
- #Partition a external drive for both mac and windows how to
- #Partition a external drive for both mac and windows mac os
- #Partition a external drive for both mac and windows install
#Partition a external drive for both mac and windows install
Alternatively, you can install a program like Microsoft’s NTFS software from Paragon (paid app) or the open source Tuxera (free) on your Mac to enable the NTFS read / write support, but, even with third-party options, some features, including Time Machine, will not work properly with an NTFS file system.
#Partition a external drive for both mac and windows how to
Here’s how to partition a hard drive for use on Windows and Mac. You can check our Windows section for more information on this process. If you are concerned about the reliability factor of the exFAT file system, or the lack of it, there is a way to format the secondary Windows partition to NTFS, but it requires connecting the hard drive to a Windows computer. Note that you will see icons on the desktop for both units.

Click the Partition button in an additional pop-up window to complete the process. Enter a volume name, select the exFAT format, and click the Apply button. A second part appears, cutting the pie chart in half. On the next screen, click the little plus ( + ) button below the blue pie chart to add a second partition. Select the drive again in Disk Utility and click Partition. After completing this procedure, your disk should have only one partition. I did not eject and unplug the ext HD before restarting, not sure if it played into my problem or not but thought Id mention. After running Time Machine on the Mac partition I restarted the iMac to Windows 7.

#Partition a external drive for both mac and windows mac os
This is useful if a drive is being used under both Operating System (OS)to. Named the top partition Mac and chose the format Mac OS Extended (Journaled), named the bottom Windows and chose the format NTSF. Click the Delete button to make these changes. A Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and Mac OSX. In the next pop-up window, select a profile, in this case MacOS Extended (Journaled) for Format, and GUID Partition Map for Scheme or Partition Type. Click Delete, located on the top toolbar of the application. With Disk Utility open, in the Location option, your drive appears in External on the left. Partition A External Drive For Both And Windows Software Like MacDrive Most external hard drives (HD) are sold in a format called NTFS, which is designed to work with Windows. Double-click the Disk Utility icon in the next window. With Finder highlighted, click Go in the menu bar followed by Utilities in the drop-down menu. NTFS is a more modern Windows format but is proprietary to Microsoft. NTFS: Mac can only read, PC can read/write. FAT32: Mac can read/write, PC can read/write. If the drive is: HFS: Mac can read/write, PC can't do jack. IOmega External Hard Drive FireWire 800/FireWire 400/USB 2.0 250GB, Black Series.

If the error does not appear, start with step 1. Maxtor One Touch 320 GB External Hard Drive. Like Windows 10, you may see an “initialization” error because the drive’s file system is not “readable.” Click the Initialize button in the small pop-up screen to create the first compatible partition, and then start at step 5. If you already have a Mac compatible partition, continue from step 5. Partitioning an external disk in MacOS is not that annoying, initially, we will assume that it does not have partitions, so we will need to create two.
