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The GoFlex line of drives includes an NTFS driver, which can make NTFS file systems usable in MacOS. See Document ID: 219103 for more information. This is the best solution Seagate offers for transferring data between Windows and Mac computers. You may also format your external drive into FAT32 for use between Windows and Mac computers.

Partitioning a disk on a Mac is an effective way to organize your data into different categories. However, the main concern is that most external hard drives and USB keys come formatted for Windows, which is primarily for PCs. By default, a Mac runs a different file system, so it may bring issues while partitioning your disk on Disk Utility.

Hard drive partitioning is a common issue discussed in many tech forums. In a thread on Apple’s support forum, users complain that their Mac Disk Utility partition grayed-out while trying to partition their external hard drives.

Probably, you just bought your external hard drive and are eager to use it on your Mac. But somehow, you cannot access the Mac Disk Utility partition, so you can’t write data to the drive.

Fear not, we have a solution to this problem. In this post, we will guide you through a step-by-step process on how to restore a grayed-out Disk Utility partition. Many Apple users who have faced Partition grayed out in Mac issues eventually partitioned their external hard drives with the help of these fixes.

Why Partition Grayed Out in Mac (Plus Solution)

Problem 1: Sometimes, you cannot access the Mac Disk Utility partition because your hard drive doesn’t have sufficient space.

Solution: If you want to go ahead with the partitioning task, you need to create more space on your hard drive. In other words, you have to erase the data on your drive to create additional space. You can then format your hard drive using GUID Partition Table. After that, go ahead with your partitioning plans.

Important Note: Before formatting your hard drive, back up your most important files. Needless to say, the process will get rid of all the data on the disk, so you risk losing your files for good.

Problem 2: As mentioned earlier, external drives are usually not compatible with macOS, which may bring issues when you want to partition. In most cases, users choose the wrong partitioning option, and as a result, the Partition option in Disk Utility remains grayed out.

Solution: The right way you should follow when selecting a partition option is to choose the drive name within the list provided under Internal or External (depending on the device you want to partition). Your hard drive will be available on the left side of the Disk Utility pane.

How to Restore Grayed Out Disk Utility Partition: Format Your Hard Drive to Work with Mac

To format your external disk to be compatible with macOS, connect your hard drive to the Mac and follow these steps:

1. Open Disk Utility by going to Applications, then select Utilities > Disk Utility.
2. Choose the drive name within the list provided under ‘External’. If your hard drive is connected, it will show in the left panel of the Disk Utility. Highlight the disk and click the Erase button in the top toolbar.
3. Wait for a window asking you to select the file system you want to use to format your external drive to pop up. For your case, you will select ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)’. But if you have plans to use your disk for both PC and Mac, then a better option is ‘ExFAT’. You can also rename your hard disk here to your desired name.
4. Wait for the formatting process to complete. The process usually takes less than a minute, but it depends on the size of your hard disk.
5. When done, confirm if the formatting was successful by right-clicking the icon for your disk on the desktop and then choosing Get Info. The information is available under Format.

If it reads “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”, congratulations, you successfully restored the grayed-out Disk Utility and your hard disk is now compatible with macOS.

Partitioning Your Hard Drive on Mac

Now that you have prepared your hard drive to work with Mac, the next step is to partition it on your Mac by following these steps:

1. Launch the Disk Utility app on your Mac and highlight the hard drive icon under ‘External’ (for external hard drives). If you choose any other drive, the partition option will become unclickable.
2. Now click Partition on the top toolbar. A window that has partition information will pop up. On the left side of the window, look for the name and the volume size of your hard drive. The next step is to click add(+) button on the bottom of the window to create partitions on your disk. Allocate the desired volume size to each partition.
3. Hit the Apply button and wait for a window asking you to verify your choices. Confirm the changes by clicking the Partition button.
4. Wait for the process to complete. You can confirm if the process was successful on your desktop. You will see additional disk icons show

Pro Tip: If the main reason for partitioning your hard drive is to install Windows, Apple recommends that you use Boot Camp Assistant instead of Disk Utility. You should, however, note that you cannot use Disk Utility to erase a partition generated using Boot Camp Assistant.

What Else Can You Do to Resolve Common Mac Issues

If you are like many users, partitioning a hard drive on Mac may not be the only challenge you have had with your computer. Mac users have also reported slow performance, random freezes, and space issues. The best way to guarantee the best performance for your Mac is to scan and clean the computer. Outbyte MacRepair helps you to optimize your Mac for peak performance by checking for and cleaning up junk files, unnecessary apps, and other space hogs that may affect your Mac’s memory.

We hope the above solutions helped you to restore the grayed-out Disk Utility partition. As always, we would love to hear your success story. Share it in the comment section. Also, let us know if you experienced challenges during the partitioning process.

Yo just got a new external hard drive and want to use it on your Mac. However, the Mac OS does not allow you to write data to the drive. You may wonder how to reformat an external hard drive on Mac. Follow the tutorial below, you'll get everything covered. Mac os update for macbook air.

• Bonus: How to Recover Data from Formatted External Hard Drive on Mac

Reformatting an external hard drive for use with Mac OSX is not as difficult as it might seem. Mac os mojave download. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your back-up files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. Keep in mind that a MAC can generally read other file formats, but for the best performance and to create a bootable disk, formatting exclusively for MAC is required.

Part 1: Which File Format You Should Choose?

Before you begin formatting the drive, there are a few things to do. The most important, you should decide which format to use.

Macos keeps asking for permissions even after hitting always allows. Sometimes it would say 'You've been disconnected from the Advisor due to a network issue.' Hitting backspace to delete text closed the chat window! Sometimes the chat would end these ways, other times it just ended for no reason. Other times, it was a glitch in the UI of the chat window.

There are a few file formats you can use, but it depends on the purpose you want to use the drive for. Which one is right for your circumstance? We'll describe them here, you'll know your choice after reading the details.

APFS: This is the default file system in Macs with High Sierra. It is efficient and reliable. However, it won't be readable and usable on machines that are not running Mac High Sierra, and Windows or Linux PCs. What's more, it is compatible with SSD and flash storage devices only.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled/HFS+): If you didn't update your Mac OS to High Sierra, the default file system on your Mac shoule be Mac OS Extended. Mac OS Extended (encrypted) would be an ideal option if you probably carry your laptop or external drive here and there. You can encrypt it so that no one can access the contents on your drive.

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MS-DOS FAT (aka FAT32): In addition to Mac, it can also be written and read by Linux and Windows. It enables you to regularly share files with your friends who own a PC. Nevertheless, this older file system is limited to no more than 4GB and there might be security issue and disk errors.

ExFAT: It is similar to ExFAT which can be read by both Windows and Mac, but it can store more than 4GB files.

NTFS: As the default file system in Windows, it can only read by Mac OS, writing to it is not available. Luckily, there are third-party tools to help you do so.

Part 2: Format External Hard Drive for Mac with Disk Utility

Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.

All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your Mac. Disk utility - the MacOS utility application can help you with this. Just follow these steps below:

Step 1. Connect the external drive or the USB drive to the MAC.

Step 2. Start the Disk Utility, located under Applications > Utilities.

Step 3. Find the name of the drive in the left side of the Utilities window and select it. And click Erase button.

Step 4. Follow on-screen prompts to choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system and allow the disk to format.

Bonus: How to Recover Data from Formatted External Hard Drive on Mac

In case you forgot to backup files before formatting the external drive. Here comes the cure - iMyFone AnyRecover - a one-stop solution to recover deleted, lost or formatted files from Mac.

Follow these simple steps using AnyRecover to get your files back!

Get Ready!

First, download and install AnyRecover, following on-screen prompts to accomplish the task.

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Get Set!

• 1. After loading AnyRecover, plug your external hard drive into your Mac directly or via USB.

• 2. Next select the drive under 'External Removable Devices' tab, click 'Start' to begin scanning lost files on the drive.

Go!

• 1. AnyRecover takes a moment to scan your drive. Once done, it will list out all scanning results by file type.

• 2. Double click a single file to preview it before recovery.

• 3. Select the files and press Recover to get them back.

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What If?

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What if my files were not found? Fear not. We can take this a step further. Enable 'Deep Scan' to try one more time, follow the steps above just as before to locate and recover your files.

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It is plain to see that AnyRecover for Mac is a tool worthy of top shelf treatment in your arsenal of items that are used to defend, recover and keep your system up and running. Don't get caught without the file you need for that meeting or stumbling looking for baby photos that were stored on disk and suddenly 'hid' from your view. Allow AnyRecover to find and recover your lost files. AnyRecover is easy to use but provides sophisticated results that mean you know what you're doing!