Unable to reformat an external drive for Mac to NTFS for Windows PC

[hajime]

Hi, I formatted a Samsung 970 Evo SSD in an enclosure to APFS on a M2 Mac Mini. Now I want to use it as an external drive for Windows. I went to disk management under Windows 10 but when I right-clicked on it, the Format option was dimmed. How do I re-format the drive to Windows NTFS to be used solely with a Windows PC?

Somewhere I read that I could format the drive to NTFS under MacOS. Since I no longer have a Silicon Mac, I tried to do it on a MacBook Pro 2010 17" running High Sierra but all the options under Erase in Disk Utilities are APFS related, there is no NTFS option. Is formatting to NTFS under MacOS only available on more recent Mac such as Silicon Mac?

 

[usagora]

Hi, I formatted a Samsung 970 Evo SSD in an enclosure to APFS on a M2 Mac Mini. Now I want to use it as an external drive for Windows. I went to disk management under Windows 10 but when I right-clicked on it, the Format option was dimmed. How do I re-format the drive to Windows NTFS to be used solely with a Windows PC?

Somewhere I read that I could format the drive to NTFS under MacOS. Since I no longer have a Silicon Mac, I tried to do it on a MacBook Pro 2010 17" running High Sierra but all the options under Erase in Disk Utilities are APFS related, there is no NTFS option. Is formatting to NTFS under MacOS only available on more recent Mac such as Silicon Mac?

Does Windows 10 have a FAT32 or ExFAT formatting option? If so, try formatting the disk in that format first and then see if it will now let you reformat it in NTFS. Just a thought. If there are no formatting options at all available, then maybe try reformatting it on your Mac as FAT32, ExFAT, or Mac OS Extended and then see if Windows 10 lets you reformat it in NTFS.

 

[hajime]

None of your suggestions is available.

Also, under High Sierra, all options under Erase are APFS related.

Thanks

 

[usagora]

None of your suggestions is available.

Also, under High Sierra, all options under Erase are APFS related.

Thanks

I see now. I took "the format option" to mean the specific option (NTFS) regarding Windows 10. As for Disk Utility, I guess I sort of honed in on "there is no NTFS option" and figured you were only looking for that specific option. I see now what you meant.

 

[dwig]

Hi, I formatted a Samsung 970 Evo SSD in an enclosure to APFS on a M2 Mac Mini. Now I want to use it as an external drive for Windows. I went to disk management under Windows 10 but when I right-clicked on it, the Format option was dimmed. How do I re-format the drive to Windows NTFS to be used solely with a Windows PC?

Somewhere I read that I could format the drive to NTFS under MacOS. Since I no longer have a Silicon Mac, I tried to do it on a MacBook Pro 2010 17" running High Sierra but all the options under Erase in Disk Utilities are APFS related, there is no NTFS option. Is formatting to NTFS under MacOS only available on more recent Mac such as Silicon Mac?

On Windows, and likely any other OS, you can't directly reformat any drive that is using a format that that OS can't mount, at least not in a single step.

On Windows you need to launch "Disk Management". It's usually listed on the Context Menu that appears when you right-click on the Windows icon on the Task Bar. It should see the drive and may list it. If it does, you need to select the volume, right-click, and select Delete Volume from the menu. You can then create a new volume and format that new volume to any format that Windows supports, including NTFS.

 

[hajime]

On Windows, and likely any other OS, you can't directly reformat any drive that is using a format that that OS can't mount, at least not in a single step.

On Windows you need to launch "Disk Management". It's usually listed on the Context Menu that appears when you right-click on the Windows icon on the Task Bar. It should see the drive and may list it. If it does, you need to select the volume, right-click, and select Delete Volume from the menu. You can then create a new volume and format that new volume to any format that Windows supports, including NTFS.

Thanks. Now it works. Deleting Volume first is the key thing to do before I could format and choose the file system.