Does HDD need to be formatted differently for MAC OS X Use?

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LightningsalesUK

LightningsalesUK

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Dec 25, 2013
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I have a Windows system running Many HDD drives. I need one for my New Mac G5 project. Is there anything I must do formatting wise before I put it in the Mac system and install OS X on it.
It is currently an empty NTFS 320GB Drive. Is there anything I must do before putting it in the system?
 
Solution
Solandri
Windows formats its drives as NTFS. OS X formats it as HFS+.

OS X can read NTFS but cannot write to it.
Windows can neither read nor write to HFS+.

So yes you need to reformat the drive as HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled) to use it in your Mac. You'll have to do it after you put it in the Mac since it can't be done in Windows. Since you're installing OS X onto it, the format option (actually I think OS X calls it erase) will pop up during install. It should be able to reformat it without problems. On one occasion though, I did have to put the drive back in the Windows machine, delete all the partitions, then back in the Mac before the installer would give me access to all the space.

In the future, if you wish to use an external...
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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Windows formats its drives as NTFS. OS X formats it as HFS+.

OS X can read NTFS but cannot write to it.
Windows can neither read nor write to HFS+.

So yes you need to reformat the drive as HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled) to use it in your Mac. You'll have to do it after you put it in the Mac since it can't be done in Windows. Since you're installing OS X onto it, the format option (actually I think OS X calls it erase) will pop up during install. It should be able to reformat it without problems. On one occasion though, I did have to put the drive back in the Windows machine, delete all the partitions, then back in the Mac before the installer would give me access to all the space.

In the future, if you wish to use an external drive with both Windows and OS X (e.g. transfer videos edited on the Mac to Windows), then the external HDD should be formatted as exFAT. Both Windows and OS X can read and write exFAT. However, there have been occasional problems reported by people who format the drive as exFAT under OS X. So the recommendation is to format it as exFAT under Windows, then start using it with both systems.
 
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