Comments on: Format an External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive for Mac OS X

By: Use a Single External Hard Drive for Time Machine Backups and File Storage

Use a Single External Hard Drive for Time Machine Backups and File Storage — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:52:11 +0000

[...] both Mac and Windows, are not compatible for using as a Time Machine drive, and as they are not exclusively formatted for the Mac, will have other limitations which are not desirable for exclusive Mac OS X [...]

By: Roger

Roger — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:27:48 +0000

So I tried to do the MS-DOS (DAT) FORMAT so I could read and write in pc and mac but I clicked erase and it said it failed then I tried to select it again and it’s no longer available for that drive neither is fat 32 please help. I have a new WD MY BOOK 3TB USB 3.0 + USB 2.0

By: Timothy

Timothy — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 08:17:51 +0000

Thanks man. It worked perfectly

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 23:16:38 +0000

I have external HD and want to use it with my mac. But I have several pictures on this HD. I want to be able to add folders and continue to put several of my pictures and files on it. WHat do I need to do?

By: Thasleem

Thasleem — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:32:15 +0000

Thank You So much dude, now i am really happy

By: sorriso

sorriso — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:36:42 +0000

OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH – so easy an quick. everything works fine.

By: Lina Alvarez

Lina Alvarez — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:42:58 +0000

Oh my gosh. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been fighting with a Click Free external drive (just plug in and it’s done!) for over a week. I have contacted customer service. I have reinstalled NTSF whatever. error. error. error. I was going to mail it back this morning. I just did what you said and it is now backing up. Keeping my fingers crossed but SO relieved! Can check this off my list and move on.

By: chung

chung — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:30:25 +0000

(FAT*)

By: chung

chung — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:29:46 +0000

your*

By: chung

chung — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:29:21 +0000

If you’re intent is to only read files loaded from a pc from a mac, the standard windows NTFS format should suffice. As the article mentioned, this is one of the common formats in external hard drives.

If you want the ability to read and write in both windows and mac, format to the MS-DOS (DAT) format.

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 03:36:30 +0000

Help – new mac user. If I want to read files, videos etc on a mac, that I loaded onto my hard drive through a pc, how can this be done?

Appreciate your hep in advance

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:25:40 +0000

thanks man. Works great

By: How to Format a Drive for Mac & PC Compatibility

How to Format a Drive for Mac & PC Compatibility — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:39:06 +0000

[...] you only intend on using the drive on a Mac it’s recommended to format for Mac OS X use only using the journaled file system. Just be aware that the Mac-only formats are typically not readable [...]

By: Emaven

Emaven — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:53:46 +0000

What if that USB drive has U3 software on it. I read that you can ruin the USB drive if you don’t do it in a special way.

By: Fernando

Fernando — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:49:38 +0000

I did this with a WD 1TB, but it took me 600 MB of space!!!!