ARM-based Mac devices (Apple Silicon M1/-Pro/-Max/-Ultra/M2)Īll Microsoft NTFS versions are supported (from Windows NT 3.1 to Windows 10).

Be sure to choose exFAT as the file system format on the Format Partition screen.

The wizard will guide you through the next steps. Right-click on the partition of your external drive and choose New Simple Volume. Look for your external drive listed as a volumeĤ.

Open the Disk Management Tool by opening search and typing Disk Management.ģ.

Connect your external drive to your Windows PC.

How to Format an External Drive Using Windows 11įollow these instructions if you would like to format an external drive in exFAT on the Windows 11 operating system. Once you have named your drive and chosen your Format, click Erase and you simply need to wait for the process to complete and you are ready to use your new external drive! Here is where it is important for you to choose the exFAT option from the menu.ħ. You will be asked for a Name, Format, and Scheme for your drive. Go ahead and click Erase here if you are sure you would like to format the drive.Ħ. Clicking the Erase button will bring up a small window warning that you are about to erase all the data stored on the drive.

Choose which drive you would like to format and click Erase in the top menu.ĥ.

Here we have a Glyph 500GB drive shown under External options:Ĥ. The left menu will show you options for which drive you would like to format. Once you have Disk Utility open, click View -> Show All DevicesĤ.

Open Launchpad -> click on Other -> Disk Utilityģ.

For newer drives this will usually be utilizing a USB type-C or Thunderbolt cable, but older drives might require a USB type-A connector.

Connect your hard drive to your Mac computer.

How to Format an External Drive Using MacOS Ventura We recommend using a separate drive specifically for Time Machine backups The Photos app will not let you save photo libraries on the same drive you use for Time Machine backups and you will get corrupted libraries. The reason for this is because formatting part of your drive to use for Time Machine will sometimes cause issues with other Mac apps like Photos. How To Format Your External Hard Drive for Mac or WindowsĪ few words word of caution before you set up your drive is to know that if you are planning to schedule Time Machine backups on your Mac, it is better to use a completely separate drive for that task.

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