Need help reformatting my hard drive for mac only

    Help please
    Need help reformatting my hard drive for mac only with my toshishba hard drive

    What Mac is this please, with what version of OS X?

  • How do i reformat my hard drive on mac mini late 2011 with yosemite before selling my mac

    how do i reformat my hard drive on mac mini late 2011 with yosemite before selling my mac

    You can't legally sell or give away that computer with Yosemite installed.
    Before you sell or give away your computer, in addition to the steps listed in this support article, take these steps:
    1. Run Apple Diagnostics or the Apple Hardware Test. The buyer will do this (or he should), and you don't want to be surprised by the results.
    2. Reset the PRAM and the SMC, which might contain personal information.
    3. If you set a firmware password, remove it by running Firmware Password Utility in Recovery mode.
    4. If you activated FileVault in OS X 10.7 or later, turn it off.
    5. If you use Boot Camp, the partition must be deleted.
    6. If you created any other data partitions on the internal drive, remove them in Disk Utility.
    7. If the machine has an internal hard drive, erase the one remaining data partition with the option to zero out data. An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.
    You can't legally or practically transfer any software downloaded from the Mac App Store to the new owner of the machine, even if it was free. That includes OS X, so if you upgraded to OS X 10.7 or later, you must reinstall an older OS, either from the installation media, if applicable, or by starting up in Internet Recovery mode (option-command-R at the startup chime.) If you installed from physical media, deliver those to the new owner.
    If you're selling the machine, or donating it in working order, and it originally shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, then you have the option of installing either from the discs that came with it or from a retail Snow Leopard disc (which you must then transfer to the buyer.) The buyer should understand that if he doesn't get the original discs from you, he won't get the bundled iLife applications or the Apple Hardware Test. Replacements for the original discs can be ordered from Apple.
    The new owner will have to redownload any software that came from the App Store, including OS X upgrades, under his or her Apple ID. If you ever updated the bundled iLife applications (Garage Band, iMovie, and iPhoto) through the App Store, you can't transfer those either. The buyer will have to purchase them.
    Remove the machine from your list of registered products. If it's still covered by an AppleCare Protection Plan, transfer the coverage to the new owner by following the instructions in the AppleCare Terms and Conditions (under the heading "Transfer of Plan.")

  • WD "My Passport hard drive for Mac."

    Hi -
    New convert from Windows to MacBook Pro so I apologize if this seems like a dumb question BUT......
    Just purchased a WD "My Passport hard drive for Mac." It says on the box that it is formatted HFS+, Journaled for Lion & Mountain Lion as well as compatible with Apple Time Machine. My assumption is that based on this there is no need for me to format this for my Mac since this hard drive was already formatted specifically for a Mac.  However, since some of the other information I've seen online refers to always formatting your hard drive before use, I wanted to double check since I am just getting started with my

    As you are going to use Time Machine, it will ask you to format the external disk if there are files inside it when you set Time Machine up. Open System Preferences > Time Machine > Select Disk, choose the external disk and the backup will start.
    Also, you can create a second partition on the external disk to make clones with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to have the advantages of Time Machine and the clone

  • How to Format Toshiba Hard-Drive for Mac with Parallels?

    Hello,
    I recently bought a Toshiba Hard-Drive with the following features:
    500GB
    It is a Canivo Basics 3.0
    It is USB 3.0 and 2.0 portable hard drive
    It has already been formatted NTFS for Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8
    The box says that it can be reformatted for Mac
    I have a Macbook Pro with Retina Display that I bought this year in late March/early April.
    It runs OS X Mavericks, and Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac.
    I would like to reformat it so that I can use it on my laptop both with Windows and Mac OS at the same time. I do not wish to use a partition as I want to access the hard drive through Mac and Windows at the same time on my laptop and I also want to be able to access the Mac things on a Windows computer and vice versa.
    I have never formatted a hard drive before, and I would like to use a completely safe software, or no software at all, if it is possible.
    I am sorry but I don't have a very high knowledge of this.
    Thanks,
    Sandy-Wood

    It would be easier, using Parallels, just to format the drive for "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". You can see it both in the Windows/Parallels and the Mac side. Leaving it formatted as NTFS is not going to allow you to access (write to) the drive unless you use third-party software. Formatting it for Mac lets you use it, as I said, on both the Parallels VM and the Mac side.
    If you were using Boot Camp, I would advise leaving it formatted as NTFS and purchasing NTFS for Mac to access the drive on both OS's. You can mitigate that by formatting the drive for Mac:
    Good luck,
    Clinton

  • Need to reformat external hard drive for time machine?

    Hello,
    We recently purchased an external hard drive for our family iMac after we had to have a new hard drive put in. We picked up a Western Digital 1tb My Book (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=725). I set up the external hd with time machine and all was fine for about a month.
    An error message of "The backup volume is read only" started appearing. I attempted to repair the disk through these directions http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275#1 but when I was trying to follow the steps, I think I disconnected the external hd without dismounting it, so now I'd assume I need to reformat the external hd. I can't seem to find instructions on how to do this. Where should I look for reformatting my external hard drive?
    Any other tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Hard Drive Preparation
    1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    Message was edited by: Kappy

  • I cannot find the best way to format an external hard drive for MAC, PC, TV?

    Hello,
    I have a problem: I want to use an external hard drive on my Mac as well as on a PC and a TV. The normal structure of Mac (Journaled) isn't supported by PC/ TV. I changed the structue into DOS(FAT)  on my Mac. That's suppoerted by TV and PC. But I'll use the hard drive for storage of HD films so I'm afraid that the structure is not good enough for this (it seems old to me DOS.....) And I don't want the quality to be influenced by a bad structure.
    Then I've formatted into NTFS on my PC, but then I cannot put files from Mac on the hard drive.
    What is the best solution?
    Hope someone can help me!
    Regards, Kim

    FAT works great, but the problem is that it's old and that you can't store files that are bigger than 4 GB. In this case, you have exFAT, a filesystem compatible with OS X and Windows, but I don't think that the TV will read it.
    If you want to use NTFS, you need a third-party application to be able to write in it on OS X, like Paragon NTFS

  • How do I format a new external Hard drive for Mac?

    Simple question I know for many of you out there but I could do with some advice as I have never done this before. I would like to buy a new external hard drive to store my music and photos on. I will get one with firewire and usb2 connectivity.Could someone walk me through the steps needed to format and prepare a hard drive for use with my Macbook (if it is not already Mac formatted). Will any brand of hard drive work with Mac or are some better than others?

    In addition to what Templeto Peck said, make sure that you select the formating to be OSX Extended.
    As far as the best esternal drive, type into the "Search Discussion" box: Best external hard drive. This will bring you to several previouslly posted threads that discuss quite thoroughly your question. The following is extracted from one thread:
    The best drives are those that use the Oxford 911 chipset. I like the Mercury Elite Pro drives from OWC, but there are plenty of others that use the same chipset.

  • Formatting a Lacie Hard drive for Mac

    Is there anyone who can help me format my Lacie 320GB external hard drive for my Mac. Currently it is formatted for MS-DOS. I've read the manual inside and tried what it says but have got nowhere. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Many thanks

    Can you see it in Disk Utility? If so, use the Erase command from there. To open Disk Utility, open Finder and press Command-Shift-U to open the Utilities folder. It's in there.
    Select the option Mac OS Extended unless you want journaling, in which case select Mc OS Extended (Journaled)
    Erase is the only tool you need.
    Pete

  • The best external hard drives for macs

    Can anyone recommend a good external hard drive for a mac computer; preferably the IMac OS 10.5.6 desktop. Thanks!

    Personal Experience with the One Touch Series:
    Keep a VERY CLOSE EYE on that Maxtor One Touch!
    I had two of the 1TB Firewire 800 models at one point. Hard drives failed on one of them within a month. Warranty replaced the unit but not the data. After a year, the tiny fans died and the drives overheated, resulting in total loss of both enclosures and all the data on them (within a week of each other).
    Those things are not meant for continuous use. If you only use them for periodic backup purposes, and then shut them off, they may be fine.
    Maxtor's setup software for the Mac was a PITA, too. The version included on the disc was worthless. Disk label indicated one version, actual version on the disc was an older, incompatible version. Maxtor sent a replacement disc. It was the same disc with the same problem. Finally located the correct installer on their website. That was a few years ago.
    I'll never touch the touch series again as a result.
    On the other hand, I've had a SmartDisk FireLite 60 GB (FireWire model) for my Powerbook for 5 years now with excellent performance. I have no problem recommending SmartDisk drives.
    -mt

  • What is the best external hard drive for mac book air?

    Hey,
    I'm trying to decide on a hard drive for my air, I don't need a great deal of extra storage, and I also don't wanna break the bank. Any suggestions?
    Thank You!!

    I'm using a Western Digital "My Passport" (500GB).  I think I paid around $70 for it a couple of years ago.  It's very small (about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but thinner).  An aluminum housing that looks similar to Mac casing. 
    I'm just in the process of installing my new MacAir 11 and I have the drive plugged in.  Seems to be working fine. Google it for pricing.  They also make a 320GB drive that is slightly cheaper.

  • Tricky stuff: formating hard drive for Mac and Windows

    Don't know how to format an external USB hard drive for these purposes:
    #1. Store a bootable backup for my MacBook (Intel)
    #2. Must be readable and writeable by both Mac OS 10.4 and WinXP (mainly for file storage)
    Can I do 2 partitions, with Mac OS Extended (journal) + GUID to serve purpose #1, and MS-DOS + Master Boot Record to serve purpose #2? My research suggests no, it seems both volumes must use either GUID or MBR? Thanks

    Hi,
    I have two Western Digital external HDs with nearly exactly these specs.
    Partitioned them with GUID partition scheme and have Partition 1 as bootable OSX clone and partition 2 with FAT32 for file storage/sharing between OSX and Windows.
    So, what you want is what I have/use right now.
    Regards
    Stefan

  • Looking for external hard drive for Mac book air

    I'm looking for a external hard drive for my Mac book air

    What features are important to you?
    Size?
    Capacity?
    Speed?
    Price?
    Reliability?
    HDD or SSD?
    Desktop or portable?
    Just about any USB external drive will function properly, with only a few exceptions. I would avoid the Toshiba Canvio using USB 3.0, as it has been the topic for numerous threads here wherein users have had problems using them with the MacBook Air.
    My personal favorite external HDD right now is the Seagate GoFlex, as I can use them with the Thunderbolt adapter. But I have been eyeing the new LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt.
    For super speed, I use a Crucial model M4, either using the Seagate Thunderbolt adapter, or I have some mounted in USB 3.0 housings.

  • External Memory Hard-Drives for Mac OS X 10.4.11

    Hi there.
    I was wondering if someone could help me out.
    I'm looking into buying an external memory hard-drive for me computer, mainly due to excessive work on my Final Cut Express application. However, I have no idea where to start.
    Any guidance would be seriously appreciated.
    Thanks in advance.

    Hello. I use Lacie external drives and have never had a problem,just plug in and go.Cheers
    David.

  • URGENT HELP: Need to reformat an external hard drive for Mac/Win!

    We got a Desk Hammer external hard drive and my hubby chose to format it as Mac Only when it first initialized. We needed it to be formatted for Mac/Win usage. Now we cannot figure otu how to reinitialize and reformat it. It's been years since I messed with his Mac. Help--right now we just have a big old doorstop instead of a hard drive! BTW Desk Hammer is no help with support (I guess that's why they were on sale); their website isn't even complete!

    Use the Disk Utility application found in /Applications/Utilities to format the Drive as MS-DOS File System. This will be readable by both Mac and Windows platforms.
    Hope this helps! bill
    1 GHz Powerbook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

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