Select ‘Security Options’ to select the security level on the drive, using a slider ranging from Fastest to Most Secure.įastest will erase the drive by removing the header information, but will leave the underlying files intact, although they will be hidden. Ideally you want to name it something relevant like ‘Bob’s Main HD’ for the internal laptop drive or ‘My Videos & Pictures’ if you’re using the drive externally to store videos and images, etc. Once you’ve chosen the drive format you want to use, you’ll need to name the drive. You may also choose this opion if you wisjh to create a Bootcamp partition, in order to install and run Windows on your Mac.ĮxFAT– the same as for MS DOS (FAT)above, only this option has been optimised for flash drives – both internal and external. MS-DOS (FAT)– if you wish to share this drive with a Windows PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or One or a Linux based Operating System then you can choose this option (be aware of file size limits using FAT See Here). For example a file named MyFile.txt and myfile.txt would be treated and handled as two separate individual files. Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled)– if you wish to identify and differentiate files by lower and upper-case files on a drive this type of format will allow the file system to treat case sensitive files as separate individual files. For more information on this please click HERE

Encryption can also be applied USB any key drives that you use. You can also Encrypt your internal laptop drive, as well as any external drives, which is a great idea if you carry around additional portable drives and want to keep your data secure in the case that you lose that drive or laptop. OS X Extended (Journaled)– this is the default (and recommended) format for creating secure password-protected drives. Choose the drive you’d like to format, and then select/click the Erase option.ĭisk Utility automatically defaults to the OS X Extended (Journaled) file system format, but you can choose a different option by selecting Formatting options. You should see a list of available drives. Open Applications > Utilities, which is found through Finder, then open the Disk Utility application.

There are several options which we will look at to help you choose the correct format for you and show you how to ready the disk for use Step 1: Launch Disk Utility Formatting an external drive for use with an Apple Macīefore you can use a new (or old) drive with a Mac you will need to format it.

Format hard drive in mac