How to Format Seagate Hard Drive on Mac [A Quick & Comprehensive Guide]

Want to know how to format a Seagate hard drive for Mac? If you're new to Mac or not very tech-savvy, don't worry – we've got you covered!

We all know the feeling when we first lay our hands on something or have no clue about something. But in today's article, we will show you how to format Seagate hard drive for Mac, what format type to choose, and so on.

How to format Seagate hard drive on Mac?

So, what do you need to format your Seagate hard drive for Mac? Now, that's an interesting question with a simple answer. You can use Disk Utility and Terminal to format your Seagate hard drive.

You can launch them from Launchpad or find them with Spotlight, but before you do anything, there's one essential task you need to complete – backup your Mac! Here's a link to help you backup your Mac.

The reason you need to create a backup is that formatting will delete your files, so it's safer to have them backed up beforehand if you have any important documents. Now that you know why it's necessary to back up before formatting, go ahead and create a backup. Once that's done, let's look at how to format a Seagate hard drive for Mac.

Method 1: How to Format Seagate Hard Drive with Disk Utility - Disk Utility

What is Disk Utility? The answer is simple: Disk Utility is what you use to format and manage volumes on external drives, create images of your Mac's drive, check and fix drives if they have errors, and create RAID arrays if you have multiple drives.

Disk Utility is a comprehensive tool for all your internal and external hard drive needs. Now that you know what Disk Utility is and how to use it, here's how to format a Seagate hard drive for Mac.

Step 1. Connect the Western Digital drive to your Mac and launch Spotlight.

Step 2. Type “Disk Utility” to open Disk Utility.

Step 3: Select your Seagate drive and click “Erase.”

Step 4. Name the drive, choose a format and scheme, and click “Erase” again.

If you're unsure which format to choose, first determine how you'll be using your external hard drive. Will it only be used with your Mac, or will it be used with other devices as well? If your external hard drive will only be used with your Mac, then choose the APFS format, for Apple File System. If your external hard drive will be used with other devices, choose either exFAT or FAT32.

Due to the FAT32 file size limit of 4 GB, this format is not recommended. You should choose exFAT instead. For the partition scheme, you can opt for Master Boot Record (MBR).

Well, here's a link for you because you might run into some issues with formatting:

How to Format a Seagate Hard Drive for a Mac Using Terminal Commands

While you can use Disk Utility to format a hard drive, another option is to use the Terminal. If you're comfortable with the Terminal, this might be a more useful approach for you.

If you're not tech-savvy, new to the Mac, or have never used the Terminal before, there are a few things you should know.

The Terminal on a Mac is similar to the Command Prompt on Windows. It's used to execute various commands, interact with your computer, change settings, reset settings, format it for the best hard drive format for a Mac, and more.

Alright, here's how to format a Seagate hard drive on a Mac using the Terminal in American English: 1. **Open Terminal**: Fire up your Mac and either search for it using Spotlight or find it within "Applications" > "Utilities" and open "Terminal". 2. **Identify the drive name**: In Terminal, enter this command to list all connected disks: ``` diskutil list ``` This will display all disks and their respective device identifiers, like `/dev/disk2`. Locate the name of your Seagate hard drive. 3. **Unmount the drive**: After identifying the drive name (e.g., `/dev/disk2`), type this command to safely unmount it: ``` diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2 ``` Make sure to replace `/dev/disk2` with the actual name of your Seagate drive. 4. **Format the drive**: Next, use this command to format the drive. We'll use HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) as the file system, but you can choose another format like APFS if needed: ``` diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ "NewVolumeName" MBRType msdos /dev/disk2 ``` Replace "NewVolumeName" with the volume name you want, such as "MySeagateDrive", and confirm that `/dev/disk2` is your Seagate drive's name. 5. **Wait for completion**: Formatting might take a few minutes. When done, Terminal will return a prompt. 6. **Verify formatting**: Run `diskutil list` again to confirm that the drive has been successfully formatted and its name has changed to what you specified in step 4. Be careful, as formatting will erase all data on the drive! If you have any questions or need further assistance, don't hesitate to ask.

Step 1: Launch Spotlight and search for Terminal, or open Finder, go to the Applications folder, and choose Utilities, then Terminal.

Step 2: After opening the Terminal, type the command diskutil list and press the "Enter" key.

Step 3: You'll see a list of drives. Select your Seagate drive and enter the command `diskutil eraseDisk APFS (LABEL)`. Replace "(LABEL)" with the name you want to give your new drive.

Step 4. After typing in the command, you will now format your Seagate hard drive.

This will format the Seagate drive for use with your Mac. Did you know you can also format a Seagate drive for Mac use on Windows? You can find out how in the next section.

Additional Tip: How to Format a Seagate Hard Drive on Windows 10/11 If you need help formatting a Seagate hard drive on your Windows 10 or 11 PC, follow these steps: 1. **Connect the drive**: Use the appropriate USB cable to connect the Seagate hard drive to your Windows computer. 2. **Open Disk Management**: Press `Win + X` and choose "Disk Management." Alternatively, right-click the Start button, then select "Disk Management" from the pop-up menu. 3. **Identify the drive**: In the "Disk Management" window, locate your Seagate hard drive. It will typically show up as unallocated space or a formatted partition. 4. **Initialize the drive**: If it's new or hasn't been used with Windows before, you'll need to initialize it. Right-click the unallocated space and select "Initialize Disk." Choose the appropriate partition style (MBR or GPT) and click "OK." 5. **Create a New Simple Volume**: After initialization, right-click the "Unallocated" space and choose "New Simple Volume." Follow the wizard's steps: - Specify the volume size you want. - Select the file system (NTFS is recommended). - Assign a volume label (optional). - Confirm all settings and click "Finish." 6. **Format the drive**: Once the new volume is created and shows as "Online," right-click it and select "Format." Make sure the file system is set to NTFS (or choose another if needed), keep the default allocation unit size, and click "Quick Format." Back up important data first, as this will erase everything on the drive. 7. **Wait for completion**: Formatting may take some time depending on the size of the drive. When done, your Seagate hard drive should be ready to use. Remember to back up crucial data beforehand to avoid loss. If you encounter issues, consult Seagate's official support or seek professional assistance.

If you need a tool that goes beyond what Disk Utility and the terminal offer, you can use tools Partition Master Free. It will be a great helper if you want to format a Seagate hard drive efficiently on Windows.

Now, let's see how to format the Seagate hard drive using the tool.

Step 1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard, right click the hard drive partition you want to format and choose “Format”.

Step 2: In the new window, set the "Volume Label," "File System" (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT) and "Cluster Size" for the partition to be formatted, then click "OK".

Step 3: You'll then see a warning prompt; click “Yes” to proceed.

Step 4: Click the "Perform 1 Task" button to review your changes, and then click "Apply" to begin formatting the partition on the drive.

Aside from easily formatting your hard drive, you can also use this program to copy or move your operating system and data to another drive. What else can it do? Plenty! Let's take a look at more of what Partition Wizard has to offer.

What can tools Partition Master do?

As a professional and reliable formatting tool, Partition Master can do the following:

• Convert FAT32 to NTFS
• Convert MBR to GPT without data loss
• Check bad sectors and file system errors
• Merge partitions, create/delete or resize/move partitions
• Format a hard drive, USB, SD card, and other external hard drives

This program can be downloaded for free for Windows, and if you use both Mac and Windows, you can use it to format your hard drive to work with both. The software has a clear interface that makes it easy to use.

Conclusions

Formatting a Seagate or any other hard drive on a Mac is very quick and easy, just as it is on Windows or any other operating system. Not only that, but if you use multiple operating systems like Mac and Windows, you can use a tool like Partition Master to get granular control over your external hard drive for efficient use.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Format Seagate Hard Drive for Mac with UTF-8 Encoding

Here are some questions we think you might want answers to about formatting a Seagate hard drive for use with your Mac.

1. Why is my Seagate hard drive not showing up on Mac?

If your Seagate drive isn't showing up on your Mac, make sure that the cable is connected properly. If everything looks correct but the drive still isn't showing up on your Mac, open Disk Utility and click “View” in the top menu bar, then select “Show All Devices.”

**2. Are Seagate external hard drives compatible with Mac?**

Yes, Seagate external hard drives are compatible with your Mac just like any other drive.

How do I get my Seagate hard drive to work on a Mac?

To use a Seagate hard drive on a Mac, you'll need to connect it and format it. If you don't format the drive, it will be read-only, meaning that you won't be able to copy or move files to the Seagate drive.