How to Format External Hard Drive in Mac (Monterey) 2024 Guide

Applies to: Erase external disk, format unsupported (NTFS), corrupted, partitioned, or inaccessible external hard drive in Mac. 

On this page, we'll discuss when do you need to format an external hard drive and show you the complete process of formatting it in Mac Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, etc.

How Do I Format External Hard Disk in Mac? 

Do you know which format is the best for an external hard disk in Mac? What to do when your external hard drive is unsupported, corrupted, partitioned, or inaccessible? Formatting the external hard disk is the best way out.

So why or when do you need to format the external hard drive for Mac usage? Check the list here, and if you are in any case below, turn to the tutorial guide below for help:

• New external hard disk is shipped with NTFS or exFAT, not fully compatible with Mac.
• To make NTFS formatted external disk supported by Mac. 
• The external hard drive is corrupted.
• The external hard drive is inaccessible.
• To clean up the external disk, or disk only shows partial storage. 
• To change the file system of the external hard drive on Mac.

So how do I format an external hard disk in a Mac computer? Follow the complete guide below, you can run disk formatting operations on your disk successfully without losing any data. Let's get started. 

1. Access and Backup External Hard Drive Data before Formatting

• Goal: Back up essential files from an external disk.
• Tools: NTFS reader software, Mac data recovery software

To avoid data loss due to disk formatting, it's smart that you back up external hard drive data in advance. According to the different states of your drive, you may need a different tool for accessing external disk files. Here is how to do so:

#1. Access and Backup NTFS Formatted External Disk Data on Mac

If your external hard drive is in NTFS format, saving some essential data on the disk, you'll need an NTFS drive reader for help. EaseUS NTFS for Mac with its Enable Writable feature allows you to read and write NTFS drive on Mac within only 1 click.

Download, install and run EaseUS NTFS for Mac on your Mac computer, follow the tips here to see how to access your NTFS external disk data in macOS Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, etc. for free:

Step 1. Launch and activate EaseUS NTFS for Mac. Click "I already have a license" to unlock this software.

Step 2. Connect an NTFS drive to Mac, EaseUS NTFS for Mac will automatically detect the device. Select your drive and you'll see it's now marked as 'Read-only". Click "Enable Writable" to add read and write rights to the drive.

Step 3. When the state of NTFS drives turns into "Writable".

Step 4. EaseUS NTFS for Mac will pops up a window to help Mac get access to the NTFS drive:

1. 1. Select "Full Disk Access", click the Lock icon and enter admin password to unlock it.
2. 2. Select the two icons of NTFS for Mac.
3. 3. Drag them to the "Full Disk Access" list.
4. 4. Click " Quit & Restore" to re-launch EaseUS NTFS for Mac.

Step 5. When EaseUS NTFS for Mac restarts, you can then open to check, read, write, and even modify saved data on the NTFS device.

Then, you can open the disk to copy and save all essential files to another safe location on Mac as a backup. 

#2. Scan and Recover Data from Inaccessible External Hard Disk in Mac

If your external hard drive is corrupted, inaccessible, or repartitioned, or you can't directly open it on Mac even it's in an Apple-supported file system, you'll need to turn to professional Mac hard drive data recovery software for help. 

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a fully-featured data recovery tool that you can trust and try.

2. Select the Best Format for External Hard Drive in Mac

• Goal: Decide and select the best format for external hard dive in Mac.
• Tool: File system comparison table listed below.

To make your external hard disk fully compatible with Mac and run in the best state, it's essential that you set the best format for your external disk for different purposes in Mac. Check the comparison table and learn which file system format to set for your external hard drive:

According to this page, you can easily set the best format to your external hard disk in Mac:

• To use the external hard disk on a Mac computer only, APFS or HFS+ is the best.
• To make the disk work well with both Windows and Mac, ExFAT or FAT32 is a better option. 
• To use the external disk mainly on Windows and share big files on Mac, NTFS is recommended. 

3. Format External Hard Drive in Mac

• Goal: To fix external hard disk errors, reset hard disk format, or restore full size to a malfunctioned drive.
• Tool: EaseUS NTFS for Mac; Disk Utility

Guide 1. Format External Hard Drive in Mac with EaseUS NTFS for Mac

In addition to supporting read/write and permission operations on NTFS format on Mac, EaseUS NTFS for Ma can also format drives to Mac supported formats, such as FAT/exFAT/APFS.

With just four simple steps, you can successfully format external drives in Mac:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS NTFS for Mac on Mac computer, click "I already have a license" to activate this software.

Step 2. Select target disk drive or removable device you want to erase, and click "Erase."

Step 3. In the Format section, select ExFAT as your target file system from the drop-down box.

Step 4. Click the "Erase" button to confirm the format process and erase all data stored on the external storage device.

Guide 2. Format External Hard Drive in Mac (Monterey) in Disk Utility

Mac built-in Disk Utility, similar to Disk Management in Windows,  is the default tool that you can apply to format or partition a hard drive on macOS devices. After you back up essential files and decide the best format for the external disk, you can apply this utility to format your drive in Mac now:

Step 1. Connect the external disk to the Mac computer.

Step 2. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Double-click "Disk Utility".

Step 3. Select the external hard disk and click "Erase" at the top pane in Disk Utility.

Step 4. Select the best format for external hard dive in Mac, and click "Erase" to confirm the operation.

Step 5. Click "Done" when the formatting process completes.

Formatting External Hard Disk in Mac Is Easy, Remember to Select the Best Format

On this page, we presented the complete procedure of formatting an external hard drive in Mac. To get started, you'll first need to access or backup essential data from the disk. If the external disk is with an NTFS drive, you can enable it readable and writable by turning to EaseUS NTFS for Mac for help.

After backing up the files, you'll then need to set a file system for the disk according to your needs. Later, you can apply Disk Utility to erase and reformat the drive with ease. Note that, formatting an external hard disk in Mac is easy. All you need is to set the best format for the target storage device. For a guide to format external USB, SD card, or other removable devices on Mac, follow this guide bridge your device with Mac now.