OS X :: Choosing Format And Partition Type Of External Drive
Jul 19, 2009
I just ordered a 1 terabyte WD external drive, and I'm planning on creating one partition for music/movie storage, and a second smaller partition for a superduper clone. So my first question is, what format should each partition be in? I'd like the movies/music partition to be Windows compatible...will choosing FAT32 make any difference in my use of this partition when used with my OSX machine, and what benefits would I see by using Extended Journaled instead? Then, what format do I want the Superduper backup partition to be? Finally, when I initially format and partition the external drive, is there anything I should do to prepare it first, or just go right ahead, divide it in two (approx. 650gigs for music/movies, the rest for superduper) and then format each partition on its own into the formats they need to be in? Also, do I use GUID partition format?
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Feb 15, 2012
I have a 1 TB LaCie drive that I am currently using with a MBR partition scheme. It has two partitions: one for time machine and one for windows. What I want is to use this drive to hold my time machine back ups in one partition for Lion, which I am about to switch to and install on the iMac internal drive, my windows stuff in one partition, and a third partition in which I would put a clone (CCC) of my current internal drive (Snow Leopard) that I could boot from when desired.
This would enable me to run Lion normally from the iMac's internal drive, switch to the windows partition (holding down the option key when powering on) on occasion when I want to work in a windows only app, and using the same option key on power on trick, boot into Snow Leopard when I need to use old, apps that won't run on Lion. For this, I assume that I should use the GUID partition scheme. Am I right? Is there a better way to accomplish my goal?
Info:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Nov 5, 2009
I'm running Snow Leopard on my new Macbook Pro. I've got a 1.5TB External hard drive that I'm trying to figure out how to format in HFS+ with Apple Partition Map. I can figure out how to format in HFS using Disk Utility, however it still does it in GUID format and I do not know how to do it in Apple Partition Map.
Googleing this for hours has lead with all kinds of information on how to go to GUID FROM Apple Partition Map but not the other way around. I know GUID is the new hottness.. but this drive will be used exclusively to connect to my XBOX 360 and it supposedly only reads HFS+ when its formatted with Apple Partition Map. (I have tried it with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID, and the XBOX does NOT recognize it) I do not want to use Fat 32, (I know that that is the other major option) beacuse it limits file size.
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Nov 2, 2010
i'd like to format my lacie external hard drive with two partitions:
1. HFS+ partition as a bootable clone of my internal drive
2. FAT32 partition readable by any windows (and mac) machine
i'm creating my partitions with disk utility, but i hit a snag when choosing a partition scheme...apparently i cannot choose a different scheme for each partition.
so when i format the drive with GUID, the FAT32 partition is not even recognized by windows XP. but when i format the drive with master boot record (MBR), the HFS+ partition is not bootable...
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Apr 18, 2010
The hard drive is a 1TB Western Digital my book I bought it in January I think. I tried to format it to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) when I got it but for some reason every time I try to erase the part thats named disk3s2 or partition the main one it stops a little before half way through. I don't think its the hard drives fault so I called apple about it one day and they helped a little but it didn't work. Thanks in advance if you can help me. Also a few times I waited about seven hours for it while I was at school and when I came home it didn't move.
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Nov 7, 2009
I'm going to use a fast 300GB WD VelociRaptor HD in an e-SATA enclosure connected to my MBP via a Merax e-SATA Xpress XpressCard/34 for moving large audio file drum software during live play. I know FAT32 wont work because of it's 4gig file limitation and stability issues (file corruption). I could use the more modern and stable NTFS but that would require using something like NTFS-3G or Paragon to allow OSX to recognize it but I'm worried about slower performance going that route. Would using the OSX native HFS+ format give me the performance and large file size usage I need?
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Sep 27, 2010
I am trying to figure out how to partition my HD so that it can speak easily between a Windows formatted HD and Mac HD's without the Error Code -0 (meaning it won't transfer files larger than 4gb's from HD to HD. I use a Mac running Snow Leopard and I am formatting using Disk Utility. I have always done the MS-DOS (FAT) format but like I said I am getting the Error Code -0 and it's become more of a nuisance than anything.
My options are Mac OS Extended (Journaled), Mac OS Extended, Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled), Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive), MS-DOS (FAT) and Free Space. Is it possible to get the best option explained to me in a way that's more understandable than from the research I have discovered. Also I know Finder has issues thus the reasoning for the 4gb limit. I have downloaded a 3rd party app Path Finder to allow me to bypass that limit except whenever I copy from one HD to another it disappears once the transfer is complete.
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Dec 25, 2008
I am using this guide to get a new HD into my PS3: [URL:...] It says that the HD I back my PS3 up to needs to be formatted to FAT32. I have an external HD that I use with my mac, its partitioned into 4 parts. I have one partition which I don't use which I want to back my PS3 onto. In Disk Utility I select that partition and I only get 4 option under the Erase tab, 4 different Mac OS Extended options.
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Sep 19, 2009
I have a Kingston 1gb usb drive. I know how to use disc utility and format it by choosing the FAT option, but it never works correctly for me. I can use the drive on my Mac fine, but whenever I plug it into a PC it states that the drive needs to be reformatted. my only access to a PC is at school, and the permissions do not allow me to reformat the usb drive on those computers. I don't understand why my Mac can't just format it correctly for PC use..
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Oct 24, 2008
I'm using an external drive through FireWire 400 on my MacBook Pro with 10.5.5. It's a 320GB with 22GB in "free space" and the rest formatted with HFS+ (used as a Time Machine backup drive). I want to setup that 22GB as a FAT32 partition to be writable in both Windows and Mac. Normally, it sounds like I'm supposed to use Disk Utility on Mac and just choose MS-DOS(FAT). Unfortunately, that choice is not presented. I can choose four different Mac-based file systems, but not FAT. Why doesn't that show up as a choice? I've tried leaving it as free space and using a PC to format it. I've tried formatting it as a Mac-based drive and using the PC to format. I've even tried installing MacDrive on the PC and using that to format it as FAT32.
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Sep 12, 2014
I have partitioned my external Hard drive into three different partitions, each of different formats. Two partitions for backing up my macbooks and one to copy to and from my windows PC. I would just like to know if in any way is it possible for me to be able to re-partition one of the partitions, without affecting my Time machine partitions, in case the need be in future.
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)
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Feb 12, 2009
I am trying to format my external drive to have (2) partitions. A NTFS for backing up my Windows computer and a HFS for backing up my MacBook Pro.
This is what ive tried:
1.) Create 2 partitions on my Mac in Disk Utility. 1 partition HFS, 1 partition FAT32. After doing this both show up in OSX but neither one shows up in WinXP. I was hoping the FAT32 would show up in WinXP so I can convert it to NTFS.
2.) Create 2 partitions in WinXP using Disk Management. 1 partition is NTFS and 1 is FAT32. Connected the drive to my MBP and both partitions mounted in Finder. I then opened Disk Utility and tried to "Erase" the FAT32 partition to HFS. The process seemed to be working but then it changed the name of the partition to disk1s1 and nothing else. The partition doesnt mount in Finder or WinXP.
3.) Create 2 partitions in WinXP using Disk Managment. Both partitions as NTFS. Connected to MBP and both partitions mounted in Finder. Opened Disk Utility and tried to "Erase" one of the NTFS systems to HFS. Same thing happen as #2, renamed the partition but didnt do anything else. The partition doesnt show up in Finder or WinXP.
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Jun 1, 2009
is there a way to do such a thing? i have another user on my macbook ultra and i want their files to save on the external drive and not internal. the reason i want this is because i want all my drive space for me and me only.
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Jan 3, 2008
I have a 500g AcomData external firewire drive that i use w/ one of my G4's running OS9.2. I have been using the drive for about 3 months with no issues. Yesterday i went to work on some music files, and when i tried to open my session, a bunch of the drums were missing. When i went to the drive and looked in the actual folder, all the missing drums were there, but their icons read 'PC' and the music program wont recognize them? Basically, i moved some files from my G4 to my external drive. They were initially Pro Tools files and the drive must have converted them to 'PC'. When i do 'apple I' it doesnt say that any of the info/format has changed? But the Icon is different, and Pro Tools wont see it? I have done this a bunch with all my other songs, for the past 3 months with no issues? Is there anyway to change these files back to what they used to be?
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Jan 8, 2009
I just brought a Western Digital 1TB USB drive for my Mac Pro. Now when I try and format it in Mac OSX journaled it keeps coming up in an error saying it can't be done, It will format as FAT32 but I need it to be Mac OSX formatted. Does anyone know what might be wrong?
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May 5, 2009
I just bought a new WD Elements (1tb) and I am getting an error when I try and format. I wish I could tell you what that error says but I was trying to figure something else out so I chose the disk6s1 and formatted it to os extended but it seems like it is frozen. I am afraid if I force quit it will screw up the drive. This is the 2nd one I have tried, I returned the 1st one thinking the drive was faulty. Now I think I screwed up the drive when I formatted it in disk utility. I have installed 2 western digital internal Hard Drives into my Pro and have used 2 other external HDs both western digitals. If there was any problems with any of my HDs, I would open up Disk Utility and Erase them to be Mac OS Extended (My WD TV won't read Journaled drives).
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Jul 8, 2009
I have the external drive formated as FAT of 1TB.
I have erasing all data whole day (about 20 hours) and formating as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) but at the end it reports an error.
Now, when I connect hard drive to my MBP it says "disk is not readable on this computer" - Initialize...
When i try to format as Mac OS Extended (J) it says: "Disk erase failed with error: File system formated fail"
I tried to format it on PC (Vista and XP) but they even can't see hard disk.
What should I do to get journaled formated external hard drive?
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Jul 27, 2009
I bought a new Hitachi 1tb bare drive and have been trying to format it through Disk Utility. I have it connected to my iMac system using a Newertech USB 2.0 drive connector.The new drive appears in Disk Utility, and when I go through the "Erase" tab and set if up as Journaled - the system seems to go into formatting mode for about ten minutes and then I get an error and I have to Force Quit the Disk Utility.
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Jun 2, 2012
Just got the WD MyBook 2TB. It's not the one specifically for Mac. It says it is compatible, needs to reformat. How easy is it to reformat? It is for Time Machine.
Info:
Mac mini (Mid 2011)
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Nov 3, 2008
I have an external drive that will need to be connected at different times to both my Mac (Leopard) and my Windows XP & Vista machines. I had it formatted for Mac OS (Journaled) but it wasn't readable in XP or Windows. So what is the best format so that all can read/write to it normally? NTFS? It needs to be able to handle larger files (4GB and bigger).
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Apr 16, 2009
I have a Western Digital Elements 1TB External USB drive and am unable to format 1 partition as Mac OS Extended (or Journaled for that matter) in Disk Utility. I can format the drive as FAT32 with no issue, and I can format the drive as FAT32 with 1 NTFS partition with no issue. But any time I try to format the partition as Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended Journaled it reports an underlying error and stops. I can't figure it out. I don't know what the problem is or what to look for. Does anyone have any pointers?
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Apr 20, 2009
I am going to be buying an external hard drive soon (Seagate FreeAgent Go 250GB 2.5" External Hard Drive - Black) and I want to double format Or double partition it. I am pretty good with macs, I just don't know much about time machine and external hard drives. What I want to do is either:
A) Make a partition in which I can make backups, and make a separate partition in which I can store files
B) Make a single partition in which I can save back ups (from time machine) and my files (Music, Movies, Applications)
Also, would I be able to run Windows (XP) from my external hard drive somehow? Also, could I run mac applications off my external hard drive, is there a certain procedure?
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Jan 18, 2010
I'm looking to format my external, which i did but one question under Info it says
Format : Mac OS Extended
Capacity : 999.86 GB
Available : 999.28 GB
Used : 579.4 MB on disk (579,424,256 bytes)
What is the used space about? When it should be 100% empty?
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May 8, 2010
I bought a new 1TB external hard drive. What formats should I choose in Disk Utility to make this disc compatible with both Mac and Windows? I rarely have files over 2GB and my Mac is running on Snow Leopard.
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Mar 19, 2012
Which format would be most appropriate for reformatting my external drive whilst keeping it compatible across platforms (mac and windows)??Â
Info:
MacBook Pro
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Mar 26, 2012
How do I format an external drive (My Passport) from mac to pc (iOS Snow Leopard) without losing my data?
Info:
MacBook Pro
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May 2, 2012
Verbatim Store 'n' Go USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive 500Gb
this is a external hard drive i am looking to buy,but it has Nero back it up and burn software already on it,so in order for me to use it on my macbook,would i need to format it?
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Jun 25, 2012
I'm creating a Digital Cinema Package, and I need to format an external drive to Linux ex2 or ex3, and then transfer the DCP files onto it. Is there a way to do this easily from OSX? I'm fairly computer literate, but I'm mostly uneducated (and very nervous) when it comes to drive formatting, so the easier/less sketchy the better.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Jun 28, 2014
How do I format an external hard drive?
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Dec 30, 2010
I am trying to format a clickfree external hard drive, but disk utility cannot do it. I even tried one partition, but it doesn't work either. It was formerly used on Vista or XP (unsure). It includes a virtual cdrom partition that is about 300MB. No matter what I do (format or partition), I cannot get this drive clean. I want to make it an external drive for time machine backups. Is there any way I can get rid of this virtual cdrom, and actually wipe the drive clean, so it will work 100% on a Mac (without this annoying error message that the virtual cdrom drive cannot be read on a Mac - it asks whether I want to ignore or eject). The website is bare with facts/help about this. It says that OS X is supported, but I cannot format the damn drive. Here is a screenshot. I just want to format the entire drive and have one partition (250GB drive) to use for backups: [URL:...] Are there any other tools that will do this job, since Disk Utility cannot?
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