- How To Format A Hard Drive For Mac High Sierra
- Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
- Difference Between Mac And Pc
- Format Drive For Mac And Pc On Mac High Sierra Os
- Format Pc Hd To Mac
- Hard Drive Format For Mac
Jan 20, 2018 How to Format External Hard Drives on a Mac Running High Sierra OS 10.13 or later Do you use LaCie or SeaGate Hard Drives on a Mac running High Sierra.
- Which File Format to Choose When Formatting USB Drive on Mac. For PCs operating on macOS High Sierra or newer version, you can select from two options of file formats: Mac OS Extended and APFS. Here is the difference, APFS format is not compatible with macOS versions older than High Sierra.
- Jul 02, 2020 Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use as a Time Machine backup disk or as a bootable installer. Will you be using the disk with another Mac? If the other Mac isn't using macOS High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't work with APFS-formatted volumes.
- How to format a flash drive for Mac and PC compatibility in macOS High Sierra July 20, 2018 / Dennis Sellers Macs and PCs use different file systems, which can make it tricky to put data from your Mac on a flash or hard drive and give it to a Windows user.
Winrar dmg for mac os x pc. Source: iMore
- Prepping your Mac for Sale
It is that time again. Time to decide whether to keep or replace your Mac laptop or desktop computer. If you are reading this article, chances are you've already come to the decision to replace your Mac with the newes model (or maybe you just got a new Mac as a present!), and you're thinking about selling your old one.
The first thing you should do before hitting the streets to sell your old Mac is clear it of any and all personal data. You don't want to accidentally sell your computer to a stranger when you are still logged into iCloud.
The next step is to reinstall the Mac's operating system so that the new owner can get started without having to figure out how to start up in recovering mode. Believe me, that can be a pain.
If you're going through the process of erasing your old Mac and reinstalling the operating system, we've got some common troubleshooting tips to help you out. Don't forget to follow the additional steps if you're selling a MacBook with Touch ID.
Clean the Mac of your personal data before erasing it
If you're about to sell your old Mac, the one thing you don't want to do is to give away the data you've been storing on it all these years. It's a security and privacy thing for you, but it's also important for the buyer. If you leave behind anything that needs to be logged into with a password, that buyer is going to have to track you down and get your password in order to change ownership. A completely fresh-from-scratch Mac is the best way to do this.
Step 1: Back up your Mac
If you already have your new Mac on hand, you can transfer all of your data from your old Mac or use an older Time Machine backup. If you don't have your new Mac yet, well .. then you probably shouldn't be selling your old one yet. But, if you really don't think you'll need your old computer before getting your new one, just make sure to back up your data so that nothing happens to it before you get what you need onto your new Mac.
How To Format A Hard Drive For Mac High Sierra
Step 2: Sign out of everything
The software you have on your Mac is licensed to you, which means it doesn't get transferred to the new owner of your computer (except the operating system). In order to avoid complications with the new owner attempting to download and install software that is licensed by you, make sure to sign out of everything your personal information is connected to.
How to sign out of iTunes (macOS Mojave and older)
- Open iTunes on your Mac.
- Click Account in the Menu bar on the left side of your screen.
- Ccleaner for mac os x review. Click on Sign Out.Source: iMore
How to sign out of iMessage
- Open Messages on your Mac.
- Click Messages in the Menu bar at the top left corner of your screen.
- Click Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- Select your iMessage account.
- Click on Sign Out.Source: iMore
How to sign out of iCloud
- Click on the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your Mac's screen.
- Click System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- Click on Apple ID (on macOS Mojave and older, click on iCloud).Source: iMore
- Un-tick the box for Find My Mac.
- Enter your system password when prompted.
- Click on Sign Out.
- Click Remove data from this Mac when prompted.
Step 3: Unpair your Bluetooth devices
If you're keeping your Bluetooth devices, you don't want to leave them paired to a Mac that you're getting rid of. It isn't really that important of a step, but if you sell your old Mac to, say, a roommate or someone living in the same house as you, you may experience accidentally connecting back to it.
- Click on the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your Mac's screen.
- Click System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
- Click on Bluetooth.
- Hover over the device you want to unpair.
- Click on the X next to the device.
Note: If you're unpairing a keyboard, trackpad, or mouse on a desktop Mac, be sure to have a wired one plugged in or you won't be able to type or use a curser and you'll have to repair it all again.
Step 4: Erase your hard drive
Once your data is backed up and you've signed out of everything that might connect your old Mac to your personal information, you can erase everything on it by reformatting the hard drive.
![Format Drive For Mac And Pc On Mac High Sierra Format Drive For Mac And Pc On Mac High Sierra](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126567912/687687100.jpg)
- Restart your Mac.
- While the startup disc is waking up, hold down the Command+R keys simultaneously. Your Mac will boot into macOS Recover.
- Select Disk Utility.
- Click on Continue.Source: iMore
- Click on View.
- Click on Show all Devices.
- Find your Startup disk (it should be named 'Machintosh HD' unless you renamed it) in the sidebar.
- Select the data disk under the startup disk.
- Click Edit.
- Click Delete APFS Volume from the menu bar or click the Remove button in the disk utility bar.
- Confirm by clicking Delete when prompted.
Repeat this process for all data disks under your startup disk. Do not use Delete Volume Group. Once you've deleted all of your data drives, you'll move on to erasing your startup disk.
- Select your Startup Disk (it should be named 'Machintosh HD' unless you renamed it) in the sidebar.
- Click the Erase button at the top of the Disk Utility window.
- If your Mac is using HFS+, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. If your Mac is using APFS, select APFS from the format list. See Troubleshooting for more information on which format to select.
- If Scheme is available, select GUID Partition Map.
- Click Erase.Source: iMore
- After the process is complete, select Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the screen.Source: iMore
Source: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore
After you erase your hard drive it will be ready for a clean installation of the operating system. You should already be in the Utilities window after erasing your Mac. If not, restart your computer and hold down Command and R at the same time until you see the Apple logo.
Make sure to reinstall macOS through Recovery Mode, holding down Command+R. You may be asked to sign in with your Apple ID.
If you get stuck during reinstallation, see our troubleshooting section for additional help.
Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
Note: Make sure your Mac is connected to the internet in order to verify the software. You'll be asked to do so during the installation process.
If, while reinstalling macOS, you're asked to enter a password, enter the password you use to unlock your Mac, not your Apple ID.
- Restart your Mac.
- While the startup disc is waking up, hold down the Command+R keys simultaneously. You're Mac will boot into macOS Recover.
- Click on Reinstall macOS (or Reinstall OS X where applicable) to reinstall the operating system that came with your Mac.
- Click on Continue.
- Select your hard drive ('Machintosh HD), when asked to select your disk.
- Click on Install to install the latest operating system that was on your Mac. Your Mac will restart after the installation is complete.
- Make sure you don't close the lid on a MacBook or put your Mac to sleep during this reinstallation period, even if it takes a while. If the computer goes to sleep, it will stop the installation process from continuing and you'll have to start over. Your screen will go blank, show the restart Apple logo, and show a progress bar several different times.
- Hold down Command and Q after the installation is complete. Do not follow the setup instructions. Leave that part for the new owner.
- Click Shut Down to shut down your Mac.Source: iMore
Your Mac is now clean and ready for a new owner. They will complete the setup instructions to get started using the Mac, as well as download the latest macOS operating system that is available and supported on their Mac.
Troubleshooting erasing your hard drive or reinstalling macOS
I've gotten a lot of very specific questions about issues some readers have with erasing or reinstalling macOS (usually reinstalling). Sometimes, the easiest way to fix issues with reinstalling macOS is to start by holding Shift+Option+Command+R which will put your Mac into an alternate version of Recovery Mode that allows you to install the original macOS that came with your Mac. From here, you can either keep that operating system and let the new owner update to their preferred macOS, or go through the macOS update process.
If, during the macOS reinstallation process, the installer doesn't see your disk or says you can't install the operating system on the disk, you may need to try erasing your hard drive again. Restart your Mac and hold down Command+R to bring up Recovery mode and repeat Step 4.
Since macOS changed to APFS, some readers have struggled with which format option to choose when erasing their disk. Here are some other possible troubleshooting issues from Apple's support document that may help you.
Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, don't change it to Mac OS Extended.
Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later on the disk?
If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files:
- macOS Mojave and Catalina: The installer converts from Mac OS Extended to APFS.
- macOS High Sierra: The installer converts from Mac OS Extended to APFS only if the volume is on an SSD or another all-flash storage device. Fusion Drives and traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) aren't converted.
Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use with Time Machine or as a bootable installer.
Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
If the other Mac isn't using High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't mount APFS-formatted volumes.
To learn which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:
- Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
- Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
- Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.
If you're still having trouble with either erasing your hard drive or reinstalling macOS, please reach out to us in the forums. We have a wonderful community of Apple users that are happy to help someone in need.
Any questions?
Is there anything about resetting your Mac to prepare it for sale that you need help with? Let me know in the comments and I'll get you squared away.
Difference Between Mac And Pc
Updated May 2020: Updated for macOS Catalina.
macOS Catalina
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The Apple File System (APFS) is the file system used with Mac devices running macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later, while the older Mac OS Extended file system is available for older versions of macOS. You can still use either file system for your hard drives and attached storage devices, with both having their own pros and cons.
If you can’t decide between APFS vs Mac OS Extended for your drive, you should consider your use case first. The newer APFS format is better for some types of drives, including SSDs, while Mac OS Extended is great for older drives and macOS versions. Here’s a run-through of the pros and cons of both to help you decide.
When to Use the Apple File System (APFS)
Most users aren’t interested in the type of file system their drive uses—they just expect it to work. That’s exactly what you get with the now-default Apple File System (APFS) that Mac devices have been using since macOS 10.13 High Sierra was launched in 2017. It’s also used with other Apple operating systems including iOS.
Format Drive For Mac And Pc On Mac High Sierra Os
APFS offers a number of speed and optimization improvements compared to HFS+, as well as improvements to data handling. For example, file corruption is significantly reduced compared to Mac OS Extended.
You’ll also notice that copying and pasting files on an APFS drive works almost instantly, thanks to improvements in the way macOS handles file metadata with APFS drives compared to the older HFS+.
The biggest downside to using APFS is that Macs with older macOS versions (macOS 10.12.6 Sierra and older) can’t read, write, or otherwise access drives that use it. If you have an older Mac, you’ll need to keep using Mac OS Extended or use an alternative like ExFAT instead.
If you back up your Mac using Time Machine, you won’t be able to use APFS, either. macOS continues to use the HFS+ file system for Time Machine drives for the time being. If you attempt to use an APFS-formatted drive, macOS will want to format it to HFS+ before you can proceed.
Along with APFS and Mac OS Extended (also called HFS+), you also have other file systems that can be used for external drives, including cross-platform options like ExFAT. For most users, however, APFS is the only file system they’ll need or want to use—but only if they’re (only) using modern Mac devices.
Choosing Mac OS Extended (HFS+) for Hard Drives
While Mac OS Extended (HFS+) is no longer the default file system for macOS installations, it hasn’t been completely abandoned by Apple, and it’s still a useful option for macOS users under certain conditions.
As we’ve mentioned, HFS+ is the default file system of choice for macOS Time Machine backup drives. You’ll need to use HFS+ if you plan on formatting a second hard drive or portable flash drive for use as a Time Machine backup—APFS drives won’t work.
You’ll also need to consider Mac OS Extended if you’re using older and newer Macs together, as older versions of macOS won’t support APFS. Other than functionality, however, there are still a few legitimate reasons why you’d choose HFS+ over APFS—the biggest reason depends on the type of drive you use.
Many of the speed and performance enhancements that APFS brings rely on using a high-speed SSD or portable flash memory drive. If you’re using an older, mechanical drive with a disk platter, those enhancements may seem largely minimal or non-existent.
With that in mind, and for cross-compatibility, you may decide to use HFS+ over APFS. You can format a drive with HFS+ using the macOS Disk Utility app, which you can launch from the Launchpad (Other > Disk Utility).
Using ExFAT on macOS and Windows
While you can only use an Apple file system like APFS and Mac OS Extended for your main system drive, another file system is also worth considering for external drives—ExFAT.
Format Pc Hd To Mac
ExFAT is an older file system from Microsoft, intended as a replacement for the even older FAT32 file system used with Windows system drives before the switch to NTFS in Window XP. It removes the 4GB file size limit and the 2TB partition size limit of FAT32 drives and is generally considered a better alternative for flash storage.
Hard Drive Format For Mac
If you’re thinking about using ExFAT, you’ll likely have a single objective in mind—sharing files across platforms. ExFAT should only really be used for drives that you plan on using with both macOS and Windows devices, as it’s the only file system that both operating systems support natively.
It is possible for Windows to read APFS and HFS+ drives, but it requires external software to do so. Likewise, macOS can read newer Windows NTFS drives, but not write to them.
Download koplayer latest version. For owners with Windows and macOS devices, using ExFAT for an external drive is a good option but there are alternatives, such as setting up your own cloud storage or sharing files between your devices over your local network instead.
APFS vs Mac OS Extended: Which Is Best?
There’s no winner in the APFS vs Mac OS Extended battle, as it depends on the drive you’re using. Newer macOS installations should use APFS by default, and if you’re formatting an external drive, APFS is the faster and better option for most users.
Mac OS Extended (or HFS+) is still a good option for older drives, but only if you plan on using it with a Mac or for Time Machine backups. If you need a cross-platform option, consider using ExFAT for your drive instead—both Windows and macOS can read these drives without any additional software.