This how-to shows you the steps using Disk Utility 13 in OS X 10.10 Yosemite, but the process is the same if you’re using OS X 10.9 Mavericks or 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Share on Facebook Tweet this Share Compatibility issues between Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS may have diminished sharply over the years, but that doesn’t mean they’ve completely disappeared. Today, if you go out and buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between the two is an often demoralizing task. But it doesn’t need to be.
A quick Google search may lead you to believe you’re on the right path by formatting the drive to FAT32. Unless every file you plan to store on the disk is less than 4GB in size, you may be better off avoiding this method, instead opting for the more storage efficient, reliable, and secure NTFS and Mac OS Extended file systems. Partition the drive on Windows 10 Possibly the best solution to using a hard drive with both Windows and Mac without the use of third-party software is creating two partitions on the drive, one for Windows and one for Mac. This essentially tricks the computer into thinking there are multiple hard drives connected to the computer at once despite there only being one. Partitioning is a fairly simple process, and we can show you how to. We’ll go into more detail below on how cross platform partitioning works, too. Partition the drive on a Mac As far as partitioning goes, Macs have it a little bit easier.
Plus, you don’t have to deal with the restrictions of FAT32, which is icing on the cake. That’s why — if you have the option — we would suggest partitioning your hard drive from the Mac itself.
To do this, your first step will be to find “Disk Utility.” The easiest way to access Disk Utility is by searching for it in Spotlight Search in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. With Disk Utility open, locate the hard drive you want to partition and select “Partition.” If you want to start from scratch, you can do so by first clicking “Erase,” followed by “Erase Free Space” to format the disk. Next, under the “Partition Layout” column, specify the number of partitions you want to create on the drive. In the “Partition Information” category, specify the name and size of each partition. Since we’re showing you how to use a hard drive with both Mac and PC, this setup is simple, with one partition dedicated to MacOS and the other dedicated to Windows.
For now at least, you’ll want to format the MacOS partition as “MacOS Extended (Journaled)” and the Windows partition as “ExFAT.” Of course, as we mentioned before, the FAT file system isn’t without its fair share of problems. Unlike the older FAT32 format, however, ExFAT allows for the storage of files up to 16 exabytes (which equates to about 16 million terabytes!).
Likewise, it supports bigger volumes as well. But it also brings with it the shaky reliability and security standards of FAT32, which is why we’ll be showing you how to format this partition back to NTFS in Windows. If you would like to specify a partition style, or scheme, select “Options.” However, the default option of “GUID Partition Table” is typically optimal with an external hard drive, so long as you don’t plan on booting the OS itself from the disk. Once you’ve decided on a layout as well as the names and sizes of your partitions, go ahead and click “Apply.” The next screen that pops up just wants to ensure that you’re aware of the effects that accompany disk partitioning, i.e. Erasing everything on your hard drive. Once you’ve come to terms with this, click “Partition.” And you should be done — ah, but wait! If you’re worried about the reliability factor of the exFAT file system, or lack thereof, there is a way to format the Windows partition to NTFS, but it requires connecting the hard drive to a Windows computer.
With Windows booted up, locate “Disk Management” by searching Windows Search / Cortana for “Create and format hard disk partitions.” When you’ve done that, make sure your hard drive is still connected and you should see the Windows partition, along with the letter you assigned it, under the “Volume” column. Right-click the Windows volume and select “Format.” Then, under “File system,” switch to NTFS and click “OK.” Congratulations! Now you can use your external hard drive with both Windows and MacOS. But, remember, your Mac will only be able to write to the MacOS partition while your PC can only write to the NTFS-formatted Windows partition.
If you need to overwrite files on the Windows partition using the Mac, for instance, you’ll have to first move the files over to the MacOS volume and vice versa. Partitioning on Windows On a PC, the process is less straightforward than what you’d see on a Mac, but it’s a relatively similar process. If you’re on Windows 10, locate Cortana on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and search “Create and format hard disk partitions.” The “Disk Management” window will proceed to open up. If you haven’t formatted the drive already, you’ll want to do that now. To do this, you’ll want to find the disk in the lower half of Disk Management. If you don’t have any additional drives attached, aside from the one built in to your computer, it should be recognized as “Disk 1.” Typically, when you buy an external hard drive it will be formatted out of the box. Depending on a number of factors, however, your drive may be labeled “Not Initialized,” such as the 4TB drive exhibited above. If this is the case for you, right-click the drive you want to format and click “Initialize Disk.” This will prompt a new window, asking you to select a partition style for your disk.
If you’re going to be using the drive with a version of Windows prior to Windows Vista, you’re going to want to go with MBR. With that being said, MBR is only compatible with disks up to 2TB in capacity. Therefore, if you’re like most of us and you want to get the most out of your external hard drive, GPT is the way to go. Click “OK” when you’ve made your decision. Now that you’ve initialized the drive, you should have a drive listed, labeled “Unallocated.” Right-click the box where it says this and select “New Simple Volume.” This will thereby initiate the New Simple Volume Wizard. Click “Next” and you’ll be asked to specify the size of your volume. The volume is the same as a partition.
In Windows, the only partition type you can create with read/write compatibility on a Mac is exFAT. For the purpose of this article, we decided to open the Windows 10 Calculator app by searching “Calculator” in Cortana and divided the maximum disk space in half. This way, we could dedicate half of the storage space to the Mac-friendly FAT32 format and the other half to the NTFS format on PC. Click “Next” then you’ll be asked to assign a drive letter to the new volume. We’re calling ours “G” by default, but you use any letter you’d like to properly identify the disk when it’s in use. After proceeding to the next page, select the file system exFat and keep the allocation unit size at the default.
As a standard user, Microsoft advises against changing the allocation unit size. Again, you can assign whatever volume label you’d like, so long as it makes it easy to identify the drive when in use.
For this reason, we opted for “MacOS,” a simple reminder that this partition will be used in conjunction with my Mac. Keep the box beside “Perform a quick format” checked and click “Next” to move on to the next screen. On the next page, make sure everything is correct and select “Finish.” Now repeat this process for Windows. However, this time, instead of using the file system exFat, you’ll want to go with NTFS. The end result should look something like this: Final notes That’s how you partition a hard drive for use on both Windows and Mac. Alternatively, you can install an application like the commercial product or the open-source on your Mac to enable NTFS read/write support, but it should be noted that even with third-party software, some features including Time Machine will not work properly with an NTFS file system.
MacOS Sierra is a fantastic update arriving from Apple to make us love our Macs even more. It has plenty of new features, and also has the same easy clean install and upgrade flow as did the previous OS.
LEARN MORE: Note, that getting an upgrade is the easiest way of installing the new macOS. It saves all your personal files, apps and user data, while a so-called clean install of Sierra will erase all data on the startup drive and replace it with a clean copy of OS. But, if you like an idea of giving your Mac a fresh start with a new macOS and nothing else, a clean install is the right option for you. Also, in case you’ve noticed that with time your Mac is running slower, it has unusual startup or shutdown issues and crashes, a clean install may be a good way to get back the speed and fix the problem.
First of all, make sure that your Mac is. Then, you should prepare your Mac for the installation:. Download macOS Sierra Installer from the Mac App Store. Once the download completes, it will automatically launch.
Quit macOS Sierra Installer app without performing the installation. Take a 16GB or larger USB flash drive to create a bootable Sierra installer. This flash drive is only needed for a clean install on your Mac’s startup drive. But if you plan to clean install on a non-startup drive (you have and extra HDD or SSD on your Mac), you don't need the USB. Backup your Mac to ensure your personal data is intact. Clean Install macOS Sierra on Your Mac’s Startup Drive If you're going to perform a clean install on the startup drive, you need to backup your data, create a bootable copy of the installer, and, finally, boot from the bootable installer.
So, let us begin. Step 1: Clean up your Mac To make sure Sierra has no troubles installing and works fine after, you need to get rid of system junk on your Mac first. You could clean it up manually, but using a cleaning app like will save you hours on that. Junk removal with CleanMyMac takes only a few minutes., launch it, click Scan, and then Clean. Now you’ve got plenty of free space and your Mac is free from system trash.
Step 2: Back up your data Note: A clean install of macOS Sierra on the startup drive completely erases all data on that drive: all your files and documents, including music, movies, pictures, and even apps. So, If you skip this step, you wouldn’t be able to recover your data if something goes wrong. To backup your Mac:. Open Time Machine. Click Select Disk. Choose where you wish to save your files (to the external drive or to the cloud storage).
Click On to turn Time Machine on. Click on the “arrow clock” icon and select Back Up Now in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Step 3: Clean Install macOS Sierra on your startup disk 1. Create a bootable flash drive with macOS Sierra.
First, make sure your USB flash drive is formatted and named as “Untitled”. To format a USB drive launch Disk Utility (Finder - /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility). Select your USB drive under External.
Click the Erase tab at the top of the Disk Utility window. Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. Then, click the Erase button. When the process is complete, click Done, and close the Disk Utility window. If your drive is named something else, you need to rename it (Open Finder - right click on the USB drive and choose Rename). Now, your USB flash drive is ready. Launch Terminal (Finder Applications Utilities Terminal).
Enter the following text into Terminal: sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app -nointeraction. Hit the Enter key. Terminal will ask you for an admin password (the one you use to log in). It won’t display characters when you type, so just do it. You’ll see that Terminal erases your drive.
Then, Terminal will copy the installer file to your disk. This will take a few minutes. When the process is complete, the Terminal window will report 'Done.' You can quit Terminal and your bootable macOS Sierra installer USB drive is ready for use. Also, you can follow the instructions from an on how to create bootable installer. Plug in the bootable macOS Sierra installer USB drive to your Mac. Restart your Mac while holding the Option key or Cmd+R.
Make sure to keep it pressed! When Mac restarts, you’ll see the macOS Startup Manager with a list of bootable devices that your Mac can start up from. Use the arrow keys to choose your USB drive with macOS Sierra installer. Select Disk Utility. 7. In the window, at the top of the left bar, select your Mac’s Main Drive (it looks like a MacintoshHD).
Select the Erase tab located next to the First Aid button at the top. Near the center of the window, select the Format drop-down list and select Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) type. Click Erase (Note: this will erase all your data from your main drive!) and give the drive some time to format. When it’s done, close Disk Utility and select “Install macOS” from the menu. Select your main drive and install the new macOS Sierra 10.12.
Follow these Sierra install instructions and enjoy your newly clean-installed macOS Sierra. Clean Install on a Non-Startup Drive This type of clean install doesn't require you to make a bootable copy of the macOS installer, since you can run the installer directly from your Mac’s startup drive. But you need to have another hard drive or volume that you can use for installing macOS. So, this is the easiest way to clean install macOS 10.12. Simply use an extra drive or volume (it doesn’t have to necessarily be empty already, you just need to be fine with it being erased) and install Sierra there. Step 1: Erase your non-startup drive If your non-startup drive has any other Mac OS, erase it before installing Sierra. If the target drive only has personal data on it, or is already empty, you can skip the erase process.
To erase the non-startup drive, use a Mac's Drive Using Disk Utility (OS X El Capitan or later) After the non-startup drive is erased, you can start the install process. Step 2: Download the macOS Sierra Installer from the Mac App Store When the macOS download completes, it will automatically launch the installer.
Quit the macOS Sierra Installer app without performing the installation. You'll find the macOS Sierra Installer in the /Applications folder. Step 3: Start the Installation of macOS Sierra on the Non-startup drive.
Launch the Installer from /Applications folder. Click Continue. Check the non-startup drive that you can install Sierra on (usually, the installer will display the default target for the installation of macOS Sierra as the startup drive (Macintosh HD). So, you should to click the Show All Disks button, and the installer will display a list of all attached volumes). Click the Install button.
The macOS Sierra installer will display a progress bar. You'll be guided through the macOS Sierra setup process to create a user account, set up date and time, and other introductory stuff. Enjoy your fresh, clean-installed macOS Sierra. These might also interest you:.