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.
Memory limits of 1 TB ($59.99), 2 TB ($77.95), 3 TB ($104.99), and 4 TB ($109.99) are available. Surprisingly, the features are similar even with the different memory capacities.All of these external hard drives are formatted for Mac OS X, though they can be reformatted for Windows.
- For Mac users: G-Technology Portable External Hard Drive 2TB From the sleek design to the pre-formatting, this terabyte-sized drive is perfect for Mac users who need a little extra space and offers the transfer rate up to 140MB/s for accessing all your files.
- Buy Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1 TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD - Gold USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac, 1 year Mylio Create, 4 Months Adobe CC Photography, and 3-year Rescue Services (STHN1000404) only for Rs. 5623 from Flipkart.com. Only Genuine Products. 30 Day Replacement Guarantee. Cash On Delivery!
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
- 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.
Oct 13, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
We all treasure our precious data on our Mac. Therefore, we do not need to wait for a disaster to strike so that we can learn ways to backup files. One way to backup data is by copying them to an external hard drive. External hard drives are significant when your Mac has minimal storage since offers more storage. With this mind, you need to get yourself an external hard drive for Mac. Before purchasing an external drive for your mac, there are things you should consider such as compatibility, speed, storage, transfer speed, portability, and price. In this article, we are going to give you the best 5 external hard drives for mac picked by media websites.
- Top 5 Best External Hard Drives for Mac
- How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
Part 1: Top 5 Best External Hard Drives for Mac
1.Seagate Backup Plus
Company: Seagate Technology
Seagate backup plus is an ideal mac external hard drive that is highly recommended by most websites. This external hard drive for mac is well known for its slim and sleek design. Its capacities are 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and latest 4TB. Moreover, it offers 200GB cloud storage that is limited for two years. However, this option may not be available in all countries. This external hard drive for Mac can be used interchangeably with Windows OS. Seagate backup plus is designed with three modes of connectivity namely, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and thunderbolt. Seagate external hard drive for Mac is formatted to HFS+ file making it compatible with your MacBook or MacBook pro without formatting it. This drive has been recommended over 8 times by the chosen media websites.
Review:
Seagate Backup Plus drives make your life simple with its huge capacity storage. These external hard drives for Mac are well integrated with Backup software. It also offers a two-year 200GB cloud storage to Microsoft OneDrive. The only flaw of this software is that it lacks security options to protect data.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $76.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.cnet.com
2. Western Digital My Passport Ultra external hard drive for mac
Company: Western Digital Corporation
Western Digital My Passport is another best external hard drive for mac. It has been recommended over 8 times on the selected 10 media websites. It offers minimal storage as low as 500GB, 1TB, and as high as 3TB. This external hard for Mac comes with a 3-year warranty. Moreover, it offers two connectivity modes that are USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 that enable data transfer faster. This Western digital external hard drive for Mac is compatible with Windows operating after formatting it to a supported file system such as FAT or NTFS format. The good thing about this external head drive for mac is that it allows you to encrypt and protect its hardware with a password.
Terabyte Hard Drive For Laptop
Review
WD My Passport Ultra is one of the best external hard drives for Mac that offers a high transfer speed with different size capacities. Its price is slightly higher as compared to other external drives.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $74.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.pcmag.com
3. Toshiba Canvio Slim II
Company: Toshiba Corporation
Another portable external hard drive for your Mac is Toshiba Canvio Slim II. It is compatible with Mac OS x. It comes with 500 GB and 1TB storage making it vital to use to backup data as well as transfer data. This external hard drive mac offers you a 10GB free cloud storage to backup all your videos, photos, music, documents, and important files. It allows you to backup mobile content. It is USB 3.0 connectivity and USB 2.o which worth mentioning. Toshiba external hard drive is well furnished with aluminum. It has been recommended over 6 times by the selected media websites.
Review Windows 8 1 vs mac os x yosemite.
Toshiba Canvio Slim is a useful external hard drive that offers a bigger storage capacity besides its large backup storage. It also has a password feature that ensures that your data is protected around the clock. Its USB2.0 connectivity performance is not up to par.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $79.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.thewirecutter.com Screen capture for mac free download.
4. G-Technology G-Drive Slim
Company: G- Technology.
Just as the name suggests, this external hard drive for mac is slimmer than the other mentioned hard dive. It records a high speed and excellent performance. G-Drive slim which people who are looking for external storage to save pictures photos and music with a maximum storage of 500GB. It uses a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 cable connectivity. Moreover, its transfer goes up to 125mb/s, which seems a high speed when you are transferring files. This Mac external hard drive is formatted with the HFS+ files system making it compatible with MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. Furthermore, it comes with a 3-year limited warranty. G-Technology G-Drive Slim has an aluminum casing and a plastic case around the USB port. It is light thus convenient to carry it around. At least 4 media websites from the selected 10 recommended it.
Review
G-Technology G-Drive Slim is a speedy external hard drive for your Mac. It records high transfer and read speed as compared to any USB 3.0mac external hard drive. To add on it is portable and offers enough external storage. One demerit of this external hard drive for mac is that it does not come with any packaged software.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $69.95 for 1TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.pcmag.com
5. Transcend StoreJet
Company: Transcend Information
If you are looking for a Mac external hard drive, that lets backup files within a click, then look no more. Transcend StoreJet will exactly do that. This software is well designed and integrated with a military shock resistant. You can quickly transfer your data files from Mac to this external hard drive mac either with UB 2.0 or USB 3.0 connectivity. Transcend Jet external hard drives for mac are available in different capacities, which include 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, and 2TB. From the 10 sources, it has been mentioned at least three times.
Review
It is the best mac external hard drive especially for those people who travel more often. It has a silicone shell with an incredible casing that enables it to resist shock. Its performance is also good. However, this external hard drive for mac is slightly heavier as compared to other Mac external hard drives.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $69.95 for 1TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.techspot.com
Sources:
- http://www.cnet.com/topics/storage/best-hard-drives-and-storage/portable-drives/
- http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/external-hard-drive-1292181
- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400958,00.asp
- http://machmachines.com/best-external-hard-drive-mac-top-10/
- http://www.reviews.com/best-external-hard-drive/
- http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-portable-hard-drive/
- http://external-hard-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/
- http://www.macworld.com/product/collection/3326/portableharddrives.html
- http://bootableusb.net/top-10-external-hard-drives/
- http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-external-hard-drives/
- http://www.t3.com/features/best-external-hard-drives-to-buy
Top 5 Best Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Software in 2020
Part 2: How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
With an external hard drive for Mac, people are used to storing their business data or personal data on it. However, the wrong protection will cause the data lost from your external hard drive. As accidentally deleted data, lost or formatted data from the external hard drive. Under these circumstances, you will need an external hard drive data recovery tool to help you retrieve your lost data from the external hard drive.
Your Safe & Reliable External Hard Drive Recovery Software
Terabyte Hard Drive Pc
- Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely, and completely.
- Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders.
- Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.
Recoverit External Hard Drive Data Recovery capable of restoring deleted/lost files or formatted partition from external hard drive, hard drive (HDD and SSD), USB flash drive, memory card, digital camera, camcorder, iPod, Music Player, and many kinds of mobile devices (Nokia, Blackberry phones and Phones with older Android OS than ICS).
How to recover data from external hard drive on Mac
Download and install Recoverit data recovery on your computer, connect your external hard drive to the computer. Follow the next simple steps to retrieve your data back.
Step 1: Launch Recoverit data recovery, please select a data recovery mode. To recover data from external hard drives, you can select the 'External Devices Recovery' mode to start.
Company: Seagate Technology
Seagate backup plus is an ideal mac external hard drive that is highly recommended by most websites. This external hard drive for mac is well known for its slim and sleek design. Its capacities are 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and latest 4TB. Moreover, it offers 200GB cloud storage that is limited for two years. However, this option may not be available in all countries. This external hard drive for Mac can be used interchangeably with Windows OS. Seagate backup plus is designed with three modes of connectivity namely, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and thunderbolt. Seagate external hard drive for Mac is formatted to HFS+ file making it compatible with your MacBook or MacBook pro without formatting it. This drive has been recommended over 8 times by the chosen media websites.
Review:
Seagate Backup Plus drives make your life simple with its huge capacity storage. These external hard drives for Mac are well integrated with Backup software. It also offers a two-year 200GB cloud storage to Microsoft OneDrive. The only flaw of this software is that it lacks security options to protect data.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $76.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.cnet.com
2. Western Digital My Passport Ultra external hard drive for mac
Company: Western Digital Corporation
Western Digital My Passport is another best external hard drive for mac. It has been recommended over 8 times on the selected 10 media websites. It offers minimal storage as low as 500GB, 1TB, and as high as 3TB. This external hard for Mac comes with a 3-year warranty. Moreover, it offers two connectivity modes that are USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 that enable data transfer faster. This Western digital external hard drive for Mac is compatible with Windows operating after formatting it to a supported file system such as FAT or NTFS format. The good thing about this external head drive for mac is that it allows you to encrypt and protect its hardware with a password.
Terabyte Hard Drive For Laptop
Review
WD My Passport Ultra is one of the best external hard drives for Mac that offers a high transfer speed with different size capacities. Its price is slightly higher as compared to other external drives.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $74.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.pcmag.com
3. Toshiba Canvio Slim II
Company: Toshiba Corporation
Another portable external hard drive for your Mac is Toshiba Canvio Slim II. It is compatible with Mac OS x. It comes with 500 GB and 1TB storage making it vital to use to backup data as well as transfer data. This external hard drive mac offers you a 10GB free cloud storage to backup all your videos, photos, music, documents, and important files. It allows you to backup mobile content. It is USB 3.0 connectivity and USB 2.o which worth mentioning. Toshiba external hard drive is well furnished with aluminum. It has been recommended over 6 times by the selected media websites.
Review Windows 8 1 vs mac os x yosemite.
Toshiba Canvio Slim is a useful external hard drive that offers a bigger storage capacity besides its large backup storage. It also has a password feature that ensures that your data is protected around the clock. Its USB2.0 connectivity performance is not up to par.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Price: $79.99 for 2TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.thewirecutter.com Screen capture for mac free download.
4. G-Technology G-Drive Slim
Company: G- Technology.
Just as the name suggests, this external hard drive for mac is slimmer than the other mentioned hard dive. It records a high speed and excellent performance. G-Drive slim which people who are looking for external storage to save pictures photos and music with a maximum storage of 500GB. It uses a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 cable connectivity. Moreover, its transfer goes up to 125mb/s, which seems a high speed when you are transferring files. This Mac external hard drive is formatted with the HFS+ files system making it compatible with MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. Furthermore, it comes with a 3-year limited warranty. G-Technology G-Drive Slim has an aluminum casing and a plastic case around the USB port. It is light thus convenient to carry it around. At least 4 media websites from the selected 10 recommended it.
Review
G-Technology G-Drive Slim is a speedy external hard drive for your Mac. It records high transfer and read speed as compared to any USB 3.0mac external hard drive. To add on it is portable and offers enough external storage. One demerit of this external hard drive for mac is that it does not come with any packaged software.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $69.95 for 1TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.pcmag.com
5. Transcend StoreJet
Company: Transcend Information
If you are looking for a Mac external hard drive, that lets backup files within a click, then look no more. Transcend StoreJet will exactly do that. This software is well designed and integrated with a military shock resistant. You can quickly transfer your data files from Mac to this external hard drive mac either with UB 2.0 or USB 3.0 connectivity. Transcend Jet external hard drives for mac are available in different capacities, which include 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, and 2TB. From the 10 sources, it has been mentioned at least three times.
Review
It is the best mac external hard drive especially for those people who travel more often. It has a silicone shell with an incredible casing that enables it to resist shock. Its performance is also good. However, this external hard drive for mac is slightly heavier as compared to other Mac external hard drives.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $69.95 for 1TB as listed on Amazon
Recommended by: www.techspot.com
Sources:
- http://www.cnet.com/topics/storage/best-hard-drives-and-storage/portable-drives/
- http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/external-hard-drive-1292181
- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400958,00.asp
- http://machmachines.com/best-external-hard-drive-mac-top-10/
- http://www.reviews.com/best-external-hard-drive/
- http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-portable-hard-drive/
- http://external-hard-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/
- http://www.macworld.com/product/collection/3326/portableharddrives.html
- http://bootableusb.net/top-10-external-hard-drives/
- http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-external-hard-drives/
- http://www.t3.com/features/best-external-hard-drives-to-buy
Top 5 Best Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Software in 2020
Part 2: How to Recover Data from External Hard Drive
With an external hard drive for Mac, people are used to storing their business data or personal data on it. However, the wrong protection will cause the data lost from your external hard drive. As accidentally deleted data, lost or formatted data from the external hard drive. Under these circumstances, you will need an external hard drive data recovery tool to help you retrieve your lost data from the external hard drive.
Your Safe & Reliable External Hard Drive Recovery Software
Terabyte Hard Drive Pc
- Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely, and completely.
- Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders.
- Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.
Recoverit External Hard Drive Data Recovery capable of restoring deleted/lost files or formatted partition from external hard drive, hard drive (HDD and SSD), USB flash drive, memory card, digital camera, camcorder, iPod, Music Player, and many kinds of mobile devices (Nokia, Blackberry phones and Phones with older Android OS than ICS).
How to recover data from external hard drive on Mac
Download and install Recoverit data recovery on your computer, connect your external hard drive to the computer. Follow the next simple steps to retrieve your data back.
Step 1: Launch Recoverit data recovery, please select a data recovery mode. To recover data from external hard drives, you can select the 'External Devices Recovery' mode to start.
Please make sure your external hard drive has connected to your computer, click the 'Next' button to process.
Step 2: Please select your external hard drive to scan lost data. Click the 'Start' button to finding data.
Step 3: Recoverit data recovery will start a quick scan to search for lost data. You can preview some recoverable files after the scan. If you cannot find your files, you can go to scan again with the 'All-Around Recovery' mode.
Step 4: With the 'All-Around Recovery' mode which can help you deeply search and scan more files from the external hard drive. While it will take more time to complete the scan.
Step 5: After the scan, you can check all the recoverable files. Go to preview some specific recoverable files and click the 'Recover' button to get your data back.
What's Wrong with Drive
- Recover Your Drive
- Fix Your Drive
- Format/Wipe Drive
- Know Your Drive
