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How to Reformat External Hard Drive Mac Compatibility

By Adela D. Louie, Last updated: July 28, 2020

If what you are aiming for is to make sure that you have complete compatibility of the external hard drive to your Mac, then you what you need to do is to have it formatted to Mac OS Extended filesystem. This process is very common for those generic hard drives which are commonly preformatted compatible with a Windows computer and not for a Mac OS X.

And reformatting your external hard drive for Mac OS X is not a very difficult thing to do. This process is actually very simple and will only require you to do a few steps. And after that, you will then be able to save any backup files that you want on your external hard drive. And at the same time, you will be able to keep all of the information that you have stored in your external hard drive safe.

The fact is that you can actually use any hard drive with your Mac, however, if you want to make sure that you get the most out of it, then you can have it reformatted for your Mac OS X. That is why in this article, we are going to show you a quick way on how to reformat the external hard drive, Mac. And as a bonus, we are going to show you a special way on how you can recover data deleted from your external hard drive as well.

How to Reformat External Hard Drive MacBONUS TIP: How to Recover Deleted Data from Reformat External Hard Drive MacConclusion

How to Reformat External Hard Drive Mac

For you to be able to reformat your external hard drive Mac, here are the steps you need to follow.

  • Step 1. Plugin Hard Drive- The first thing that you need to do is to have your external hard drive be plugged into your computer.
  • Step 2. Go to Disk Utilities- And then, launch the Disk Utility folder which is located from going to your Applications folder and Utility folder.
  • Step 3. Look for the Hard Drive’s Name- And from the Disk utility folder, just go ahead and locate for the name of your external hard drive from the left side of your screen. And once that you have found it, go ahead and click it and then hit on the Erase button.
  • Step 4. Do Instructions Needed- And then, there will be an on-screen instruction shown to you. This will lead you in selecting the option Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Also, this will then let you format your external hard drive.

And that is how to reformat external hard drive Mac easily. Once that you are done with the process, then you will be able to use your drive and have your backup file saved using it.
Reformat External Hard Drive Mac

BONUS TIP: How to Recover Deleted Data from Reformat External Hard Drive Mac

Now you have already known how to reformat external hard drive Mac easily and in a fast way. So which means that you can now use your drive for you to store important documents and other files that you have.

Now, since we know how important it is to keep your data safe in your external hard drive, we have made special software for you that you can use just in case that something happens to your external hard drive causing you to delete all of the saved data in it. In short, with this software, you will be able to recover them back to your external hard drive. The software that we are talking about is no other than the FoneDog Data Recovery.

Data Recovery Recover deleted image, document, audio and more files. Get deleted data back from computer (including Recycle Bin) and hard drives. Recover loss data caused by disk accident, operation system crushes and other reasons. Free Download Free Download FoneDog Data Recovery

The FoneDog Data Recovery can recover any deleted data the quickest and the easiest way possible. This software is considered to be a professional data recovery software and that it can restore any type of files that you have from any sort of situation such as deleted file recovery, hard drive recovery, partition recovery, crashed windows or Mac, memory card recovery, and a flash drive recovery.

Also, the FoneDog Data Recovery can recover any data from any external device such as a hard drive, memory card, USB, a digital camera, and removable drives. It can also recover data from your computer. So, to give you a quick guide on how this program works, here is a quick step by step process you can follow.

Step 1. Install Program and Launch it on Computer

You can get the FoneDog Data Recovery tool by downloading it from our website. And then install it on your Mac computer.
Launch FoneDog Data Recovery

Step 2. Choose the Type of Data and Device Storage

After the complete installation of the program, go ahead and run it on your computer. And from the main page of it, you will be able to choose on which device you would like to recover your deleted data or backup file. So here, you have to choose the external hard drive that you are working on. Then, simply choose the data that you would like to recover as well.
Choose the Type of Data

NOTE: You have to make sure that the connection of your external hard drive and your Mac is stable while you are on the process of recovering your data.

Step 3. Scanning Process

After choosing your external hard drive and the data that you want to recover, then you can go now and click on the Scan button. The FoneDog Data Recovery will then start scanning your device giving you the result basing on the option that you have chosen earlier.
Scanning Process

NOTE: There are two ways to scan in this part. The Quick Scan can only take a few minutes to finish. And the Deep Scan which can take a longer period of time since it will scan thoroughly on your external hard drive.

Step 4. Preview and Select Data to Retrieve Then Recover

And once that the scanning process is all done, all of the data will then be listed on your screen. From here, you can now go ahead and choose all of the data that you want to recover. And once that you are done choosing them, simply click on the Recover button below your screen.

Then, the recovery process will start so all you have to do from here is wait until such time that the process is complete.
Recover Data

Conclusion

As you can see, it is very easy to reformat your external hard drive for your Mac. All you need to do is to go through all of the steps that we have provided you and you will surely be done in no time. Also, just in case you happen to have deleted data from your hard drive, then you can easily have them back by using the FoneDog Data Recovery tool.

Free Download Free Download

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Adela D. Louie

Tech Website Writing /Content Optimization

Singing, smiling, surprising every day!

So as a technical writer, it is my duty to gather effective and reliable solutions to answer questions on how to deal with the issues they are having with their devices.

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FoneDog Data Recovery recovers the deleted photos, videos, audios, emails, and more from your Windows, Mac, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, etc.

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