Download Article Explore this Article methods. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1. Plug your hard drive into your computer. Insert the drive's USB cable into one of the thin, rectangular slots in your computer's casing. If you're using a desktop computer, USB ports are typically in either the front or the back of the computer's CPU box.
It's on the left side of the File Explorer window. Click external hard drive's name. It's under the "Devices and drives" heading in the middle of the This PC window. Clicking the drive will select it. It's a menu item in the top-left side of the This PC window. This flash drive-shaped icon is in the Manage toolbar near the top of the window. Clicking it opens the Format window for your external drive.
Click the "File System" box. It's below the "File System" heading near the top of the page. FAT32 - Works on Windows and Mac, but has a storage limit of 32 gigabytes with an individual file size of 4 gigabytes. Similar to FAT32, but has no storage limit. Select a format.
Click the format you want to use to select it. If you've formatted your drive before, check the Quick Format box as well. Click Start , then click OK. Doing so prompts Windows to begin formatting your drive.
Your external hard drive's files will be erased during this process. Click OK when prompted. Your external drive has now been reformatted to your selected file structure. Method 2. If you're using an iMac, you may find the USB ports on the side of your keyboard or on the back of the iMac's screen.
Not all Macs have USB ports. Open the Finder. The good news is, it's not exFAT or nothing. The alternative solutions do require more tinkering. If you keep your hard drive's out-of-the-box NTFS format, you'll be able to read the drive when it's connected to a Mac, but you won't be able to write to it. In other words, you can look at files saved on the drive, but you can't save any new files from your Mac.
Option 3: Create two partitions on your hard drive to use with each OS, separately. This solution is a little different than the previous two because instead of having one hard drive that works with both machines, you're splitting your HD into two sections, each dedicated to a different OS. For example, if you have a 1TB hard drive, GB of storage can be used with your Windows computer, and will be dedicated to your Mac computer. You won't be able to write to the Mac side from your Windows computer, and vice versa, but it's a good solution for people who want all the advantages each format has to offer for its respective system.
Select the drive from the left sidebar, then click the Partition tab. For example, you might want more storage for your Mac than you do for your PC.
As we just explained, any new data will directly overwrite the old now hidden files. And the overwriting won't take place on a file-for-file basis. By sending a new file to your external hard drive, you could corrupt hundreds of the files that you need to retrieve.
Now it's time to turn to a data recovery app. This is specialized software that can find files on a hard drive without a catalog that tells it where to look. Quite a few data recovery apps have a free tier. Sometimes, the free tier is restricted to a certain number of files or amount of storage.
If you're trying to recover lots of data, you might need to get your wallet out. Prosoft is a data recovery app that's available on both Windows and Mac.
It can recover more than different file types, recognize duplicate files among those you want to restore, and offers a recovery preview before you begin the process. The free trial lets you see a preview so you can be sure it's going to work before you buy. Unlike Prosoft, it lets you recover 2GB of data for free. All mainstream file types are supported. If you need to recover more than 2GB of data, you will need to pay for the Pro version. The Windows-only Recuva app falls under the CCleaner umbrella.
It is free to download and use, and does not have any data limits. A quick format allows you to overwrite any files on the drive, but it does not fully erase them; with the right software, the old files could be recovered. A full format is generally preferred over a quick format; the latter is mostly used for its speed. A full format erases any files from the disk, changes or maintains the file system and checks the disk for bad sectors.
A full format takes significantly longer than a quick format. While a full format deletes files from the drive, it is not a secure solution for removing data; a secure format requires external software. Connect your external drive to Windows and open up the Disk Management tool.
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