Formatting a hard drive defines how the hard drive’s media will be laid out to store the computer data. Your Mac can use five different types of formats: Mac OS Extended (Journaled); Mac OS Extended; Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled); Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive); and MS-DOS. Partitioning hard drive does not only assist in managing of files but also prevents loss of files when the drive is damaged. In this article you will learn how to partition your hard drive on windows and Mac using different methods. Part 1 How to Partition a Hard Drive on Windows 10 Below is a guide on how to partition a hard drive on Windows 10.

This answer explains how to format a WD drive for use on Windows and macOS.*END External hard drives and external solid state drives come pre-formatted and ready for use. Internal HDD and internal SSD drives do not ship pre-formatted and will need to be Partitioned and formatted before being used. Please note the instructions do not differ when formatting different capacity sizes, this is not capacity specific.

Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!

Important: Please note if this is the first time connecting an external device to a macOS, there is a Reformatting Required for Mac OS Compatibility, please see. Select an Operating System (OS) Operating System Instructions Windows 10 and 8.1 Windows 7 and Windows Vista macOS 10.14.x (Mojave) macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra) macOS 10.11.x (El Capitan) and macOS 10.12.x (Sierra) macOS 10.9.x (Mavericks), and macOS 10.10.x (Yosemite) macOS 10.7.x (Lion), and macOS 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) Both Windows and macOS (exFAT & FAT32) • APFS formatted volumes can be read by a macOS High Sierra (10.13), but not by a macOS Sierra (10.12) or earlier. For more information, please refer to • If the following message occurs during the format procedure, MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation.

Operation failed., please refer to • For instructions to convert a drive to (APFS) Apple File System Format on macOS High Sierra (10.13), please refer to Important: If at any time an error occurs stating that the drive can not be dismounted or unmounted, this is not caused by an issue with the hard drive. Please see for additional information on this particular issue. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 10 and 8.1 Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume.

Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows 10 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps: • Right-click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen, and click Disk Management.

• In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue. If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. Mac studio fix fluid for oily skin. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see.