How to Format an External Hard Drive. In this Article: On Windows On Mac Community Q&A This wikiHow teaches you how to change an external (USB) hard drive's format on Windows and Mac computers. When you have a new hard drive, or when you're reinstalling Windows, the OS may ask you to format the drive. If given a choice, the two common modes are NTFS and FAT32.
Too many users want to download NTFS driver for mac to read and write NTFS in Mac OS X. NTFS-3G is the best choice because it is free. Look at the following instruction to install NTFS-3G in OS X 10.x including El Capitan.
When you should use NTFS-3G or other similar free NTFS NTFS Drivers for Mac?
- You are able to install softwares through command lines in Terminal
- You want a FREE solution
- You do not often access NTFS drivers and consider the low data transfer speed is not really a matter
When should use Commercial NTTS drivers such as Paragon NTFS vs Tuxera NTFS?
- Frequently transfer Data from NTFS Partition and need high-speed Data transferring
- Need easy installation
- Officially supported by driver manufacture.
Hot Deal:Just right now, we would recommend going to Paragon discount page (Coupon applied) to get 25% OFF on purchase and support Paragon for their ton of effort on this such great application.
Steps to install NTFS-3G, a best Free NTFS Driver for Mac, in Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan
At for Mac OS X 10.10.x (Yosemite) or older, just ignore step 1 and follow from the Step 2.
Step 1. Disable Rootless
- Boot your Mac into Recovery mode: Press the Power button, then quickly press and hold the Option key until the Recovery Disk appears on the screen.
- Go to Utilities > Terminal
- After that, enter the following command line to disable Rootless.
- Restart your Mac to go back OS X
Step 2. Download and install FUSE for OS X
Remember choose MacFUSE Compatibility Layer during installation.
Step 3. Install brew
Run Terminal in OS X (found in /Applications/Utilities/), then enter the following command line to install brew (administrator password may be required).
The above command line can be correct from http://brew.sh
During installing, just Enter to confirm or click on Install if you are asked.
During installing, just Enter to confirm or click on Install if you are asked.
Step 4. Download and install NTFS-3G
After installing the Brew, enter the following command line to download and install NTFS-3G
Step 5. Enter in order the following lines
Reboot your Mac to completely finish installing NTFS Driver for Mac, you then must be able to write and read to NTFS partition in your Mac OS X.
By some reasons, you want to delete NTFS-3G completely from your mac? Look at how to uninstall NTFS-3G.