Help Formatting a Hard Drive on Mac for Windows

[Adrianus]

I have a Freecom XXS 250GB External Hard Drive that I used temporarily as my Time Machine. I need to use it on my Windows laptop now, so i need to format it to a Windows-compatible format as it doesn't appear when I plug it into USB port.

How can I format the HD on my Mac to a format that is compatible to Windows?

Thanks

 

[spinnerlys]

Applications / Utilities / DISK UTILITY > select external HDD and choose the ERASE tab and select MS-DOS from the FORMAT selector.


MacRumors Guides - File System

Disk Utility guide

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[Adrianus]

Ok I just tried this. I'm guessing the problem isn't with format but with the driver software.

Does anyone by any chance know how to fix this problem?

 

[spinnerlys]

Ok I just tried this. I'm guessing the problem isn't with format but with the driver software.

Does anyone by any chance know how to fix this problem?

No "driver software" is needed to do this.
Can you describe in more detail what steps you have tried and what happened or didn't happen?

And what do you mean by "driver software"?

Btw, every HDD you can purchase at shops like Apple or at the Buy More, can be formatted to a file system of your liking, no additional software needed, just Disk Utility and knowledge.

 

[billkaras]

under disk utility you must select options and master boot record

In Disk Utility... Select Partition then select volume scheme of 1 (or more) partitions... give it a name in Name choose Format of MS DOS then choose options and choose master boot record.... then apply and see it now shows up in Windows.

 

[Adrianus]

Spinnerlys, excuse my ignorance. After formatting to MS DOS I figured it should work but it didn't, so I assumed there was a problem with the HDD itself. And since it worked on my Mac I assumed it was a software issue.
When formatting all I did was select MS DOS under the 'Erase' bar and I didn't consider looking into the 'Partition' bar.

Billkaras, thanks for info, you are my hero