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Formatting an external drive for Mac

L

LuckyButtons

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 20, 2010
45
0
Hi,

Not sure where to post this question, but here it goes for anyone willing to help. :)

I just bought a WD Slim Passport drive, with much online chat about it being very simple to re-format for use with Mac. I am having some trouble with the very first step in Disk Utility.

I am to select the disk on the left pane, and then select Erase from the top menu. THEN select Window NT File System (NTFS) from the Format drop down. Finally click on Erase. Well, the Format drop down shows the NTFS grayed out, of course along with a grayed out Erase button.

I have tried looking up ways around this using Terminal, but Terminal doesn't sen to recognize the drive at all.

Any instruction on how to properly re-format a windows drive for Mac would be GREATLY appreciated!

THANK YOU!
 
If you're only going to use it on the Mac, why use NTFS? In Disk Utility, you can't format as NTFS unless you have a 3rd party app installed (if even then).

Also, I suggest you select the partition rather than the disk itself. If you plan on only using it on the Mac, you can select the disk, choose to partition it, make it one segment but pick options and select GPT (GUID Partition Table) then format the sole partition as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This opens up additional capabilities for Time Machine if that's the purpose of the disk.
 
Hi,

Actually I want to format for Mac, but the instructions I am finding tell me to first select NTFS and erase.

Does that make sense to you?
 
LuckyButtons said:
Hi,

Not sure where to post this question, but here it goes for anyone willing to help. :)

I just bought a WD Slim Passport drive, with much online chat about it being very simple to re-format for use with Mac. I am having some trouble with the very first step in Disk Utility.

I am to select the disk on the left pane, and then select Erase from the top menu. THEN select Window NT File System (NTFS) from the Format drop down. Finally click on Erase. Well, the Format drop down shows the NTFS grayed out, of course along with a grayed out Erase button.

I have tried looking up ways around this using Terminal, but Terminal doesn't sen to recognize the drive at all.

Any instruction on how to properly re-format a windows drive for Mac would be GREATLY appreciated!

THANK YOU!
Click to expand...

Format external drive for use on Mac OS X. Even though the page will say it is for use with Aperture, it will do exactly what you need. Just follow the instructions.
 
LuckyButtons said:
Thanks to all that have replied.

firedept - I found the link below, as well. This one uses the partition instead of erasing (as your link instructs). Is one better to do than another?

http://consumer.media.seagate.com/2...how-to-format-a-windows-disk-drive-for-a-mac/
Click to expand...

They both do essentially the same thing. I personally use partition because I like it more but erase serves the same purpose. Partition is really just useful if you want to change more advanced settings.
 
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