How to format a hard drive
This article will show how to format a hard drive using Disk Utility, a helpful application that comes with every Mac.
By Roman Loyola | Network World US | Published: 10:10, 21 April 11
When you format a hard drive, you’re setting up the drive so it can read and write data on your computer. It’s not a task you’d do on a frequent basis. When you buy a new hard drive, it’s usually pre-formatted, so all you have to do is connect it to your Mac.
But there may come a time when you need to format a hard drive. For example, if you bought a hard drive that wasn’t specifically geared towards Macs, it’s probably formatted for Windows. Re-formatting the drive can help improve performance and is required if you want to use the drive with Time Machine. Another example: You bought a new Mac, and you’re giving your old Mac away. Formatting the hard drive erases the data.
This article will show how to format a hard drive using Disk Utility, a helpful application that comes with every Mac. It’s easy, and takes a few minutes. The steps here are using Mac OS X 10.6.7 and should be similar for older OS versions.
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Step 5: Done
After Disk Utility has formatted the drive, it automatically mounts it to your desktop. Thereundefineds no alert from the software. If you have a hard drive with multiple partitions, each partition will appear on your desktop with hard drive icons. You can now use your drive just as you normally would. Enjoy.
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