Wolfsings

Q: How do I format external Seagate 4 tb HD "ExFAT"? from NTFS

I hear that I should reformat this HD but am unsure how to do this and what are the proper choices from format menu?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), Seagate external 4tb HD

Posted on Nov 28, 2015 7:14 PM

Close

Q: How do I format external Seagate 4 tb HD "ExFAT"? from NTFS

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Barney-15E,Apple recommended

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 6, 2015 7:32 PM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 9 (50,082 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 6, 2015 7:32 PM in response to Wolfsings

    First, formatting will erase everything on the disk, so move anything you want to a temporary storage.

     

    In Disk Utility, select the hard drive in the list on the left. Make sure you select the actual hard drive and not one of its volumes indented below it.

    Click the Erase button on the toolbar.

    Set the Format to:

    • ExFAT if you wish to use it with both Mac (10.6 or later) and Windows (XP SP3 or later OS).
    • Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if you are only using on a Mac.
      • You can use the encrypted option if you need that. If you are going to use it on Windows, it won't work. However, you can create an encrypted disk, then partition it with non-encrypted partitions for use with Windows.
      • case-sensitive is only recommended for very specific situations and will often cause problems with some software.

    Set the Scheme to GUID Partition Map

    • That will work with both Mac and Windows (not sure of minimum OS required, though).
    • MBR is an old Windows partition scheme which can be used on both Mac and Windows, but you won't be able to boot from the drive on a Mac.
  • by Wolfsings,

    Wolfsings Wolfsings Dec 6, 2015 7:38 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 6, 2015 7:38 PM in response to Barney-15E

    Ok, done. However, my issue is not yet resolved. I cannot get Logic Pro X to open on my computer. I purchased it, used it for many master recordings, had to get a new hard drive, did, upgraded to El-capitan, just reformatted my external hard drive because I was under the impression that the reason that I lost my masters is because my backups did not include everything on my external hard drive due to the formatting issue. However, there is a problem with Logic Pro X, it says, "internalized error"

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 6, 2015 7:54 PM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 9 (50,082 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 6, 2015 7:54 PM in response to Wolfsings

    I don't know anything about Logic Pro X.

  • by Wolfsings,

    Wolfsings Wolfsings Dec 6, 2015 8:47 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 6, 2015 8:47 PM in response to Barney-15E

    Ok, so never mind that lets get back to the hard drive. now I can't use it, eject it or use first aid in disk utility, what did I do?

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 7, 2015 4:23 AM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 9 (50,082 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 7, 2015 4:23 AM in response to Wolfsings

    Does it show up in Disk Utility? If so, does it show the Hard Drive and a Volume (partition), or just the Hard Drive?

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Dec 7, 2015 6:04 AM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 5 (7,491 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 7, 2015 6:04 AM in response to Wolfsings

    the patch for XP to read EXfat was not part of a service pack, it is a stand-alone download from MS

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=19364

  • by Luis Sequeira1,Helpful

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Dec 7, 2015 11:19 AM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 6 (12,122 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 7, 2015 11:19 AM in response to Wolfsings

    The problem with Logic Pro X has nothing to do with the external drive, I suppose.

    If the application somehow got corrupted, what you need to do is delete it and download a fresh copy from the purchases section of the mac app store.

  • by JimmyCMPIT,

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Dec 7, 2015 8:07 AM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 5 (7,491 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 7, 2015 8:07 AM in response to Wolfsings

    you can go from Fat32 or ExFat TO NTFS from a command line in windows

    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984.aspx

    but you can't go from NTFS TO Fat32 or ExFat without a complete reformat.

  • by Wolfsings,

    Wolfsings Wolfsings Dec 7, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 7, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Barney-15E

    I believe, if I understand this correctly that it's showing the HD and a volume partition

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 7, 2015 3:09 PM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 9 (50,082 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 7, 2015 3:09 PM in response to Wolfsings

    Is the Volume mounted? It will be grayed out if it is not an the button will say Mount instead of Unmount when you select it.

    If it is unmounted, then try to Mount it.

     

    If it is Mounted, does it show up in the Finder?

  • by Wolfsings,

    Wolfsings Wolfsings Dec 7, 2015 8:29 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 7, 2015 8:29 PM in response to Barney-15E

    So here's where a lot of confusion begins. When attempting to open a program that I reinstalled last night I'm receiving a prompt that says I need to, "mount my external hard drive and try again." To begin with I did not put this program into the external hard drive because I'm having issues with it. Secondly when I went to disk utility to attempt to follow the prompt my only option is to unmount. When I attempt to do that the procedure fails, everything that I attempt to do from there gives me the same results, a red x and a message that procedure has failed. I also cannot eject the hard drive now because it says that it's being used by some other program, I have no idea of what program.

  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Dec 9, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Wolfsings
    Level 9 (50,082 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 9, 2015 5:04 PM in response to Wolfsings

    Wolfsings wrote:

     

    So here's where a lot of confusion begins. When attempting to open a program that I reinstalled last night I'm receiving a prompt that says I need to, "mount my external hard drive and try again."

    If your previous use of that program set some reference to the external drive, then it is likely looking for the external drive. Preferences are not stored inside the app and do not normally get deleted when you uninstall an app.

    Secondly when I went to disk utility to attempt to follow the prompt my only option is to unmount. When I attempt to do that the procedure fails

    I was just asking you to Mount it if it wasn't. I don't know why it failed to unmount, but if something was using a file on it, it won't unmount.

    Can you restart and see if the drive shows up in Finder under Go > Computer?

     

    If it doesn't show up in Finder, but does show up Mounted in Disk Utility, can you run this command in Terminal and post the output? It will list all mounted disks and their partitions.

    You can just copy the below command and paste it into the Terminal.

    diskutil list

    Just copy the results from the Terminal window, then paste into a reply here. If you paste with cmd-opt-shift-V, it will just paste the text and none of the background colors and such.