Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. Jan 15, 2019 to format a usb drive in fat32 or exfat. Should that fail, connect the disk directly into your macs usb port. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. How to boot a mac from usb drive with pictures wikihow. Powerful enough to retrieve longlost, mistakenly deleted files from macs, external hard drives and usb drives. How to connect the apple usb superdrive apple support. Sometimes, if a usb disk wont boot, the cause is macos issue. Keep in mind that some usb hubs and external usb storage devices need an external power supply.
Use startup manager or startup disk preferences to select the bootable installer as the startup disk, then start up from it. Disk drill is the worlds premier data recovery software for mac os x. The 8tb version of the western digital my book is a deep well of affordable storage for your photos, music, videos, and more. Cloning hard drive to usb flash drive apple community. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. How to open an external drive thats not showing on mac. Drag those to the usb name in the lower left part sidebar under devices. It is compatible with macbook, macbook air, macbook pro, imac or mac mini via a single usb cable to help read dvdcd and write to cdr and dvdr discs. This emergency disk os x recovery usb drive can help you repair the hard disk and save your data. It ensures that no bug in the thirdparty driver can damage your macformatted drive and the files on it. Should that fail, connect the disk directly into your mac s usb port. How do i install os x on my hard drive using an installation disc. How to start up your mac from a bootable cddvd, usb thumb. Mac os x installation basics sata drive seagate support us.
How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. This reduced power draw helps preserve the battery life of the mac you plug the drive into. I recommend replacing the failed drive with an ssd. External hard drives, thumb drives, usb drives, flash memory cards, and devices like ipod are examples of storage devices that you can connect to your mac. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. So your first move is to make usb can be recognized again, and then you can use mac hard drive data recovery software to recover files if the usb becomes inaccessible. How to make a bootable macos sierra usb flash drive for imac. The pictures will be copied to your usb main folder. Apples usb superdrive is the mac external hard drive designed to complement macbook proair. Use external storage devices with mac apple support. Go to apple menu system preference, then click startup disk. How to create a bootable installer for macos apple support. Click on the format menu and choose either msdos fat32 or exfat. Compare portable, usb, desktop and external lacie hard drives and shop online.
What do you need to create mac os x recovery usb drive. Jun 20, 2012 copying files to a usb drive on a mac is easy to do. How to create a bootable macos catalina installer drive. Also make sure the downloaded macos installer file is in applications folder. Repair a storage device in disk utility on mac apple support. Plug the usb cable correctly, or you can try to connect the external drive using another usb cable. Hi, i purchased a used apple usb superdrive for use with my 20 retina macbook pro.
Try connecting the usb drive to another port on the hub. How to check a macs free hard drive space macworld. May 14, 2015 macs can easily read pcformatted hard disk drives. How to boot a mac from an external drive or alternate startup. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. The usb drive is corrupted cannot be detected by mac. For example, if you install macos or microsoft windows on a usb drive, your mac can recognize that drive as a startup disk. Chances are, the mac with the disk, where the data was lost, will be able to start from the boot drive. Disk drill 3 is now capable of creating your own bootable mac os x usb drives for data recovery. Backup your mac with a portable or desktop hard drive. This tutorial will help you create a bootable usb flash drive for your mac on a windows computer. How to convert a mac formatted drive to a windows drive. Check the system information app for more details, including about usb devices connected to usb ports on your mac.
How to create bootable usb for mac on windows 10 with win32 disk imager. Aug 02, 2018 before trying any other solution, you must look on cable in most case usb cable which you are using while connecting the external hard drive to the mac. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Chances are, the mac with the disk, where the data was lost, will be able to start from the boot drive created. If you want to copy the pictures to a folder on the usb device, you can open a second finder window, showing the usb contents.
Wait for your mac to fully boot, then reconnect the drive to your mac and see if it now recognizes it. How to scan a drive for errors on your mac dummies. Connect and use your superdrive to use your superdrive, connect it to a usb a port on your mac, then insert a disc. Jul 31, 2018 by default, mac starts from its builtin hard disk, but a startup disk can be any storage device that contains bootable contents that compatible with your mac. To make flash drive show up on mac again, we have collected seven useful methods.
Click on the format menu and choose either msdos fat32 or. Mar 25, 2016 how to replace and upgrade a macbook pro hard disk. Click the locked icon and then enter your administrator password. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. This article will help you create a mac os x or macos recovery usb drive to use in case of disaster or no boot from internal hard drive. Upon plugging in the usb drive to my usb port, it makes a faint click sound, like its trying to eject a disc. Mac free usb flash drive recovery for mac free download. If you have a builtin disc drive, power on your mac so you can insert the os x installation disc into the slot. Read this usb drive data recovery guide for more information. You can look up for the solutions according to the cause of your problem. If your computer freezes or crashes more often during boot or does not start at all. Power on the computer while holding down the option key.
Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. But if i attempt to copy a file to the drive on my mac, i get an icon telling me that i am not able to copy the file. The apple usb superdrive is compatible with mac models from 2008 and later that dont have a builtin optical drive. From launchpad, click the utilities folder and then click the disk. Choose apple menu about this mac, click support, then click specifications. Try using terminal to eject the disk, then shut down your mac, wait 2030 seconds and unplug the external drive from the mac, and power your mac back on. How to create a bootable install usb drive of mac os x 10. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. Desktop external hard drives usually run at 7200 rpm to offer all the speed they can. Mar 03, 2020 because the process of reformatting a disk drive will very likely erase all content and make recovery impossible. Apples branded playableburnable cd dvd drive is the perfect complement to your imac or macbook pro unless you have a late 2016 or newer macbook pro, in which case youll need the usbc to usb adapter. If you think youll need an external drive mostly for bluray discs, most. How to create bootable usb for mac on windows 10 in 4 ways.
Apple s made it difficult to boot non mac os x operating systems off of usb drives. Discover the best external optical drives in best sellers. I have used about 28gb of space on my macbook and want to clone the hard drive in case anything goes wrong in the future, i have a 32gb usb drive. I have a usb drive that i purchased and use with various pcs at work and school. It has 1tb of space to store a library of music, photos and documents, and its compatible with both mac and pcs. The best thing to do is download it once and create a bootable install usb drive from the file for all of your macs. Youll never have to worry about lost cables with the apple usb superdrive. Good product and recommendi have a mac book pro without dvd, this dvd drive with usb c connection give me a easy connect dvd drive without any tr. Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility. Learn about selecting a startup disk, including what to do if your mac doesnt start up from it. Keep in mind that some usb hubs and external usb storage devices need an external power supply, depending on their power requirements.
Now power off your mac from the menu or by holding the power button. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. This applications readonly nature isnt necessarily a bad thing. Briefly press the power button, then immediately hold the option key while your mac boots up. Every mac running os x lion and later has a small 650mb hidden recovery partition called recovery hd located on your mac s internal hard drive which is reserved for common utilities such as time machine backup,terminal utility, disk utility, hardware. Creating usb installer at this point, ensure you have inserted the formatted usb drive, lets say the name of the usb volume is boot disk. To create your own mac os x recovery usb drive, all you need is a 1gb or larger usb drive.
May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. Take important files with you when you travel with this g drive mobile usb c hard drive. While you can connect an external cddvd drive to your mac and boot from standard linux live cds and usbs, simply connecting a linux live usb drive created by standard tools like universal usb installer and unetbootin to a mac wont work. Mac free usb flash drive recovery helps you easily recover all lost missing files and folders from your usb media due to wrong deletion, format, power failure, virus infection or usb damaged, etc. Jun 22, 20 this option on boot trick works for quite literally any boot volume, whether its an external usb drive of any sort, a thunderbolt hard drive, boot dvd, cd, the recovery partition, even in dualboot environments with other versions of os x, or a linux or a windows partition with boot camp, if its bootable and connected to the mac it will be visible at this boot manager. How to transfer files from a mac desktop to an external hard drive. Well, that might not be as easy as you think, especially if you are more familiar with windows. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep.
It connects to your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac, or mac mini with a single usb typea cable thats built into the superdrive. It connects to your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac or mac mini with a single usb typea cable thats built into the superdrive. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk. Theres no separate power adapter, and it works whether your mac. Jul 05, 2017 in the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. If your usb drive is seriously broken by hitting, dropping, shaking, etc.
If youre using such a drive and youd like to write new data. Hopefully, some data damage that can be fixed by restarting. Encrypt and protect a storage device with a password in disk utility on mac when you format an internal or external storage device, you can encrypt and protect it with a password. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. I am able to open the drive and can even copy files from the drive. Samsungs portable ssd t5 drive has a speedy usb c interface, plenty of reliable storage, and it takes up about as much room in your pocket as a. The hard disk in my mid2012 macbook pro purchased very late in 2012 gave up the ghost. Normally when you plug in an external hard drive to your macs usb port you will see it appear on the desktop aka mount on the desktop. How to fixrepair the unreadablecorrupted usb flash drive on mac. You can find it in the utilities folder within the applications folder. Disk utility can fix certain disk problemsfor example, multiple apps quit unexpectedly, a file is corrupted, an external device doesnt work properly, or your computer wont start up. Its not much larger than the size of a cd case, so it fits snug in your computer bag without taking up a lot of room. Disk utility cant detect or repair all problems that a disk may have. Theres no separate power adapter, and it works whether your mac is plugged in or running on battery power.
Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac. Select usb in the sidebar, then select a usb bus on the right. Oct 27, 2016 apple no longer sells a mac with a cd drive. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated apple friendly drives. Drive speed is measured in revolutions per minute rpm, based on how fast the drive can spin. If the wire has defected, then mac wont recognize the external hard drive on mojave. Macs can read and write to fat32 and exfat formatted drives which is the default format for most usb drives so you can share files between. Transmac is not the only software on windows which can create bootable usb for mac on windows 10. Mar 12, 2020 plug the bootable installer into a compatible mac. Usb c typec ultra slim external dvd drive burneroptical drive cd rw dvd rw superdrive disc duplicator compatible with mac macbook pro air imac and laptop 3. When you use startup disk preferences to set mac boot from an external drive, so itll boot from that disk until you choose a different one.
How to transfer files from a mac desktop to an external hard. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. This g drive mobile usb c hard drive has a transfer rate of up to 6mbsec. There is other software like dism32imager, which is an open source compare to the transmac. I want to be able to boot up from the usb also, i understand that you can do this process entirely through disk utility and that you have to format the usb to macos extended journaled. Flash drive not showing up on finder or disk utilitymac. Transferring files from your mac desktop to a usb flash drive or an external hard disk seems to be a simple task, right. Sep 14, 2015 using an external hub to connect several usb storage devices may cause your mac to fail to recognize them at boot time. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Tips to fix mac doesnt recognize external hard drive on. How to repairfix unreadable usb flash drives on mac. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. In order for this to work you should have a usb flash drive.
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