Reformating external HD from PC to Mac

K

kbush

Registered
Hi. I have a SimpleTech external HD that I want to reformat from PC to Mac. I went to disk utilities and selected "erase", but it will not erase the HD so that I can reformat it. I have since attached it to my PC, but do not know how to erase/reformat on a PC (I'm a Mac user that only uses my PC for running specific programs). How can I erase this hard drive and reformat it?

Thanks
 
Plug it in to your Mac.
Open Disk Utility.
Click on the hard drive - that's the line with the maker's info (SimpleTech, or W-D, or similar.
Then, click the Partition tab. Click the Volume Scheme drop-down, and choose 1 partition.
Make sure that Format is set for Mac OS Extended (journaled). Put a name in for your partition, if you like.
Click the Apply button (might be Continue or Partition on an older Disk Utility)
Wait a few seconds, and when complete - your drive is now formatted as a Mac drive.
Keep in mind that it now can't be used on a PC unless you install some software that will support it on your PC...
That's it!
 
Ensure that you also check the "Options..." section (small button at the bottom of the partition pane) and select either "Apple Partition Map [APM]" for a PowerPC-based Mac, or "GUID" for an Intel-based Mac.

While either of those will work with your Mac, it only matters that you select one or the other of those -- more than likely, you will see that the current option selected when you visit that section is "Master Boot Record" or "MBR." You need to select something other than this option for the partition format for best results.
 
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