what format is best for mac external hard drive

Reference the other sections if you have trouble. Connect your external hard drive to your computer.We recommend using volumes instead of partitions because it’s more difficult to mess up and easier to fix if you do. In any case, here’s how to add a volume to your external hard drive. Once you’re done, you’ll have multiple partitions that you can work with. This will reformat your drive without the partition.Īnd that’s it. To remove partitions - Go back into the partition screen, select the partition you want to be removed, and hit the – (minus) button.Make sure you backup or remove any important data before partitioning. Note - Partitioning a drive will also reformat the drive.Disk Utility divides the space in half by default. The slider button is just above the +/- buttons. Using the slider on the pie graphic, change the size until your partition is as big as you want it.Sometimes, using other formats will mess up your hard drive. It is very strongly recommended to use APFS.

Give your new partition a name, and then select the format.In the pop-up, the utility asks if you want to create a whole partition or just an extra volume.Next, click the + (plus) button underneath the pie graphic to create a new partition.On the next screen, click the Format box and switch it to APFS.At the top of the screen, click the Partition button.Select your external hard drive on the left margin.Double-click Disk Utility when it pops up. Open Finder and type Disk Utility into the search bar.You can use other formats, but it gets a little wonky. Connect the drive you want to partition.Also, if you do intend on using your external hard drive to boot Windows, Apple strongly recommends using Boot Camp to partition the drive instead of the Disk Utility feature.

What format is best for mac external hard drive