Part 1: What Is the Best Format for External Hard Drive Mac? Apple File System. The APFS was first introduced in 2017 as a replacement for the HFS+. Nowadays, all new Macs come. Mac OS Extended. The HFS+, or Hierarchical File System plus on its real name, was the main file system used for. It is a great application that can help you read a Mac formatted drive (Hard disks and disk images) on Windows 10. It has a clean and easy to use interface. It can help you read drives formatted with HFSX (MacOS Extended with file names that are case sensitive), HFS (MacOS Standard) and HFS+(macOS Extended) file systems.
Erasing your disk: For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac, you should erase your entire disk.
Erasing a volume on your disk: In other cases, such as when your disk contains multiple volumes (or partitions) and you don't want to erase them all, you can erase specific volumes on the disk.
Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep.
How to erase your disk
Hard Disk Formats For Mac And Pc
- Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. - Choose View > Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. The sidebar now shows your disks (devices) and any containers and volumes within them. The disk your Mac started up from is at the top of the list. In this example, Apple SSD is the startup disk:
- Select the disk that you want to erase. Don't see your disk?
- Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the disk to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- Scheme: Choose GUID Partition Map.
- Click Erase to begin erasing your disk and every container and volume within it. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
- When done, quit Disk Utility.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the disk you erased, reinstall macOS on the disk.
How to erase a volume on your disk
- Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the volume your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. - In the sidebar of Disk Utility, select the volume that you want to erase. The volume your Mac started up from is named Macintosh HD, unless you changed its name. Don't see your volume?
- Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the volume to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- If you see an Erase Volume Group button, the volume you selected is part of a volume group. In that case, you should erase the volume group. Otherwise, click Erase to erase just the selected volume. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
- When done, quit Disk Utility.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the volume you erased, reinstall macOS on that volume.
Reasons to erase
You can erase at any time, including in circumstances such as these:
- You want to permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings. This is one of the final steps before selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac.
- You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
- You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer.
- You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't repair.
- The macOS installer doesn't see your disk or can't install on it. For example, the installer might say that your disk isn't formatted correctly, isn't using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system, or can't be used to start up your computer.
- The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple RAID.
About APFS and Mac OS Extended
Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra or later can erase using either the newer APFS (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended
Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu. If it can't, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS. If you want to change the format, answer these questions:
- Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, Disk Utility suggests APFS. Don't change it to Mac OS Extended. - Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later for the first time on the disk?
If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files. - Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use as a Time Machine backup disk or as a bootable installer. - Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
If the other Mac isn't using macOS High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't work with APFS-formatted volumes.
How to identify the format currently in use
If you want to know which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:
- Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information shown on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
- Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
- Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.
If your disk or volume doesn't appear, or the erase fails
- Shut down your Mac, then unplug all nonessential devices from your Mac.
- If you're erasing an external drive, make sure that it's connected directly to your Mac using a cable that you know is good. Then turn the drive off and back on.
- If your disk or volume still doesn't appear in Disk Utility, or Disk Utility reports that the erase process failed, your disk or Mac might need service. If you need help, please contact Apple Support.
Learn more
- If you can't start up from macOS Recovery, you can use a different startup disk instead.
- If Disk Utility shows a Security Options button in the Erase window, you can click that button to choose between a faster (but less secure) erase and a slower (but more secure) erase. Some older versions of Disk Utility offer the option to zero all data instead. These secure-erase options aren't offered or needed for solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage.
Sep 19, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
“How to Recover Data from Formatted Hard Disk for Free? I formatted my hard drive recently and forgot to create a back up of all the important files stored in it. Can I recover them back in one piece?”
We format our hard drives for variable purposes that includes booting the drive to install Windows, make additional space for new data, and to disinfect the disk after it has been infected by a virus. We also format the drive after it performs sluggishly after a period of usage.
In this process of formatting the hard drive, we often forget to form a back up of all the files stored inside, and they get deleted for good after the formatting has been done. However, if we act immediately and do not add any new data to the hard disk, then we can recover the files with the due diligence of the Recoverit Data Recovery Tool. Furthermore, we will also discuss the method to restore formatted items with Command Prompt(The built-in utility of Windows).
Part 1: Is It Possible to Recover Data after Format?
Hard Disk Formatted For Mac Shortcut
Even though the act of recovering a file from a formatted hard disk or any storage drive, for that matter, is tough and there are high chances of losing the data for good if you do not follow a strict protocol, you can safely restore all the file with the assistance of a data recovery application.
This action is possible because once you format the hard drive, the data inside will only get erased for good if you replace its memory location with new files. Dragon age origins ps3 cheats and glitches ps4. Otherwise, you can recover the files back through various means, and we will discuss some of them in the later section of the article.
Part 2: Recover Data from Formatted Drive for Free:
In this part of the guide, we will show you the two convenient methods to recover data for free after you have lost them during the disk formatting process. The two approaches are as follows:
- Recover data with the assistance of Recoverit;
- Recover files with Windows Command Prompt utility;
Solution 1. Recover Data for Free from a Formatted Hard Drive with Recoverit
If you are looking for the easiest and securest way to restore each of the formatted items to your computer for free, then using Recoverit Data Recovery is the best bet. Not only can it recover data with full efficiency from your formatted hard disk, but it also allows you to store the file to any location you want. The free version of Recoverit offers to regain formatted data up to the storage space of 100MB without any charge. You can always purchase the license key of Recoverit to avail the ability to recover unlimited amounts of files. Here are a few of Recoverit’s key attributes:
Recoverit Data Recovery - The Best File Recovery Software
- It recovers data from each kind of formatted storage devices, including the PC’s internal hard drive, the external hard disk, an SD card, and a USB flash drive;
- Recoverit reads 1000+ file formats and stores all of them back.
- Doesn’t matter if your computer is crashed or not working up to the mark, Recoverit offers to recover files from any situation imaginable;
Here are the steps to perform the recovery operation after you download the file for free:
Step 1. Select a location:
Launch the application on the computer and select the disk that you have formatted previously. After doing so, just press the “Start” tab to start the recovery scan.
Step 2. Scan the location:
It all depends on the size of the files that you have lost after formatting the hard drive, but it usually takes a few minutes for the interface to finish the scan. It will notify after completing the full scan. You have the ultimate power to stop or pause the recovery scan if you feel that the files you were looking for have already been recovered.
Step 3. Preview and recover files:
The recovered items usually are placed under two categories the “File Type” & the “File Path.” With the free version, you will get the chance to recover 100MB of formatted files back to a location of your choice, once you hit the “Recover” tab.
Solution 2. Restore Formatted Hard Drive Files with CMD
The Command Prompt is one of the best utility that Windows has to offer to its users. With many commands, you can do anything from encrypting your files to recovering them after formatting the hard drive. Here are the steps to restore formatted hard drive files with CMD:
- Type “CMD” from the Windows search bar and run the utility as an administrator.
- Enter the command: chkdsk F: /f on Command Prompt’s interface(You can replace the letter F with the original letter of your hard disk volume).
- Enter F:
- Now Enter the command: F:>attrib -h -r -s /s /d *.* and Command Prompt will recover all the formatted files back to a newly created folder on the formatted hard disk.
Bonus Tip: How to Format Drive without Data Loss.
The act of formatting a hard drive implies that you will lose your data after operating. But if you have created a back up of all the files stored inside the hard drive that you intend to format, then all is good as you can access the data whenever you like. The best way to avoid data loss is to store all the valuable items to cloud storage facilities like Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud.
However, if you haven’t formed any backup and performed the format either way, then you can recover the formatted data back with Recoverit Data Recovery Tool.
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