Click on the disk you wish to erase / format, and then click on the ‘Erase’ tab on the top right hand side. Click on the ‘Format’ drop-down menu and select the format you wish to go for. To format an external drive on a Mac: Open Finder and go to /Applications/Utilities and double-click on Disk Utility. Select your drive in the left-hand sidebar and go to the Erase tab.

Search Wirecutter For: Search Reviews for the real world Browse Close • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Browse Close • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •. • Justin Krajeski If you buy an external drive—such as one of our recommended,, or —you may need to reformat it to work with your operating system of choice, since different operating systems use to process data. Although it’s true that any drive is compatible with both Windows and macOS, most drives come preformatted for Windows out of the box.

If you use Windows, chances are good that you won’t need to reformat your external hard drive—unless you buy it secondhand, or you plan on switching between operating systems, your drive should come ready to use. If you use a Mac, the likelihood that you’ll have to reformat the drive is higher. But fear not: The process is simple. Choosing the right format for your drive Non-Linux computers can use: NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT.

So what do those four file systems mean, and? • If you plan to use your drive for File History backups on a Windows computer, and you use only Windows, stick to NTFS (New Technology File System).

NTFS is native to Windows, and most hard drives are preformatted for this file system. MacOS and Linux, however, can only read files stored on such a drive; they cannot write to an NTFS-formatted drive. NTFS has that you won’t hit; that makes it a better choice than FAT32, which has a 4 GB size limit per file. Many backup archives and video files are larger than 4 GB. • If you plan to use your drive for Time Machine backups on a Mac, and you use only macOS, use HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus, or macOS Extended). A drive formatted this way will not mount on a Windows computer without additional software. Like NTFS, the HFS+ file system has file and partition size limits that are much bigger and more suitable for modern use than those of FAT32. Did apple release new updates for mac sierra vista.