apps that can format a blank external hard drive

Discussion in 'Mac Apps and Mac App Store' started by Sossity, Jan 8, 2011.

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  1. Sossity, Jan 8, 2011

    Sossity macrumors 65816

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    #1
    are there any mac apps that can format a blank hard drive in an external enclosure to different formats like fat 32, NTFS, & macs native format, I have put together my own external hard drives with 72rpm hard drives in external enclosures & I prefer my drives to be cross platform to use on both a mac & PC.
     
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  2. robbieduncan, Jan 8, 2011

    robbieduncan Moderator emeritus

    robbieduncan

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    #2
    Disk Utility. It's in /Applications/Utilities/
     
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  3. Jaffa Cake, Jan 8, 2011

    Jaffa Cake macrumors Core

    Jaffa Cake

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    #3
    Disk Utility will do the job for you – it's in your Apps folder, in Utilities.
     
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  4. Sossity, Jan 8, 2011

    Sossity thread starter macrumors 65816

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    #4
    Thanks, I will look into utilities, When I have the blank drive put together & plug it in for the first time into the mac, I just open up disk utility? or will it open automatically?

    do external hard drives used with a mac need defragging like on windows? will 1 terabyte fat 32 formatted external hard drives work on a mac?

    and some of these hard drives I have been using with windows, should I defrag them before switching & using on a mac?
     
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  5. robbieduncan, Jan 8, 2011

    robbieduncan Moderator emeritus

    robbieduncan

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    #5
    If they are HFS+ (Mac native format) then no. If they are a Windows format then whatever the Microsoft recommendation for that format is.
     
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  6. MacDawg, Jan 8, 2011

    MacDawg macrumors Core

    MacDawg

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    #6
    Typically Mac's don't need defragging
    Disk Optimization

    But there are utilities for it
    iDefrag

    Not sure how that would apply to an external disk
     
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  7. Sossity, Jan 8, 2011

    Sossity thread starter macrumors 65816

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    #7
    so if it is fat 32 it will need defragging? how would I do this while using it on a mac? what if I just have it connected to a mac most if not all the time?
     
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  8. GGJstudios, Jan 8, 2011

    GGJstudios macrumors Westmere

    GGJstudios

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    #8
    FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
    • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
    • Maximum file size: 4GB.
    • Maximum volume size: 2TB
    NTFS (Windows NT File System)
    • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
    • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
    • To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X: Install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free)
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx 33USD).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard, but is not advisable, due to instability.
    • Maximum file size: 16 TB
    • Maximum volume size: 256TB
    HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended)
    • Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
    • Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner backups of Mac internal hard drive.
    • To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
    • To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
    • Maximum file size: 8EiB
    • Maximum volume size: 8EiB
    exFAT (FAT64)
    • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
    • exFAT partitions created with OS X 10.6.5 are inaccessible from Windows 7
    • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
    • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
    • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
    • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
     
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