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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URGENT HELP: How to reformat an external hard drive?!

We purchased a Desk Hammer external hard drive with USB. My hubby plugged it into his Mac G4/OS 8.6 and when it was recognized, he selected to format it for Mac only. We needed it to be ISO Whatever so I can use it on my Windows systems too. The Desk Hammer people are no help with how to get access to this thing and reformat it (in fact, WARNING they say they do not even support Mac usage for these drives!). What can I do to reformat it to work on the Windows side? thanks for any help....
Mac G4 Mac OS 8.6 or Earlier Mac OS is 8.6

Windows machines support Windows formats some of the time.
The Mac formats and supports many common formats, and is nice about it.
You use the exact same utility you used to format it for the Mac, only you select MS-DOS as the type. If the drive is of a modest size, that is all you need to do.
The Mac will also happily read and write files on it, even though it is an MS-DOS drive. It may not properly show their Icons (everything may be generic MS-DOS documents) until the files are copied to a Mac drive.
A very large drive will need a third-party utility to format all the space on it into Windows format.
ISO-whatever and High Sierra and a few others are CD-only formats, you will not be able to format a Hard drive to that format.

How do i reformat an external hard drive for mac

i just bought a new external hard drive to back up my mac but it is not formatted for mac yet

You can do that in Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).
With your new drive attached, choose it on the left. Choose the Partition tab. Decide if you want one or more partitions. Give each partition a name and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format. Then click on Options and choose GUID partition scheme. Click on Apply. Your new hard drive will be erased and formatted properly - when done, it is ready for whatever you want to put on it (you do not need any software that may be on the drive currently).

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!

I need to buy an external hard drive for my MacBook Air as it is almost full. Which one should I buy?

Do I need to buy an Apple external Hard Drive for my MacBook Air?

There is no such thing as an Apple hard drive, ...Apples doesnt make same.
avoid western digital if possible.
Yes, having an external HD is necessary for data backups and keeping large media files for packing around etc.
you need data redundancy.
best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
Best small HD for the money:
2.5" USB portable High quality BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 2TB drive (have several of them, LOT of storage in a SMALL package) $117
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

External Hard Drive for Mac AND PC

I need to purchase an external Hard Drive to be able to back up both my iMac and my partner's PC. I am currently looking at buying either:
Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive 500GB FireWire 400/USB 2.0
OR
Iomega 500GB Minimax Hard Drive with Dual Interface + USB/FireWire Hub
Can anyone tell me is it possible to format either of these Drives to be able to accept both Mac and PC, and if so, do either of these drives let you have a permanent connection to both at the same time, so they can be set up and left to do their backups automatically without always swapping cables over etc.
Does anyone have a preference between these drives?
(Oh, and for info, I won't be using Time Capsule as I only have 10.3.9!)
Thanks

I think there is a decent amount of BS in there...
I have a USB HD that came out of the box formatted as FAT32- both my MacBook Pro and PC laptop can read & write to it just fine. I haven't had it long enough to comment on stability, but haven't had any issues yet. I don't have any special software on the PC, either- I think the info from the Seagate forums sounds like people remembering the "old days" of Windows 98 and pre-OS X systems, when you did need software like that for true cross-platform drive access.
As for the drive not working on a LAN- well, the hardware doesn't know the difference, so as long as it's connected via USB to the AEBS, it's fine. What could cause an issue would be your PC OS version. I have found WinXP to be really good (well, for a Win OS, anyway) at playing nice with others. Vista is a train wreck for many, many reasons, but may be OK for this too. Anything earlier than XP may be a bit more troublesome.
Hope my 2 cents helps...

Formatting external hard drive for mac

Hi I am having trouble reformatting an external Hard drive from my Windows computer to my new Mac any guidance would be appriciated thx.

http://www.cultofmac.com/92845/formatting-external-hard-drives-in-os-x-video-how -to/

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

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.

HT1284 Do I need to reformat my external hard drive before I backup to it? It shows very little free space when in fact it is empty.

I am new to Imac. I want to use an external hard drive to backup to but the drive shows very little free space when in fact it is empty. Do I need to reformat it and, if so How? Thanks

What is the external disk?
Is it new? If so, maybe it has a Windows file system on it (FAT, exFAT, or NTFS). If so then reformat to "HFS+ Journaled".
What backup utility are you using? TimeMachine, Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, etc...? If the external is suppose to be bootable because you are using a cloning backup (CCC or SuperDuper), then it is also important that the disk partition table be GUID.
You can find out this information via Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility, select the disk (not volume on the disk) and the partition time will be shown at the botton of the window. Now Select the volume and it will tell you how the file system on the disk is formatted.
Also do you want to leave room for a recovery partition on the external disk? Then repartition it with a small (2GB) partition that can hold a bootable recovery partition that you can setup via the Apple "Recovery Disk Assistant" which can be downloaded from Apple.

Do I need to partition my external hard drive for a bootable backup

Hi - First, I apologize for asking a question that's already been discussed so much. I did try to read everything I could, but I remain confused. Here is my precise situation:
I have an iMac, and I purchased a year's worth of Carbonite's online backup and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I read some people have problems with Carbonite, and the best advice was to buy an external hard drive, which I did. It just arrived, I plugged it in, and Time Machine backed up my computer on it...so I breathed another sigh of relief.
Then I read that my wonderful new 2T external hard drive isn't good enough, that I should partition it so as to have one backup, and one "bootable backup." Is this really necessary? And what is the difference between a backup, and a bootable backup? If it is necessary, how do I do it? Is it a problem that I've already used it to create a backup on Time Machine?
I use my computer for things like email, Facebook, pictures, eBay, stuff like that. I have no unusual needs. My computer is an iMac OS X 10.6.8.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

I prefer a clone/bootable backup ovver Time Machine myself.
For TM you need a running OS, then time to restore, with a clone you can boot from that & keep working while doing the other when time is better. And you can test a clone before you need it.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
You would need to Partition your drive though.
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

Reformatting an external hard drive from mac to pc

i have a 320GB simple tech external hard drive that i used for my mac book pro. My mac book pro broke down completely so i bought an Asus laptop which runs Windows 7. I go to plug in the external hard drive, however i cant access it. It does show up under devices and printers but i cant open it in anyway. The only option i get is to eject it. is there any way that i can get it so that my new laptop can read it ?

i have the same issue, but when I right click on the partion, the option to assign a drive letter is grey'd out. i do not see a disk format either, it is blank in that section (FileSystem).
What can I do? i have Windows XP
Hey I had the exact same problem. I was using my external hard drive on a MacBook and wanted to format it so that it would work on XP but when I opened Disk Management all the options were greyed out. Here's how I solved the problem:
1. Connect your external hard drive to your mac
2. Open Disk Utility (command+F and type 'disk utility')
3. Click the drive you want to format in the left hand pannel
4. Click the 'partition' tab
5. Select under Volume Scheme '1 partition'
6. Under Volume Information, under format select 'MS- DOS (FAT)'
7. Click 'Apply'
The disk should now be formatted in FAT32 which is compatible with Windows XP. After completing those steps I connect the hard drive to my PC and I was able to read and write in the volume. Hope this helps!

I want to format a Seagate Expansion External Hard Drive for Mac and PC

I ordered a Seagate Expansion 2 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive to use with my new Mac and my old PC (or at least get my photos off of both and put them on the drive). I thought all HDs could be formatted to use by both, I was able to get a Mac HD to work with my PC in 2008 (but it died). I am reading that this drive is PC only. I have Parallels and Windows 8 on my Mac if worse comes to worse but I would like all of my computers, real, virtual old and new to be able to access the external drive. Has anyone encountered this issue before? What should I format it in? FAT32? If yes, how would I go about that on a Mac. Or should I just return it?
I'm kind of Mac clueless. I spent my childhood through college on a Mac but I graduated right when OSX came around and I don't know how to work with the Mac "under the hood" like I did with OS9 and with Windows. So please talk to me like I am an an adult idiot.
Thanks!!!!

The optimum choice is to format it ExFAT, but do so on the PC, not the Mac. Alternatively, you can make two partitions - one for the Mac; one for the PC. Partition the drive using GUID when you make the two partitions. Format one using Mac OS Extended, Journaled. Format the other on your PC using NTFS if you won't need to write to it from the OS X side or use ExFAT if you do.
Drive Partition and Format
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 two. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) you will use for Windows from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to MSDOS.
6. Click on the Erase button.
When you connect the drive to your PC reformat the PC volume to either NTFS or ExFAT.

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

Formatting external hard drive for MAC and Windows

I have an external hard drive that I would like to make compatible with BOTH Mac and Windows. I don't want to split it but is there any way that I can make it compatible to where I can use it back and forth between both? I have classes and use Photoshop on both systems and need to be able to read and write to the hard drive from each system. Please let me know if this is possible and how? Thanks

I have a 500GB external HDD which I had to format o Fat32 a while ago. I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I remember it was a pain in the *** and took forever (I was under Windows XP).
So short answer to your question is yes. It is possible and as the above person said, you need to format to Fat32. Long answer is it will take some time and effort. Here are a few links to help you get started:
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-system-mac-software/270038-format-new-hard-dis k-into-fat32.html
http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-676-formatting-your-drive-with-fat32
I haven't tried any of these (I believe I formatted mine downloading a third party app), but you might be lucky. Good luck.

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

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