Format Seagate Hard Drive For Mac
The answeris yes.
How to Format a Seagate Hard Drive for Mac. Just one moment. Before you go ahead and format your Seagate external hard drive on your MacBook or iMac. Ask yourself if there any files on there you want. Because formatting means you won’t be able to get to any of those files on the drive once you have formatted it. How to Format Seagate External Hard Drive under Mac OS? By Shirly Chen, 2016-11-10 'Hi, anyone can tell me how to format a Seagate external hard drive on Mac? I am going to sell my 2TB Seagate external hard drive. Before sending it away, I want to make sure all the data on it has been permanently erased. So I try to format it on my Mac. I am looking to purchase a Seagate External Hard Drive for my MacBook Air. The products claims it works only with PC (windows), however, I have read multiple places that I can just format the driv. Optional Formatting and Partitioning. Your Backup Plus Desktop is formatted as NTFS for compatibility with Windows out of the box. Therfore, you can connect Backup Plus Desktop to a Windows PC without formatting the hard drive. However, NTFS is not fully compatible with Mac computers. I am looking to purchase a Seagate External Hard Drive for my MacBook Air. The products claims it works only with PC (windows), however, I have read multiple places that I can just format the drive and it will work fine with a mac. I know Mac operating system doesn’t fully supports NTFS formatted drive. But if I format the Seagate external hard drive to HFS+ file system, it will not supported by my Windows computer. I want to know that what I should format the Seagate external hard drive to, so that it can be compatible both with Mac and PC. Is there any advice?
A solidyes.
The goodnews is your Mac is awesome.
And whenyou want to free up space on your Mac. To download your photos from the cloud.Or you need a drive for backup.
You can useany Seagate external hard drive on your Mac.
There aresome things to know. And perhaps somethings to do first depending on the Seagate external hard drive you have. Orplan to buy.
Can I use aSeagate Hard Drive on a Mac?
Yes.
But SeagateNTFS formatted hard drives you have to format on your Mac first. Or youdownload and use a software driver for your Mac.
ExFATSeagate hard drives you can use straight away.
But for a Time Machine Backup. All Seagate hard drives need to be formatted with Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system.
How To Format Seagate Hard Drive For Mac
A Little SeagateHard Drive Background For You
Seagate sellsfile systems on all their external hard drives.
So what?
A filesystem is how files are laid out on the external drive. And Seagate Technologyputs different types of file systems on their hard drives.
These filesystems are also called the formatting of the Seagate drive. And the filesystem or formatting affects how your Mac sees the Seagate hard drive.
And itaffects what your Mac can do with the Seagate drive.
And whatyou can use your Seagate hard drive for on your Mac.
The goodnews is whatever formatting Seagate sells your hard drive in. Your Mac canchange it.
And you canchange the file system by reformatting the Seagate hard drive on your Mac.
Are there OtherOptions to Formatting Your Seagate Hard Drive on Your Mac?
Yes, thereare.
You canleave the Seagate drive in the formatting you bought it in.
SomeSeagate hard drives you can just use on your Mac.
With othersyou can use software so that your Mac can understand the drive.
You callthis software driver software. And Seagate sells some of their drives withdriver software that you can download and run on your Mac.
File Systems Seagate Hard Drives are Sold With And Using on Your Mac
Seagatedrives are sold with either NTFS file systems or ExFAT file systems.
Dependingon the Seagate drive.
For exampleyou’ll find the Seagate Expansion external hard drive is NTFS formatted.
Anotherexample is the Seagate Portable external hard drive. That Seagate hard drive isalso NTFS formatted.
Using aSeagate NTFS Formatted Hard Drive on Your Mac
A Seagate NTFS formatted hard drive is one set up for a Windows PC.
Your Macwill see the Seagate NTFS formatted drive when you plug it in.
Your Maccan read your Seagate hard drive with its NTFS file system on it.
But.
When youcome to put new files on your NTFS formatted Seagate hard drive the drive willseem locked.
Or when youwant to update a file on the Seagate NTFS formatted hard drive the Seagate willseem blocked.
This isbecause your Mac can read a Seagate NTFS hard drive but not write to it.
So what todo?
You caneither take 5 or so minutes to reformat the Seagate drive.
Which isfine if the Seagate drive is new and you know there are no files on there.
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But what ifyou have files on there? Files put on there by a Windows PC. Or the files theSeagate hard drive ships with and you want to use those files later.
You cancopy them off the Seagate NTFS hard drive and then reformat.
Learn how to reformat your Seagate hard drive on your Mac in this article link.
Can I use Driver Software on My Seagate Hard Drive on My Mac?
Seagate Technology sells some of their hard drives with the rights to download an NTFS software driver. This driver sits on your Mac and translates what your Mac sends to the drive into NTFS.
But thisdriver is only provided for some of the Seagate drives.
For examplethe Seagate Ultra Touch comes with the right to download an NTFS softwaredriver.
But what ifyou have one of the other NTFS formatted Seagate external hard drives?
You’ll haveto buy a software driver. Adding to the cost of the drive.
You can find out more about NTFS software drivers in my article on the site. Just use this link.
Can I use aSeagate Hard Drive in NTFS With Time Machine?
No.
Your Mac’sbackup software Time Machine wont work with NTFS formatted Seagate drives.
You’ll needto reformat and change the file system to a Mac file system.
Using aSeagate ExFAT Formatted Hard Drive on Your Mac
A Seagate ExFAT formatted hard drive is more of a half way house on your Mac compared to an NTFS formatted drive.
An example of a Seagate drive in ExFAT format is the Seagate Backup Plus Slim.
And theSeagate solid state drives are ExFAT formatted.
When youplug in your Seagate drive with an ExFAT file system on it. The Seagateexternal hard drive will show up on your Mac’s desktop.
Your Mac willbe able to read the Seagate hard drive. And write to it. This means that you can drag and drop your filesto the Seagate ExFAT hard drive. And use the Seagate drive to free up space onyour Mac.
You cancopy and paste your files.
And there’sno driver software needed on for your Mac.
And youdidn’t have to do anything to the Seagate hard drive.
So there is an advantage to buying an ExFAT formatted Seagate Hard drive for your Mac.
You can find out more about the Seagate Backup Plus Slim in this article here.
Can I use aSeagate hard drive for a Mac and PC?
Yes!
Anotheradvantage of having an ExFAT file system on your Seagate hard drive is. Both aMac and a Windows PC can use an ExFAT drive.
And with nochanges to the drive.
Plug inyour Seagate hard drive into your Mac and copy and paste. Or drag and drop yourfiles on there.
Or updateand change the files already put on there from a Windows PC.
Listen tomusic or watch movies on the drive.
As long asyou have software on your Mac that can read those files you’re good to go.
Plug inyour Seagate hard drive into your Windows PC and copy and paste. Or drag anddrop files on there. Or update files put on there from your Mac.
And againas long as you have software on the PC that can read those files from your Macyou’re fine.
Can I use aSeagate ExFAT Hard Drive For a Time Machine Backup on my Mac?
No.
Time Machine will not work with an ExFAT formatted Seagate external hard drive.
You’ll needto reformat your Seagate drive and change the format to a Mac file system.
Can I UseMy Seagate Hard Drive for Time Machine?
Yes, you’lljust need to reformat it first.
Format your Seagate hard drive to HFS+. Your Mac calls this file system Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. It’s your Mac’s native file system for hard drives.
Format your Seagate hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system and
And useyour Seagate hard drive for a Time Machine backup of your MacBook Pro, MacBookAir or iMac.
Plus youcan drag and drop your files. Copy and paste your files to and from yourSeagate external hard drive onto your Mac.
And it onlytakes minutes to do.
Plugging inYour Seagate Hard Drive to Use on Your Mac
Some Seagate hard drives are USB 3.0 drives. These drives come with USB cables with type A connectors on the end.
To plug those drives into your Mac with a USB C Thunderbolt port you’ll need an adaptor plug or cable.
These areeasy to source from Amazon.
SomeSeagate hard drives are USB 3.0 but Seagate sells them with the USB Cadaptor.
The SeagateUltra Touch is an example of a Seagate drive that has this.
Just usethe adaptor to use the Seagate hard drive on your Mac.
SomeSeagate hard drives have Thunderbolt connections.
They’re soldwith USB C cables and plug straight into your USB C Mac.
You’ll needto get yourself an adaptor plug to take advantage of backwards compatibility. Andplug into your older Mac with USB 3.0, 3.1 or 2.0 USB ports.
All theSeagate portable hard drives take their power from your Mac using their USBcable. You’ll just need to make sure your Mac has enough battery power whenyou’re using on your Mac.
The Seagatedesktop hard drives come with separate power. Plug in those drives and power upwhen using on your Mac.
How Can Itell What Type of Seagate Hard Drive I have on my Mac?
It’s quickand easy to tell. When you plug in your Seagate hard drive you’ll see its driveicon on your Mac’s desktop.
Right clickon the drive icon. And from the menu pick ‘Get Info’.
Then take alook at the format information.
You’ll findout there if the drive is NTFS, ExFAT or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Last Words
So thereyou are. You’ve found out that you can use your Seagate hard drive on your Mac.While you’re here why not take a look at my other Seagate hard drive articles onthe site?
How To Format Seagate Hard Drive For Macbook Pro
Certain images are produced withpermission from Seagate Technology.