• Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc
• Free Hard Drive Formatting Software
• Format Hard Drive For Mac And Windows
• Format Mac Internal Hard Drive

After years of use, thousands of files and GBs of file fragments have been stored on your Mac hard drive. You may want to get rid of all this junk data and reuse your hard drive. Formatting is the easy solution to help you remove all data/traces on your Mac hard drive. Normally, once your hard drive is formatted, you will get a brand new hard disk drive. But, how to format a local/external hard drive under Mac OS? How to format a hard drive on Mac and permanently erase the data information on the hard drive? Don't worry. Here are two hard drive format software tools for Mac to help you securely format, reformat and erase hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive, and memory card under Mac OS.

Two Reliable Disk Formatting Software for Mac

Jul 02, 2020  Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue. If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Choose View Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. You’ll also see the file system referred to as the drive’s formatting. Typically, an external hard drive that works on a Windows PC uses an NTFS file system. And an external hard drive that works on a Mac is in HFS+ format. The faster SSD drives on a Mac may well use an APFS file system. To check, right click on the external hard drive.

Unlike Windows OS, Mac OS doesn't provide quick format tool. Fortunately, there are some Mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under Mac OS. Here are two outstanding Mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on.

NO.1 Mac Hard Drive Format Tool – AweEraser for Mac

As a comprehensive data erasure tool, AweEraser for Mac can help you securely and permanently format a hard drive or device under Mac OS. It is pretty simple to use. So, it can help you quickly format, reformat and erase hard drive under Mac. First of all, free download AweEraser for Mac and install it on your Mac.

Outstanding Mac disk formatting features:

Format Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

• Format hard drive, USB flash drive, memory card, SD card, digital camera, external hard drive, and other media device under Mac OS.
• Format and erase SSD under Mac OS.
• Reformat and erase hard drive/device under Mac OS.
• Permanently erase the data on the hard drive.

How to use AweEraser for Mac to format a hard drive or device on Mac? Actually, it is very simple. Just run AweEraser for Mac on your Mac. Select the mode 'Erase hard drive'. AweEraser for Mac will show all the hard drives and external devices on your Mac. Just select the targeted hard drive or device, then click on 'Erase' button. AweEraser for Mac will help you format the selected hard drive/device and erase all data, data traces, and fragments on the selected hard drive/device.

Mac hard drive formatting steps: Run AweEraser for Mac > Choose 'Erase Hard Drive' > Select hard drive > Click on 'Erase' button > Format the selected hard drive.

Please note that once the hard drive is formatted by AweEraser for Mac, all the data on the hard drive will be permanently erased, can't be recovered by data recovery software or manual data recovery service. So, please back up your important data to another hard drive before you use AweEraser for Mac to format your Mac hard drive.

The formatting process will not cause any damage to your hard drive or device. AweEraser for Mac will not shorten the service life of your hard drive/device. It just securely formats your Mac hard drive/device and permanently erases all the data. Then your hard drive/Mac computer/device is able to reuse, resold, recycled or can be safely donated or lent to other people.

NO.2 Mac Hard Drive Format Tool – Disk Utility

Disk Utility is a smart hard drive format tool built in Mac system. Just run it on your Mac, it will show all the hard drives and external devices on your Mac. Select the hard drive and click 'Erase', then Disk Utility will help you format and erase the hard drive or device. But, the formatted data by Disk Utility can be recovered by data recovery software.

The two hard drive formatting software for Mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under Mac OS. But both of them can't format the hard drive which the Mac OS is installed on because the Mac system doesn't allow other software to destroy the system. However, AweEraser for Mac can help you erase unused disk space of the system hard drive to help you permanently erase all already deleted data and history traces.

Related Articles

Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

There are lots of people who mistakenly think that the USB drives and hard drives format don’t really matter. But the reality is quite different. Whether it is a hard drive or USB or internal drive, Mac uses different format support. So, you can’t simply use the same drive with both Windows and Mac. As a result, you will need to format the hard drive for Mac. Using the Mac preferred file system is important otherwise the files will be of no use to you.

In this article, we are going to discuss how to format a hard drive for Mac and some related terms too.

Part 1. Situations When Formatting a Hard Drive on Mac:

Before you get deep, it is important that you understand what is drive formatting. Some people confuse the term with reformatting. Basically, formatting is the process of preparing the storage devices such as hard disk drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, or any other for initial use.

The basic operation is termed as low-level formatting which means erasing the existing data on the disk. But it leaves the track to recover the data using the recovery tool.

There is another term related to disk formatting and it is called reformatting. It is called high-level formatting as it is used to prepare the disk for different file system format. It is usually done during the OS installation or adding a new disk. Reformatting is done to free the storage space from the previous content stored in it.

You can consider disk formatting in macOS in the various circumstances. Whether your system has corrupted data, damaged software, impending system upgrade, storage is full, or it is running slow, formatting will fix a lot of issues. Take a look at the scenarios given below and you will be sure that disk formatting will help you.

• If you want to quickly erase all content from the drive permanently without leaving a trace of data on it.
• If you want to change the format of the disk such as PC format like FAT or exFAT to Mac format.
• If you see the message that the disk is not readable by Mac.
• If you want to resolve a disk issue that can’t be fixed by Repair feature of Disk Utility.
• If the macOS installer can’t see the disk or unable to install it.
• In case the macOS installer says that the drive can’t be installed because it is a part of Apple RAID.

Under all these situations, formatting is most likely to fix your problems and you will be able to use the drive on Mac.

Part 2. How to Format a Hard Drive on Mac:

Free Hard Drive Formatting Software

Formatting is a very simple procedure which is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a USB flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on Mac. Before you erase a disk, make sure that you have a backup of the files you want to keep.

Step 1: Connect the USB drive or external drive to Mac and launch the Disk Utility from Applications.

Step 2: From the left side panel, pick the volume or the drive that you want to format and switch to the Erase tab.

Step 3: As you click on the Erase button, you will see several fields in the section. Enter the given information-

• Name- Enter a name for the disk such as Macintosh HD/SSD/USB Drive or anything else you want.
• Format- You have to choose a Mac supported format from the list. The most recommended format is APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). There are numerous other formats too which will be displayed in the drop-down menu. You can select any format as per your requirement.
• Scheme- If this option is available, then you should choose the GUID Partition Map from the option.

Step 4: After specifying the fields, click on the Erase button at the bottom of the window and Disk Utility will format the drive.

Once the formatting is complete, you can use the disk for a backup drive, sharing, time machine backup, or any other requirement. In case the drive doesn’t appear in the Disk Utility interface, you will have to disconnect all the extra and non-essential devices connected to Mac. Make sure that the External drive is on and connected properly. Restart your Mac and then carry out the task.

Part 3. How to Perform Mac Data Recovery After Format:

There are situations when Mac users don’t get the chance to create a backup of their data and forced to format the hard drive. But you don’t need to panic. You can get your hands on Recoverit data recovery for Mac. If you have mistakenly formatted the data that you still need, Recoverit is the best chance you have to get the files back. It is a complete data recovery solution which is capable of recovering all kinds of files with wide format support of 1000+.

You can download the software from the official website and install it immediately on Mac. Once the setup is complete, follow the steps below to recover formatted drive files.

Step 1: Specify Location:

Run the program and specify a location from the main drive. If data is lost from an external drive or USB flash drive, then you’ll have to connect the drive with the system and then specify the location.

Click on the Start button to initiate the scanning process.

Step 2: Scan Results:

Depending on the data that is lost or deleted, scanning will take some time. As the process finishes, the files will be displayed on the screen according to their respective format.

You can decide whether you want to look for files according to file type or file path. You can also stop the scanning process in between if the results are displayed before the scanning finishes.

Step 3: Preview and Recover Formatted Data:

As soon as the data is displayed on the screen, you can have a preview of the files. Select as many files as you want and have a preview of the files. Tap on the Recover button to save the files on your system.

As you are retrieving the files, keep in mind not to save the files in the previous location. Depending on the amount of recovery, it will take a while and ultimately you’ll have your files back. If the normal scan doesn’t work for you, Recoverit also has a Deep scan mode to look deeper for the deleted and lost files.

Part 4. Different Formats of Hard Drive for Mac:

Mac Hard drives have wide support for formats but there are two major formats which are preferably used by the Mac users. It also depends on the macOS version you are using. The key point to consider is that the drives formatted with the newer versions won’t be recognized by the older devices. So, when you are formatting a USB drive, it will be ideal to choose the right format which is Mac OS Extended.

The supported Mac formats for the drive are explained below:

APFS:

The APFS format is optimal for Solid State Drive such as flash drives. Hence, if you are formatting a flash drive, you should definitely choose the APFS format. Along with the flash drives, this format is also faster and more reliable for Mac hard drives.

Mac OS Extended:

Talking about Mac OS Extended, it is perfectly suitable if you want to use a drive for backup. The Time Machine feature of Mac still doesn’t have support for APFS disk. In case you select this format, Time Machine will prompt you to reformat the drive.

Format Hard Drive For Mac And Windows

When you are formatting disk on Mac, keep some things in mind. Never ever change the inbuilt format of a Mac drive.

Part 5. Tips for Formatting a Hard Drive on Mac:

Even though formatting doesn’t seem like a big deal, still it can be very helpful. So, it is important that you stay active and keep all things in mind. Here are some tips that might help you when you are about to format a Mac hard drive.

• Disk Utility in macOS Sierra and later chooses a compatible format for you automatically. But you should know the default format for your drive. It is advised not to change the default format of a Mac hard drive under any circumstances.
• You can check the format of a drive inside the Disk Utility Menu bar. Just click on the Get Info option and you’ll know the current format a drive is using to store files. Open the System information and select the storage. In the right side panel, you will see the respective format for each volume on your Mac.
• If you want to erase your disk before you install the latest High Sierra on your Mac for the first time, then opt out for the Mac OS Extended format. During the installation of OS, the macOS installer will automatically decide whether to use APFS or Mac OS Extended for the disk.
• You can also use the FAT32 format on Mac for USB drives if you wish to use it on both Mac and Windows. The FAT32 format can be read and written on both OS and hence it is the most versatile format for use.
• If you wish to transfer big files from Windows to Mac, you’ll still have an alternative, i.e. exFAT. This format doesn’t have a file limit but it can only be read on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later.

So, before you pick out the format, look out for the advantages and the disadvantages of the formats to choose the optimal format for Mac. The Windows supported format is usually listed as MS-DOS format in the list of formats.

Wrapping It Up:

As you can see, now you know how to format hard drive/ USB flash drive/ internal drive/external drive on Mac. So, from now on whenever someone is in need, you can help them. And formatting doesn’t always finish without complications. So, if you lost some important files while formatting the drive, you can use Recoverit data recovery software for Mac to restore them in original condition. Recommend the software to your friends and family and let them know that there is a master tool for recovery for both Mac and Windows OS in the market.

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