Seagate and wd external hard drive read only on mac. You can also choose between different seagate backup plus slim variants with 1tb 3. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Use disk management windows or disk utility mac to format your drive in non. All backup plus drives are compatible with time machine and come with cool features, including seagate dashboard and windows mac compatibility. Oct 25, 2018 after realizing the respective properties of fat32 and exfat, you should know what you should format seagate drive to. So naturally, my intention was to stick with its default fat32 format. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers. If youre running an older mac os x version, format it as fat32 from either os. You have to if it comes with an ntfs format, because mac os x can only read but not write to hard drives using that format at least out of the box, although you can buy paragon ntfs or use a free tool such as mounty for that, but you will have to. Read on as we have thoroughly explained the secure method of formatting seagate drive using macs disk utility.
As a computer user you need know that different operating systems organize files in different ways. Dong ngo cnet features out of the box, the goflex turbo is formatted using the ntfs file system, making it. Seagate ships the 4tb backup plus in an ntfs format, so to use the drive without formatting, users will need to install seagates ntfs driver for mac. So stay on the move and safely take along your documents. View and download seagate backup plus desktop user manual online. And thats it youve learnt how to format a seagate hard drive for mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. How to fix seagate external hard drive not showing. Remember, once the data is gone, theres no way to recover it. However, its default file system is ntfs, if you want use fat32 with this product, you need to convert it first. Convert ntfs to fat32 seagate with third party tools. And youll detailed tutorial on how to format seagate drive for mac and pc in the following text. However i have been unable to format my external hard drvie to fat32.
Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Though the default hard disk file system also known as format of windows and mac are different, there should be some ways to format an external drive for both mac and pc. I have a seagate freeagent goflex usb drive as my location to backup my win 7 64 bit system. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Drag and drop files onto seagate external apple community. The free specific utility format fat32 drives beyond. Jan 14, 2010 how to format large external hard drive to fat32 i have a 500gb external hard drive that i need to use at home with my windows 7 pc and at school where i use a mac. Feb 08, 2015 this video shows, how to format seagate backup plus external hard disk.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive. As for mac os using fat32 device and exfat device, you can try to format the hard drive into fat32 or exfat. The seagate backup plus hub is available in both a windows and mac format as well as several sizes from 4tb to 8tb. This video shows, how to format seagate backup plus external hard. The biggest problem of the external hard drive read. After realizing the respective properties of fat32 and exfat, you should know what you should format seagate drive to. Seagate backup plus hub user manual optional formatting and. From the popular slim drives to the ridiculous capacity and mobility of the portable drives, you can always rely on the backup plus family. So you figured, fine, ill just get an external hard drive. While installing the seagate backup plus on my mac originally, i was given two options. Macs proprietary junk doesnt fare well with anyones o. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard drive so.
Perhaps an odd choice for a mac user, but it was a good price. While mac os x can read hard drives formatted as ntfs, write access is not available. This is a tutorial explaining how to format a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32 file system using seagate discwizard. If you are willing to reformat your seagate external hard drive then you should have decided to which file system you want to format your hard drive in.
Backup plus for mac desktop, stca100, stca2000100, stca3000101, stca4000100, stcb2000100, stcb2000900, stcb3000100. How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and securely. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Fat32 is an older file system that used by windows and mac os. I need it to exchange files between my ibook, and the multitude of windoze pcs i cant seem to escape from at work.
How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube. How to format seagate backup plus and backup plus slim. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual optional formatting. Maybe connected is a better description word than installed. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. So if you are formatting a drive that has already been used, be sure to copy any files you will ever want to see again onto a computer or backup drive. How to reformat seagate portable external hard drive. Seagate backup plus slim price details are updated april 2020. Correct, or you can format the drive as fat32 and both systems will read and write to it. This free third party fat32 format tool can help you to break the limit of 32gb in partition size. Know that formatting deletes all the information on the drive.
Jun, 2012 the seagate backup plus backup software is effective and easy to use. As software exclusively designed for windows systems, it is not only able to work with windows 7, but also with windows 810, xp and vista. Adding a 1tb seagate backup plus slim hdd to my wii u or. It seems to me it may only need to be formatted for mac use using disk utility.
If the external hard drive is pre formatted for mac, disk management will list 3 partitions and you will not be able. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. Our evaluation unit was an 8tb windows version which comes out of the box in the ntfs format the mac version comes in. This is the required format for a bootable mac hard drive. Theres even an xbox logoed version of the seagate backup plus hub for use with xbox one. Dec 12, 2016 how to reformat seagate portable external hard drive. Seagate is a big brand of hard disk, and it has the products of hard disk drive, solid state disk, as well as some data recovery implements.
So the first step you must do is move all of your important data to your pcmac, or to cloud storage service. The seagate backup plus backup software is effective and easy to use. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. How to reformat my seagate external hard drive quora. Seagate backup plus slim user manual optional formatting. Mac users can still enjoy the generous set of features of seagate backup plus. Before you jump in and format your seagate backup plus on your mac or macbook.
The seagate backup plus slim is now available in singapore. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. How to format seagate backup plus and backup plus slim youtube. Is it necessary to reformat a new, seagate backup plus in order to partition it. Do i need to format seagate external hard drive for mac. Fat32 is less robust and has file size restrictions. Why seagate and wd external hard drive read only on mac. How to format a seagate hdd in mac pro wi apple community. How to use seagate hard drive for both mac and windows super.
I say this because when i plugged in the drive to the wii u, the drive spins up, prepares itself, and then on the wii us screen pops up a dialog asking if i want to format this new usb device to be used with the system. Learn about seagate backup plus slim for mac 2tb external usb 3. However, fat32 is a legacy file system designed for low. It is worth using the fat32 formatter in macrorit free partition software and other advanced editions. Seagate backup plus is preformatted exfat for compatibility with both mac and windows computers. If you are willing to reformat it for windows pc then fat32 or ntfs should be used where as fo. For example, windows operating system cannot open hfs the filing structure of mac os x drives, while macs can read only ntfs drives.
How to format seagate drive for mac and pc quickly and. Is it necessary to reformat a new, seagate backup plus in. Oct 06, 2019 youtube video showing formatting a seagate hard drive for mac. So the first step you must do is move all of your important data to your pc mac, or to cloud storage service. Formatting a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32. I chose option one, because i use a mac and a pc, and i want to move files between the two, which is what this drive is advertised to do. Purchased 3 months ago, and not knowing any better, i allowed it to setup and install the windows and mac software. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual pdf download. You may also format your external drive into fat32 for use between windows and mac computers. First of all, as i said before, reformating will erase all your data that stored on the hard drive permanently. I allowed it to setup and install the windows and mac software. But if youre only formatting your seagate drive for mac, youll see all you need to know in the first 3 minutes. Dec 01, 2019 mac users can still enjoy the generous set of features of seagate backup plus.
I have a 250 gb iomega and it works fine for windaz and os x. Jan 03, 2006 i have just purchaced a 100gb seagate usb2. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. I did the initial backup using the included memeo software. To use macos native backup systems like time machine, please check with their. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. How to format a seagate external hard drive on mac using disk utility. How to reformat seagate backup plus portable drive from. But if you are not using such brand hard drive, in that case, you might turn some 3rd party programs for help which will allow you to format an external hard drive with the larger size.
Seagate backup plus is preformatted exfat for compatibility with both mac and. Seagate backup plus hub is available in two models, windows and mac. How to use seagate backup plus on mac, 15 mins and start. Seagate and wd external hard drive read only on mac aomei. A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. Would you like to see a video showing you how to format your seagate drive. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps and the os. If you have documents on the drive either from a windows pc or from your mac, copy them off first. Seagate backup plus slim 2tb external hard drive portable hdd a blue usb 3. Then, connect seagate drive to your pc and make sure that it can be detected by windows. Hey will this allow my hard drive to work on both mac and windows.
Seagate backup plus hub hard drive apple tech talk. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. Seagate backup plus slim user manual optional formatting and. How to reformat seagate backup plus portable drive from mac. However, fat32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern. I know ntfs is for windows only and i know fat32 works on both windows and mac. Seagate expansion vs backup plus whos on top for mac. Reformat the disk to fat32, which as suggested by michael sturm is the lowest. How to format seagate backup plus and backup plus slim duration.
Shop for seagate external hard drive for mac at best buy. Features point to be noted here is that to use the goflex with any windows computer you need to format it into the ntfs file system. Seagate ships the 4tb backup plus in an ntfs format, so to use the drive without formatting, users will need to install seagate s ntfs driver for mac. This video shows, how to format seagate backup plus external hard disk.
Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. That being said, dont expect much file compatibility between mac and pc if thats what youre looking for. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system part 3. How to format large external hard drive to fat32 i have a 500gb external hard drive that i need to use at home with my windows 7 pc and at school where i use a mac. How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. After reading this post, youll know what is the best file system for your cameras sd card and what is the best format for your mac and pc. Jan 07, 2015 the 1tb seagate backup plus slim appears to be engineered very closely to usb 2. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Seagate backup plus hub user manual optional formatting. Seagate backup plus drive, seagate dashboard preloaded on drive, ntfs driver for mac preloaded on drive, usb 3.
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