SEAGATE How to Format Your Drive in macOS 10.11 and Above Instructions
- June 5, 2024
- Seagate
Table of Contents
SEAGATE How to Format Your Drive in macOS 10.11 and Above
How to format your drive in macOS 10.11 and above
Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully
usable in MacOS. These steps can be used for both internal and external
drives.
Note: Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should
copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.
The following is based on the latest version of macOS.
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Open Disk Utility
Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility -
Select the Seagate drive on the left.
Note: If you don’t see two entries listed then change the view in disk utility to show the drive and the volume. The view button is in the upper left-hand side, change to Show All devices. This feature was introduced in macOS 10.13 and not available in 10.11 or 10.12. -
3. Select Erase which opens the following window.
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Rename the drive
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Select OS X Extended (Journalled) for Format
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Select GUID Partition Map for Scheme
Note: If you do not see the scheme option, then you have selected the volume and not the drive. Click on the view button in the upper left-hand side, change to Show All Devices. Select the non-indented entry for your Seagate drive.
Warning: Formatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. -
Select Erase again.
-
Disk Utility will start formatting the drive.
-
Once complete, click done.
How to format a drive in Mac OS 10.6 to 10.10
Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully
usable in MacOS. These steps can be used for both internal and external
drives.
Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy
any data you
want off the drive prior to formatting.
The following is based on Mac OS X version 10.10.5. However, the steps are
suitable for Mac OS X 10.6.8 to 10.10.5. For instructions on how to format a
drive in Mac OS 10.11 (El Capitan) and above click here.
To reformat the drive in Mac OS X:
-
Open Disk Utility
Applications>Utilities>Disk Utilities -
Select the Seagate drive on the left that shows the capacity
-
Select the Partition tab on the right hand side of the Disk Utility Window
-
Select Partition Layout and select 1 partition
-
Next to name you will see untitled 1 where you can name the drive. This will be the name shown when the drive mounts.
-
Change Format to Mac OS Extended (Journalled)
-
Select Options and select GUID Partition Table
-
Select OK
-
Select Apply
You will get the follow window advising you that this is a data destructive process and any data currently on the drive will be deleted
-
Select Partition to finish the formatting process
How to manually move your data to the drive on a Mac:
There are many ways to move files to the Expansion drive; they range from File
Menu/Copy and Paste, right-click menu/copy and paste, and drag-and-drop, to
keyboard commands. Please note that whatever option used, it is all controlled
by Mac OS. Please refer to your Macintosh computer’s documentation for various
copy and paste methods or view the instructions below.
Copy and Paste: the facility to duplicate (copy) files/folders in a computer
program and add it to another place (folder, directory, volume, etc.)
Copy and Paste instructions:
- Open the location where the file/folder is stored and the location where you want the file/folder to be copied to.
- Select the item you want to Copy
- Right click (Control+click) on it or click Edit in the menu bar at the top of the screen
- Select Copy from the menu
- Right click (Control+click) inside the location where you want to save the file or click Edit in the menu bar at the top of the screen
- Select Paste from the menu
Faster method of Copy and Paste:
- Select the item you want to Copy
- Hold down the Command key (⌘) and press ( C )
- Inside the location where you want to save the file, hold down the Command key (⌘) and press (V).
References
- How to format your drive | Seagate Support US
- How to format your drive | Seagate Support US
- How to format your drive | Seagate Support US
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