Most external hard drives are designed to work for Windows computers. So if you’re trying to connect an external hard drive to a Mac, you might have to format the drive before you can use it. Here’s how to do that:

1. Change Icon For External Hard Drive On Mac

If your hard drive icon doesn’t appear there, go to Go Computer, then click the hard drive icon under Devices. Click the File menu, and select Get Info, or press Comand-I on your keyboard. You can change PEN drive, Memory card, Hard drive partition or External HDD icon on Windows. Change your boring hard drive icons and other partitions into an exciting new icons.

How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac

Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it.

1. Connect an external hard drive to your Mac. Some external hard drives need to be plugged into an outlet to work.
2. Go to Spotlight Search, type in Disk Utility, and click the first option. This will open the Disk Utility app, where you will find all the internal and external drives that are connected to your Mac.
3. Then click View in the top-left corner of the window and select Show All Devices.
4. Click the external hard drive you want to format. You can find this on the left-hand side of the screen under External Hard Drives. For the best result, select the disk (the highest option in the external tree).
5. On the top menu, click Erase. This will open a small pop-up window with a warning that erasing the drive will delete all data stored on it and that it can’t be undone.
6. Choose a name, format, and scheme for your drive. You can choose whatever name you want, and you should choose GUID Partition Map for the Scheme in most cases. However, you can choose between the following formats:
   • Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the best option for most Mac users since it is compatible with all Macs.
   • APFS (Apple File System) is only for newer Macs running macOS 10.13 or later.
   • exFAT is compatible with both PC and Mac.
   • MS-DOS (FAT) is also compatible with Mac and PC, but you can only transfer files smaller than 4GB.
7. When you’re done with providing the setup details, click Erase. This will immediately wipe the entire drive.

If you get an error message that states, “Erase process has failed. Click done tocontinue,” don’t freak out about it. This is an issue caused by Time Machine running on your externaldrive.

You will need to turn off Time Machine. You can do this by opening System Preferences and unchecking the boxnext to “Back Up Automatically”.Then click Options beside “ShowTime Machine in menu bar.” This will open another window. Click Cancel and it will turn off the Time Machine.

After you turn off the Time Machine, redo steps 4 to 6.

How to Partition anExternal Hard Drive on Mac

If you have formattedyour drive, you can then partition the drive, which will splitthe drive into two formats. This is perfect for anyone who uses Macs and PCsand wants to transfer files between the different operating systems with anexternal drive. Here’s how to do that:

1. Open Disk Utility and select the drive that you want to partition. It is best to click View > Show All Devices so you can selectthe disk rather than a container.
2. In the top menu, select Partition.
3. Then click the plus sign at the bottom of the pie chart. Every time you click this plus sign, a new partition will becreated.
4. Choose a name, format and size for each partition. You can also change the size of each of the partitions bydragging the white dots at the edge of the circle.
5. Finally click Apply.

Why Partition a Hard Drive?

Partitioning an external hard drive allows youto have separate drives for Mac, PC, and any other operating system. Now youdon’t have to go out and buy hard drives for every computer you use.

A partition also gives you a dedicated space foryour Time Machine back-up files or a bootable backup of your operating system.It also helps protect your data if your drive gets infected with malware, as itwould be contained within one of the partitions.

Now that you know how to format an external drive for Mac, check out our blog on the difference between an HDD and an SDD.

Related Articles

I am not a regular Linux user and the only knowledge I have gained about Linux (Ubuntu) is from the 6th semester curriculum of my engineering studies. It was only those 6 months that I used Ubuntu on my personal laptop. After migrating to Windows however, one feature of Ubuntu I missed on a regular basis was the automatic display of new drive icons on desktop whenever a new media was plugged in. Ubuntu used to automatically add external drive icons to desktop.

This feature definitely eases the access in everyday computing, but it’s not available by default in Windows.

Desktop Media for Windows

Today I will talk about a simple yet useful tool, Desktop Media that will bring this missing feature to Windows. To get started, download and install Desktop Media on your computer and launch it. The tool will start minimized in the system tray. Double click on the tray icon to open the configuration Window.

The tool is very easy to use, simply check the options you want to enable. If you want to mount removable USB drives and optical drives as soon as they are plugged into Windows check the option Removable and CD-ROM. You could pin the fixed storage to desktop too, but that will not make any sense as you can create shortcut to any drive using the right-click context menu.

One interesting thing about the tool is that it detects when the mapped network folder is available and creates a shortcut on the desktop. This way you can easily monitor when your mapped network drives are accessible to you. As soon as any of the devices or network drives are plugged out, the app removes the icon from the desktop.

If you have moved the icon position on the desktop, the tool will remember the last saved position and pin the shortcut in the exact same position next time.

Cool Tip: If you have the habit of keeping your desktop clean, you can always hide the icons on the desktop and all the desktop toolbar on the taskbar. Right-click on the taskbar and selectToolbar—>Desktop to enable it.

Conclusion

The app is simple and does not have many options for you to explore. Still, it delivers what it promises flawlessly. I am sure you will love the feature whether or not you were on Ubuntu before.

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#desktop #hard disk

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