MacOS Recovery makes it easy to reinstall the Mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. All you need is a connection to the Internet. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the Wi-Fi menu, which is also available in macOS Recovery.
- Format Mac Usb On Windows
- Mac Reformat Usb Drive
- Completely Reformat Usb Drive
- Erase And Reinstall Os X
- How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
The Hard Drives formatted for mac have an HFS+ file system. This file system is specifically for Mac systems and windows can’t read this file system. You can have access to the HFS + file system hard drive on windows with the help of any third party software. There are a number of tools that can help you in this regard. But using a third party all the time for accessing a hard drive on windows is not good. A user has to know how to convert Mac formatted hard drive to Windows formatted.
The Windows system uses a hard drive with a different file system than the Mac systems. Windows-formatted hard drives have either NTFS file system of an FAT32 file system. Thus in order to make the hard drive Windows formatted, you have to convert the file system to NTFS or FAT32. In the further discussion, you will learn how to make a hard drive useful for Windows by changing the formatting of the drive.
- Again, if your USB is incompatible, an adapter should do the trick. Step 2: Back Up Any of Your Files. Once you’ve got your USB plugged in, the first thing you should do before formatting your USB on Mac is to back up any of your files. When you format your drive on Mac, or anywhere really, all the files in the drive will be deleted.
- We all make mistakes, and you wouldn’t be the first person in the world to accidentally format a USB flash drive. Disk Drill, a premium data recovery solution for Mac OS X with support for all popular file formats and common storage devices, is here to help you recover deleted files from USB flash drive. Disk Drill’s advanced data recovery.
Get a Backup
Before going ahead and formatting your hard drive for Windows, you should get a backup. Formatting of any kind can leave the hard drive totally empty by erasing all your data. There are a number of instances when users lose their important data due to formatting. It is very important to save the integrity of your data on the hard drive.
You can take help of any third party tool to make a backup of your hard drive. Or you may opt to make a normal backup in your external drive or another computer. Make sure you perform all the backup properly, an improper operation may leave the hard drive with error and hard drive may ask for formatting before use. However, data from formatted disk error in Windows can be recovered generally with any good tool.
Format Mac Usb On Windows
Taking a proper backup is very important for your data before formatting your hard drive. Some of the most important things to take care of involve using a hard drive carefully during any kind of transfer, installation or formatting.
Delete the Mac Formatted Partition
The first step in this regard should be deleting the Mac partition with HFS + file system. In order to make it possible, you have to run the disk management tool. Here is how to do it:
Right-click on Windows icon, select Disk Management.
Select the Mac drive from the list of drives - Make sure this is the drive you want to work on, if you do it for the Windows formatted drive in the list, it may cost you a lot of important data.
Right Click on the partition and select Delete Volume – This will remove the partition.
Right click on the space and select New Simple Volume from the list.
Set the file system as NTFS or FAT 32 according to your need.
Delete EFI System Partition
Most of the times the mac drives are formatted with an EFI system partition. This is secure than the simple partition and you can’t right click and format the drive. To format such a partition, you have to go through a complete wipe out of your hard drive. If your Mac drive has an EFI partition, follow the steps to format it:
Go to device management window – As explained in the above section.
Locate your drive partition which has Mac format file system.
Note the disk number from the window
Mac Reformat Usb Drive
To go to command prompt – Type Run in Search Box on Taskbar and press Enter > Type cmd and press Enter
OR
Go to Windows > Type cmd and press Enter
Type diskpart in the command prompt window and press Enter
Completely Reformat Usb Drive
Type list disk in the diskpart window and press Enter
Find your disk with the disk number that you have seen initially
Type select disk <disk number> and press Enter
Type Clean and press Enter
This will clean your hard drive all the data will wipe out. Now in order to use this on Windows, you have to designate a file system to the hard drive partitions.
Assign NTFS File System
Once you have wiped out the content of your disk along with file system that was stopping it from use by Windows. you can go ahead and give a file system to the partitions:
Go to disk management again
Select the Mac disk from the list of drives – It shows Not initialized message in the empty disk.
Right-click on the disk and select Initialize disk
Create a partition for your disk
Right click and select New Simple Volume
Set the file system as NTFS or FAT32 as per your requirement
The drive is now formatted and ready to use in Windows Operating System.
- 1. Mac Files Tips
- 2. Mac Software
- 3. Mac Storage Tips
- 4. Mac Troubleshooting
- 5. Mac OS
by Jenefey AaronUpdated on 2020-01-10 / Update for OS X
You may need to boot up your Mac using an external drive or boot volume once in a while, rather than using a start up disk. Booting with an external disk has a lot of significance. Maybe you want to troubleshoot some problems, repair the disk, do partitions, format the entire disk, update, and install OS X etc. All these are executed perfectly when you use an external boot volume to boot up your Mac. In this article, we are here with the detailed step by step guide on how to boot Mac from external hard drive easily. So, let's get started…
Part 1: How to Boot Mac from USB Drive/CD/DVD
Actually, it is possible to boot Mac from external drive or a hard drive, but there are a few specific requirements needed for your Mac to become eligible for that process.
- First, you have to have an Intel-Based Mac.
- Second, the CD or DVD you are using to boot must contain Apple’s Super Drive or if you are using a USB drive then it should be formatted with GUID Partition, and you are also required to install OS X installer. Apple is against booting Mac from an external storage device, because you may install an older version of OS X than the one you were using.
Boot from CD or DVD:
If you want to boot your MacBook/Air/Pro/iMac from an optical media like CD or DVD you need to follow the steps below:
1. Open your Mac or restart the device if you were already using it.
2. When the startup music is playing press and hold the “C” key from the keyboard.
3. This will start the OS X installer from the CD/DVD on your Mac.
So, it is not too complicated to Mac boot from CD/DVD. You can easily burn a bootable image of OS X on a DVD by using Disk Utility.
Boot from External USB:
Using your USB drive to boot Mac is not as simple as you think. You need to prepare your USB drive beforehand for this specific purpose. You have to format the USB drive and insert the proper Operating System, which is OS X.
1. Turn on your Mac.
2. As soon as the startup music begins you need to press and keep holding the 'Option' key.
Erase And Reinstall Os X
3. After that release that key, the Startup manager will be launched.
4. Startup Manager will begin scanning your device and you will be provided with a list of devices that are connected to your Mac.
5. Now, select the drive you want to use with your mouse.
6. Finally, press 'Return' key on the selected option to boot Mac.
This way you can boot your Mac with an external USB drive, but the most critical part is to prepare the USB drive. If you have multiple USB drives connected, then the Startup Manager shall list the drives with the bootable OS. So, this is how to boot Mac from USB drive.
Part 2: Common Problems and Fixes When Boot Mac from External Drive
You may face several issues during MacBook Pro Boot from USB or any external drive. So, a few FAQs are mentioned below which may help you when you are facing any difficulties.
- 1. Have you tried connecting to a different USB port?
- 2. Have you formatted the USB drive with GUID partition?
- 3. Is your Mac shutting down after connecting the disk?
- 4. Is your Disk needs repair?
- 5. Have you connected the USB drive properly?
If you are unable to startup the installer after connecting the USB drive to your Mac, then first you should try connecting it to a different USB port. It may fix the problem.
If you are having problems with your USB storage device then you need to make sure that if you have properly formatted the drive with GUID partition. You have to do it properly otherwise the Intel-Based Mac won't start.
Actually, the MacBook contains a preventive measure and because of that computer shuts down automatically when a damaged USB drive is connected or if the USB port itself is damaged.
If your Mac fails to boot from an external drive even though you have properly installed the OS X installer, then maybe your disk is damaged. You should open Disk Utility and ask permission to repair disk.
There are two types of Apple keyboards, Wired and Wireless. Usb 2 0 driver mac os x. There are also some keyboards with inbuilt USB ports but they may not have enough power to run the drive.
So, this is how to startup Mac from external drive. Follow the frequently asked questions to clear any doubts that you have while booting from external hard drive Mac.
How To Format Hard Drive For Mac
In case, you want to recover any lost or deleted Mac files after a boot, we highly recommend you to go for Tenorshare Any Data Recovery for Mac. It is a utility data recovery tool capable of recovering any type of data from Mac with ease. Go for it!
Recover Unlimited Mac Data for You
- Recover data deleted, formatted or lost on Mac;
- Restore files from hard drive and external storage devices;
- Recover data from failed/crashed/dead MacBook;
- Fully supported latest macOS 10.15 Catalina;