Assign the name that will be given to the drive.
![exfat format tool for mac exfat format tool for mac](https://kb.sandisk.com/euf/assets/images/faqs/203/id203-1.png)
Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left (Not indented) for the drive to be formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive. From the left-side pane, choose the drive that is to be re-formatted. From the Applications folder, open Utilities, and lastly double-click on Disk Utility. Choose Applications from the left-side panel.
Exfat format tool for mac mac#
Exfat format tool for mac how to#
For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below: There are two easy ways to format a drive to use ExFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility using Erase (Step 4) or Partition (Step 7). (instructions will appear below this table)ġ0.11 (El Capitan) and above - Recommended Methodġ0.10 (Yosemite) and earlier- Recommended MethodĮxFAT in macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) and above This could quickly damage the drive's partition and corrupt the data on the drive. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!Ĭritical: Western Digital recommends that when formatting a drive that it be the only drive present on the system to limit occurences of accidental data loss.Ĭritical: Never attempt to connect any external drive to multiple computers at the same time. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone.
![exfat format tool for mac exfat format tool for mac](https://www.icare-recovery.com/images/howto/format-erase-usb-drive-mac-confirm.png)
The easiest way to format the drive to FAT32 or ExFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32, or both macOS and Windows' built-in tools, Disk Utility or Disk Management respectively for exFAT.Ĭritical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. For more information about what these limitations are please see Answer ID 20778: File and partition size limitations using the FAT32 file system (Windows and Mac). This is a file system limitation that affects both macOS's and Window's, and the only workaround is to format the drive to exFAT. FAT32 has several limitations, including a 4 GB per-file limit.
![exfat format tool for mac exfat format tool for mac](https://www.asustor.com/images/kindeditor/image/20171222/20171222100253_51665.png)
Exfat format tool for mac windows#
Most WD Drives come formatted in the NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (macOS) format.įor a hard drive to be able to be read from and written to on both a Windows and macOS computer, it must be formatted to ExFAT or FAT32 file format. This is useful if a drive is being used under both Operating System (OS) to move files between the two environments. This allows the drive to be used on both Windows and macOS.*ENDĪ Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and macOS. This answer explains how to format a drive in the exFAT or FAT32 file system.