Understanding how to FORMAT your NEW External Hard Drive for your MAC - A look at Apple Disk Utility

Did you just buy a new external hard drive? If you did, you should watch this! Formatting any hard drive is always important to do before you start using it. Most external hard drives are formatted for windows when you buy them, but for you Mac users, it's extremely important to format before your first use! In this video I discuss how to format external drives into the most common file formats depending on your particular use. We look at multiple formats including: APFS, Mac OS Extended, MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFat.
00:00 | Welcome Back!
01:43 | Finding your External Hard Drive on your Mac
02:23 | What is Disk Utility?
03:49 | Why would you format an external hard drive?
04:04 | Understanding disk file formats
05:51 | File formats explained from Apple
07:20 | Format with Encryption
07:33 | My recommendation on what file format to use for Mac
09:13 | Understanding Partition Schemes
12:13 | A look at Partitions
17:31 | Help Menu is your BEST FRIEND!
18:41 | First Air for Repairing disks
19:15 | Solid State vs Non Solid State Drives
19:54 | FUN TIP to Customize your Hard Drive and Folders!
File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac
support.apple.com/guide/disk-...
Partition schemes available in Disk Utility on Mac
support.apple.com/guide/disk-...
#joelfeld #learnwithjoel #externalharddrive #diskformatting
If you have a video suggestion, let's chat!
/ learnwithjoel
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[@nanetterichard960]

Best Mac KZbin channel I have listened to - Joel is clear, precise, and has great vision on the type of information given. Awesome!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate that so much @Nanette Richard! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@KingBaconMonger]

Believe it or not, in 30 years of using Macs, I've never had to do anything but *format" a drive. This was a great guide to partitioning my new 5 TB HDD for 1) Time Machine and 2) tons of video files and to keep them separate. I couldn't find a written guide anywhere that made this much sense. Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy this was helpful @KingBaconMonger! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@Quince828]

Yes I’ve been wondering the same thing. I have an 8 tb drive for Time Machine and since I don’t need all of it for TM and creating a partition just to save photos would be very helpful.

[@jasonh4709]

Excellent presentation and info, thank you Joel! I just got a new T7 and wanted to make sure I formatted it correctly ;)

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy it was helpful for you @Jason H! How's your Samsung T7 going? I don't have one of those yet. Only the tiny SanDisk ones! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@louisefleming3117]

great presentation. No nonsense. To the point. Thank-you!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you so much @Louise Fleming! Happy to help. Some videos of mine go longer than I want, but there's sometimes so much to explain! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Rayluquin]

Thanks Joel for this video, very helpful and useful information.

[@CityzenTV1]

very useful and carefully explained...thx

[@denielvicente2399]

Thank you very much for clarification I must try this

[@amybellesheim4785]

Hi Joel, this video is exactly what i needed. You are a great instructor! Thanks so much for making this video - very helpful!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Amy Bellesheim! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@dugg70]

Joel, thanks! I get easily frustrated with technology (I am 79). I watched many tutorials and this was the best presentation I have seen.

[@arthurjones4847]

This was excellent. Everything I needed. Easy to understand and fully explained. Thanks.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm very happy this was useful for you @Arthur Jones! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@nonsense502]

Thank you. You are the best one out there as far as giving tips.

[@shapshot1]

Thanks you so much I have a relatively new LapTop and have two external drives that I need to format and move images to these external drives. I have watched many KZbin videos ..this one is by far the VERY best! You are an amaing teacher!

[@prachiprasad3676]

Thanks for the advice it really helped me

[@alsub5529]

Excellent video thank you Joel. I have been trying to copy photos from an old MacBook to my Windows computer, now the copy is finally underway thanks to your description. It was the X-FAT format that I needed on my transfer disk. WooHoo, it is copying!!

[@Tech-geeky]

*ex*FAT :) X-Fat is cool That's ok, but i think exFaT has limitations.... It may be more compatible is you don't wanna hand two partitions. (i.e. one Windows, one Mac..) but honesty, in order to over come *certain issues* the longer route is better. That way, you know it will become an issue... But we do go by convenience so....... .....Me way may not be the best for all, but it works... I just prefer control.👌

[@stanisawwysocki850]

Excellent video Joel, thank you for your effort to "sell" all of these great tips.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Stanislaw Wysocki! I don't showcase a lot of equipment and gadgets, but I do when I feel they're relevant. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@khill50able]

Very well done video Joel. I sure hope this helps me to solve my problem with using my 4 TB drive for my Mac Time Machine back up.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you @Keith Hill! I hope this video helps with your storage options. Just keep in mind, whenever you're formatting a drive, it's wiping it clean! Thanks for your continued support! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@mahboobalmoosa3517]

Hi Joel tks for the detailed info on formatting, I just bought a sandisk 4TB and was wondering what format shud i use if I wanted to play videos from this SSD to PC,MAC and TV directly ?

[@loumareno158]

Man now thats a great Tutorial, Thanks for taking the time to make this Video Sir... Semper Fi Lou

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Lou Mareno! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@brianhudson7058]

Learned a lot from this, thanks so much

[@ThinkYourHealth]

Great video, simple and to the point.Well done.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Think Your Health! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@rapgentry]

Thank you for the video. Really helped me out, much appreciated.

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @CARLOS DJStyles GARZA! Thank you for your continued support! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking THANKS below, or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@aymasey4948]

Brilliant video bro, I appreciate u spending time to do this!!! All the best!!!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Ay Masey! I appreciate the kind words! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS near the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ToniDreams]

Thanks, Joel for this very detailed explanation!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You’re very welcome @Toni Sergey! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@user-oh2is5vy5n]

This is great! I loved the tip at the end about customizing the photo of the drives! I'm making my LaCie image my company logo since that's where I'm backing up all my company files. Woohoo! So cool!!

[@jralicea6299]

My dude ... so well done thank you!

[@elcortoarce]

Excellent and very helpful, thank you Joel

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Marcelo Arce! Thank you for the continued support! I’m glad this video was helpful! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@pamelamalthouse237]

Best explanations I have heard really good you make it so easy to understand thank you 😊

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate you and your kind words @Pamela Malthouse! I'm happy my content is helpful! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@halafawaz8060]

Extremely helpfull! thank you.

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Hala Fawaz! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Michael-TECHtonics]

Great Info!! Well done Sir!

[@ajane405]

Best learning channel ever. I'm so glad I found your channel. thanks for making those videos 😊

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate your kind words @Ajane! Thank you for your continued support! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking THANKS below, or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@grumpy_dad_diy]

Thanks Joel, very informative

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm grateful it was helpful for you @Grumpy Dad DIY! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@markdesmond502]

Asolutlely fantantic tutorial, pretty much how in my opinion tutorials should be presented. Thank you Joel.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Wow...I appreciate the kind words @Mark Desmond! You're very welcome! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@aymasey4948]

I'm defo subscribed!!

[@malwalker4437]

Thank you, I found this so helpful

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Mal Walker! I have another video related to this about partitions and volumes if your'e interested! I'll link below for reference: How to CREATE VOLUMES and PARTITIONS on an External Hard Drive using Disk Utility on a MAC kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4a0Z4JobN9_gNE Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@user-cq4kq7gl7u]

Great video and easy delivery. One question. I looked into a timed backup and inside the Applications folder, there was only a couple of apps. Does it now backup everything , all apps? For example I have many Adobe apps but it seems like only the ones that come pre-installed with the computer are backed up. I am particularly interested in those time-consuming installs because my plan is to upgrade my OS from Catalina to Monterey and don't want to re-install all those apps if something goes amiss.

[@bradyf8351]

great vid! hope your page gets more subs as you are a great content producer. SO HELPFUL

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much for the kind words @Brady F! I honestly appreciate that so much. I enjoy making content and I feel blessed every time I'm able to help someone. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@LuisAlvarez-fj5ny]

The best explanation! Gr8 job Joel.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate that @Luis Alvarez! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Orwic1]

Very useful video for anyone who is new to Macs (and even for people who use Macs too!). Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy this was helpful @Orwic1! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Orwic1]

@@Learnwithjoel yes, already subscribed!

[@willilaufmann38]

Great explanation Joel thanks

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Willi Laufmann! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and use the THANKS button! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@idegraphicdesign6522]

Bro you nail it! Joel Thank you so much!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Wow, I really appreciate your kind words @idegraphic design! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and use the THANKS button! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@sklmarksmanhd7560]

Thank you so much for your help

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @SKLmarksmanHD! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@PoconoPam]

Extremely helpful!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy this was helpful for you @Pocono Pam! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@billfunk7246]

JUST OUTSTANDING ...SUPER CLEAR!!!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I really appreciate the kind words @Bill Funk! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and use the THANKS button! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@larrybishop7031]

Great explanation for Mac users

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Larry Bishop! My goal with this channel has always been to make things simple! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Jugin27]

Thank you, another useful lesson. I like it.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you for your continued support @Jugin27! I appreciate you more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you!

[@tonyblake8841]

Thanks Joel. Do you have a video explaining volumes and containers?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @TONY BLAKE! That is on my list, but I haven't done it yet. My list of content is growing long, but I do plan to have one specifically for that, because partitions, volumes and containers can be quite confusing. Thanks for the continued support!

[@margiesty]

Niceee so thoroughhh

[@christianmonheim5789]

Great videos. Btw MS Dos Fat stands for Microsoft Disk operating system File allocation table.Thank you

[@ridhwanlawal2672]

Excellent video Joel! Many Thanks Please I'd like to know if there's any way to make a hard drive mac-readable without erasing its content

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Ridhwan Lawal! Great question, but unfortunately in order to change the format of a drive and how it's read by a Mac or PC, it needs to be formatted and in return erased. Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@MrBandBBoy]

Great work !

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate your support @Jobarie T! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@beysan_tasci]

Thanks for excellent videos from Istanbul.👍

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hope all is well in Istanbul @beysantasci6334! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@kedirmamo7818]

Thank you.

[@sammyjean4469]

So far, your videos have been amazing thank you! Unfortunately, absolutely none of this worked for my new Lacie drive...not even the little marshmellow man. I followed step by step and got an error code right from the beginning of the video. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I am a musician and as I learned on my last major project, I need to back things up with time machine and hard drive! (great video by the way thank you) If you can help or direct me to another video that could assist it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[@nyxoddity7412]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥that extra tip at the end tho!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much for watching @Nyx Oddity! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@mrrichstones]

Thank you Joel, this was very helpful - I love your videos. Follow up question: I just bought a 2TB SSD drive which straight out of the box came already formatted as ExFAT, then there is no reason or benefit with reformatting it on my Mac before starting to use it, am I right? Thanks, Oskar

[@carloscast1]

Good info.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much for watching @carloscast1! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@grumpy_dad_diy]

I came back to the video to see how to make my External drive Icon an image. Thanks for the Tip

[@Learnwithjoel]

Nice @Grumpy Dad DIY! So I assume you checked out the video dedicated for altering icons for folders and such? If not, I'll link down below for reference! How to CUSTOMIZE your FOLDERS and EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES on your MAC! - Why? Because you can! 😀 👨🏻‍💻 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4aYdGeXgtZko7M I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ny6901]

love your marshmallow man tip! Is there a way to do that (and maybe text) on folders as well? Thanks for your excellence. I am curious about how time machine chooses to format external HDD (getting a huge one) from the new m2's and if it is different than from a 2015 mbp running Monterey.

[@malcytull]

You are a star, thank you !!!!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you for your continued support @Malc Tulloch! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking THANKS below, or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@dr.m.s.prasad7356]

Explained so well, even dummies can follow it!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Everyone can learn @dr.m.s.prasad7356! I appreciate you and your kind words! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@patrickreynolds9806]

Joel, Great informative presentation. New to Mac, should I get ssd or hdd? Already subscribed and devouring information. Thanks. Pat

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Patrick Reynolds! Welcome to the Apple Family! Thanks for the subscribing too! Much appreciated! As far as SSD or HDD, I would ask what is your use for it? SSD's are generally a little more expensive and don't often come in sizes that are very large like 8TB or greater, but overall, I find them extremely fast and reliable. HDD's have dropped in price dramatically over the years and come in very large sizes and are great for general use like backup as speed is usually not an issue. I use a mixture of both. I have a 6TB of and a 24TB HDD RAID NAS drive that I use for backups and then some SSD that I keep my photos and video projects I'm working on. So long story, both have great uses, I would personally decide base of use. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@amd5471]

Great tutorial Joel, thanks! Wasn't clear on one thing though: do I need to format Extreme SSD (bottom of tree) first and then SanDisk Extreme 55AE Media (top of tree) afterwards, or can I just format SanDisk Extreme 55AE Media and that will do the lot in one go? Thanks.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @amd5471! When you select the top and format that, it's choosing a Partition scheme. Partition schemes available in Disk Utility on Mac support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/partition-schemes-dsku1c614201/22..6/mac/14.0 When you select the bottom of the tree you're choosing the File System Format File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/file-system-formats-dsku19ed921c/22..6/mac/14.0 So if you were completely wiping it and starting from scratch, I would choose the top level first to erase. I hope that helps! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@madeleinethriftvip]

Thanks for making this really helpful, informative and straightforward video. I especially liked the little treat at the end with the fun tip, this made it all worthwhile and added a bit of joy to my usual experience of boring tech stuff! Thanks again

[@ffmedic1638]

I am going to use mine "out of the box" for backing up files, such as all of my music, photos and movies. I will likely switch between my MAC and my Windows computer on occasion. I am not sure if the device that I will end up buying (I am still evaluating and shopping) will come with any utilities. But, assuming not, erasing and formatting as ExFat would probably suit my needs best, according to what you have said here?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @ffmedic1638! Yes if you're plan is to use the external as a method from moving files from Mac to windows, that should work great. I will caution that if you're looking to use the external as a backup using Time Machine on your Mac, you'll have to format it only for a Mac. I'll link a video about Time Machine below for reference: BACKUP YOUR MAC! - IN-DEPTH look at Apple Time Machine and many ways to save and recover your files! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gonPZYShp9irfrM If you're not using that and you're going to use a different utility too, that's cool. Just make sure you figure out system requirements before you get all files and such copied before you have to re-do something over, because that's never any fun! If you're looking for some recommendations for external drives, I have some of my favorites that I'll link below! www.amazon.com/shop/joelfeld Thank you for the continued support! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@divolino]

Another must watch tutorial, thanks. A question, my external hard drive is formatted with Mac OS extended, when i buy the new iMac, 2022 version, can the new iMac read the old Mac Os extended formatted Hard drive ? It would be a big help if you can answer the question. Thanks in advance.

[@rayb8572]

yes

[@scrappermav]

Really enjoy your videos, helped me a lot with learning my new Mac mini. I have a question about moving pictures from hard drive ( used it on my PC) to my Mac, I understand I have to reformat the hard drive, but what do I do with the files on that hard drive? Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Welcome to the Apple Family @scrappermav! Hard drives can be formatted in a variety of ways that talk to Mac and Windows differently. I would start off by just plugging in your external drive that you used with your PC to your Mac. Just because it's plugged in, it does not automatically format it. When you plug it in, it will show either in the Finder or on the Desktop, depending on how your preferences are set. After that, you should be able to select the pictures/files and drag them to a location on your Mac. If you're new to the Mac, I highly highly recommend to watch a video about the Finder that I'll link below: THE MOST IMPORTANT APP ON YOUR MAC! - Getting started with The Finder! kzbin.info/www/bejne/imOwZJxsapd8i68 It's a little older video, but still very relevant. Knowing the Finder is a must because it's how you see and manage all of your files! Let me know how it goes! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@scrappermav]

@@Learnwithjoel thank you so much for replying….I found the external hard drive in finder, I put one of my picture folders from 2003 on the desktop and when I opened it and tried to move them to my photos it gave me an error message. I also noticed that my pictures had a lock 🔒 sign on them, I could view it but was not able to add it. Hopefully it makes sense to you? I am not that great with computer lingo, haha. Thank you again!

[@scrappermav]

@@Learnwithjoel hello Joel, I tried to transfer the photos again tonight but still no luck, it keeps giving me an error message that the pictures are locked and can’t be moved to photos . :-(

[@fatride]

Thank you

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @FAT ride! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@DrumGun76]

Well, I’m a LOT smarter after watching this video. “You done learnt me good on the hard drivn’” Subscribed!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Happy to help @Russ Whitman! Thank you for your continued support! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking THANKS below, or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@harryc560]

Thank you you made that so simple now my external drive is clean how do I move a copy of photos from my library to my external drive

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @harryc560! Here's a video that may help with moving an Apple Photos library to an external drive: How to MOVE your iCLOUD PHOTO LIBRARIES and APPLE PHOTO LIBRARIES to an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXLVnICojsqbiJo I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@harryc560]

Thank you so much

[@harryc560]

I have a problem on my external drive and Time Machine I keep getting can’t back up because file vault says it’s encrypting decrypting then 3 days comes up I’ve tried everything Harry

[@davidstevensasidewayslook8831]

good tutorial. I had to dig deeper however as I have a 7 year old Mac. I recently made the mistake of NOT buying a new SSD for a Time Machine usage and bought a standard 4TB Hardisc. By default the Disk Utility formats a new drive of any description APFS and I could not understand why Time Machine just wouldn't work on the new drive. It took a while to figure out…...

[@AndyZavodny]

Love the little side note to change the icon, I followed the steps and it didn't work for me. any ideas why? or what I did wrong? Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Andrew Zavodny! Not sure why it didn't work. Since this video, I have made a dedicated video to that topic. I'll link below for reference: How to CUSTOMIZE your FOLDERS and EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES on your MAC! - Why? Because you can! 😀 👨🏻‍💻 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4aYdGeXgtZko7M I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@derekryder7902]

You said that you would talk about the difference between Partitions and Volumes... but I didn't hear a conversation about Volumes, and how they are different than partitions. Was hoping to hear that.

[@Mannievh]

Noticed the same and was disappointed too. joel can you explain?? I am trying to reload Mac OS and my drive keeps giving me errors so I decided to reformat mine, but it keeps seemingly making an “data” volume each time I tried to install the OS and I didn’t know how to start totally fresh and remove those

[@Sloba1992]

Thanks

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Sloba Junior! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@edhoward6931]

Just got a 5 GB One Touch Drive from Seagate. I formatted it for APFS and thought it was broken because after I made my first Time Machine backup it would not let me make a folder so i could Directly backup my Family pictures and Videos. I think I understand that Time machine doesn't like to share the disk. Is there someway to use Time Machine and still have other data on that disk? I thought your presentation was great and was pleased to Subscribe.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Ed Howard! A few things... I'm guessing your One Touch Drive from Seagate is 5TB, not 5GB? Also I'm guessing that it's a SATA mechanical drive and not a Solid State Drive (SSD)? APFS is recommend for SSD's. You can still use this format with other types of drives, but per Apple's recommendation, they say to use it for SSD. If it's not SSD, I would recommend to format as Mac OS Extended. This will suite the drive well for journaling and indexing the files on that drive. Now on to the purpose and the use of Time Machine. I personally would highly recommend to dedicate a single external drive for the use of Time Machine. The whole purpose of Time Machine software is to back up a Mac or other drives to the drive dedicated for Time Machine. If you put other files on that same drive, and the drive crashes, then it defeats the whole purpose of a backup. I have a whole video dedicated to Time Machine that may be helpful that I will link below for reference: BACKUP YOUR MAC! - IN-DEPTH look at Apple Time Machine and many ways to save and recover your files! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gonPZYShp9irfrM Thank you for your continued support and your subscription! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking THANKS below, or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@DRE_vid]

Really great, but I wish I understood the difference between a partition and a volume. I am assuming if you want two APFS drives, you should create two volumes? But if you want different file systems, you use two different partitions? I just want 2 .... one for Time Machine and one for data storage for the MacBook, so I would create 2 APFS volumes?

[@noricd]

@David Enna - As regards the distinction between PARTITION and VOLUME, below is an extract from pages 117-118 of the 2022 4th edition of the ebook "BACK ING UP YOUR MAC" by Joe Kissel. For ease of reading (it is complex!) I've added hashtags. "Before going any further, I should point out that in previous editions of this book, I used the terms partition and volume somewhat inter-changeably, but that was imprecise-and the difference matters more now than it once did. They’re two different things. A disk has one or more #partitions, each of which is a logical region with a definite size (though it’s usually possible to resize partitions later, without losing data, as long as your disk has enough free space). Each partition can have its own format, which means it’s possible to have one or more Mac OS Extended partitions and one or more APFS partitions on the same disk, should the need arise. When you format a partition as Mac OS Extended, you create a single #volume whose size matches that of the partition; the volume is what appears as a disk in the Finder. However, APFS works differently. An APFS-formatted partition holds one or more logical storage units called #containers, each of which, in turn, can be divided into one or more volumes. APFS volumes have dynamic partition sizes; you don’t even have to specify in advance how large you want them to be. You can add and remove APFS volumes quickly and easily. So, a Mac OS Extended partition implies one volume of a definite size, while an APFS partition implies any number of volumes whose maxi-mum combined size is that of the container (which, in turn, is the size of the partition, if it’s the only container)."

[@davidv.2050]

So fed up with apple support/forum answers - sometimes contradictory regarding TM. I’m glad I found your channel.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Happy you're here too @David V. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@hopalong3916]

Hi Joel your video is amazing thank you. My issue is that I transferred all my data to my external hard drive before I I formatted my internal disk and now that I plugged my external hard drive into my Mac it states it’s uninitialised. I know for sure I have files on there. Are you able to assist. Do you have an an email address.

[@genstarzTV]

Hi,May I know what Microphone did you use to record your video? Pls advice. Thanks in advance!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Gen Starz! For this video I used a Rode NTG4+ Shotgun Microphone connected to a Zoom F3 recorder that plugs into my Mac. I'll link both of them below for reference: Rode NTG4+ Shotgun Microphone amzn.to/3JhRBVr Zoom F3 Professional Field Recorder amzn.to/3ZicVzP Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@112329x]

Joel excellent as always I have the iMac m1 but when I go to format the T7 it does not give the option for apple afps only Mac extended am I doing something wrong Thanks

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @David Byrne! When you're in Disk Utility, make sure you're showing "All Volumes" You can click on View in the top menu bar and choose All Volumes. From there make sure you select the top hierarchy of the T7 drive and format that. Let me know if that works! Thank you for the continued support! I’m glad this video was helpful! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click THANKS near the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@112329x]

@@Learnwithjoel many thanks that worked a treat

[@akmediaproductions]

nice, is there a way to combine two ssd's to show one volume?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Studio AK! So for combining two SSD's to one volume, you're going to be now diving in the topic of RAID. I don't have a video on this, but i'll link some helpful Apple support articles below. If you're not familiar with RAID, it's essentially the concept of taking multiple hard drives together and configuring them in different ways for either backup and redundancy purposes, or for speed and making it be as fast as it can. Overview of creating disk sets using Disk Utility on Mac support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/overview-of-creating-disk-sets-dskufd8dce72/mac Create a disk set using Disk Utility on Mac support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/create-a-disk-set-dskua23150fd/21.0/mac/12.0 I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@akmediaproductions]

@@Learnwithjoel very helpful thank you so much 👍

[@sajisaji5673]

Greeting from Israel, can I clear one doubt, accidentally format everything, something block in hard drive , can you unblock hard drive its mac book pro m1, pls help

[@barbcoots]

I bought a backup drive that is not letting me erase or do anything with. Any suggestions? The drive shows up in disc utility but not on the desktop or as a sub disc in DU.

[@vaseline7487]

Recovery of troubleshoot from deletion of all internal hard drives then no files to reboot, format, or restore?

[@JacobAndJamal]

So, If I get a 4TB external SSD, use it for Time Machine, and use it as external storage, do I HAVE to partition the drive? Or as long as I don't modify the "Backups.backups" folder, I can keep one big "bucket," aka all the 4TB as one drive? Im not tracking why Id want to partition a drive or the negative impact of saving everything to one external drive. For reference my last external HD, was used for both time machine and general storage usage, with no partitions to separate the two.

[@coryhultquist580]

Apologies if it was covered and I missed - but how are there extra steps needed if I want to copy an old drive which is formatted exfat to a new drive formatted afps? Is there a danger I could lose files? Thanks.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @Cory Hultquist! If you're only looking to transfer files from your external that is formatted as exFAT to another drive that's formatted as AFPS, there is no need to reformat the drives. You should simply be able to plug both drives into the Mac and then just drag and copy the files from one drive to the other. This would all be accomplished within the Finder and would not need Disk Utility at all. The only reason you would lose files would be if you were to use Disk Utility and format the exFAT drive to something else, but if you need to do that, just make sure you copy your files first! I hope that helps clarify! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@dinoatcharterdotnet]

I'm doing editing in Final Cut Pro on a WD Elements Portable HDD. How should it be formatted? I heard ExFAT is bad.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @dinoatcharterdotnet! I would for sure reformat the drive to Mac OS extended journaled if you plan to use it for Final Cut and specifically for your Mac. Just remember that if you are formatting a drive, it will wipe/delete everything on it. Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@kellybeck3053]

Do you by any chance have a video like this for a Windows computer? Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Kelly Beck! Unfortunately not. I primarily focus on Apple devices and software. As I occasionally cover some Windows topics, it's usually relating to Apple devices or software in some way shape of form. Maybe it's time for a Mac? :-) Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@kellybeck3053]

Lol, it is time for a Mac, but I’m the meantime…thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

@@kellybeck3053 You're welcome!

[@JetWabi]

Hi Joel. PLSS HELP I backed up all of my data to a hard drive with Mac OS Extended because my macbook was on 10.11. My question is am I able to copy the files over with this hard drive (Mac Os Extended) to my newer MacBook that is 10.13 and up?

[@Learnwithjoel]

You should have no problem at all copying the files with it formatted that way @Bacc Woods! Don't worry! Just don't format the drive, otherwise it will erase everything on there! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@Kryojenix]

4:40 Nice choice of ancient computer for the windows machine🙄

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Kryojenix! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@jimharvey-cr8nb]

if i format it to mac will i be able to move files between my android phone and mac or my ipad

[@sandydeng5758]

If I have a hard drive currently in two partitions, but want to delete partition 1 (adjusting slider to change), will that wipe out partition 2 also, even if I'd only be adding to its space?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @Sandy Deng! No, if you're resizing it, it should keep everything intact and not delete it. If you delete it, it for sure will erase everything on there! Below is a helpful article that explains from Apple. Partition a physical disk in Disk Utility on Mac support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/partition-a-physical-disk-dskutl14027/mac I would for sure make sure you have a backup of your files just incase anything goes wrong as a safety net! I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@sandydeng5758]

@@Learnwithjoel Thanks! And yep already subscribed. I'm surprised I only found your channel recently. Loving your content.

[@brokenelectronics3665]

For the record, FAT is File Allocation Tables.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for helping out too @Broken Electronics! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@kmoney604]

So if you partition one for mac and the other for windows, could you load up pictures from a mac and put them on windows?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Yup, you could do that @kmoney604! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@johncollins4888]

I had requirement to have two sinked 14TB timemichine that are 12 miles apart that can be updated over the net.

[@Thavisup]

💯💯💯

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for watching!

[@rossscobievideographer53]

Hey Joel, I accidentally formatted my Sony Voice recorder 16gb EX Fat i believe (I use mac m1) now my recorder doesnt work, and I tried AFS still no joy.....any advice?

[@elvisking6088]

I don't get the option APFS from the disc repair pull down menu??

[@danbuchholz3922]

Joel - Using Mac OS 10.15, it looks like Time Machine can only back up to Mac OS Extended format discs. If this is true then for backup use the disc should be formatted as such. Is this correct or am I missing something?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @Dan Buchholz, that's a great question. Are you getting a message saying that? Are you trying to format it for APFS? Is your current internal hard drive on your Mac a Solid State or is it a SATA drive? Here is my hunch and best educated answer. APFS formats are best for Solid State drives according to Apple. Whenever a user setups Time Machine to use a new external hard drive the Mac will always format it during setup, and my guess is that it formats it to match what the internal Mac hard drive is. Your Mac could very well be formatted as Mac OS Extended and it wants the external hard drive to match it. This is just my hunch however. Are you able to backup successfully, or does it error out every time? I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@maynnemillares]

Correct, Apfs for Time Machine is only for MacOs 11.x Big Sur or newer.

[@ripvanwinkle2741]

I’m assuming that if you share a time machine drive for both later and earlier versions of macOS you would want to use HFS?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @Rip Van Winkle! So really I would say Time Machine is irrelevant...The format of a drive is usually based on the drive itself...so if you're sharing an external drive between multiple Macs, you want to format that drive based off the what type of drive that is. SDD or HDD. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ripvanwinkle2741]

@@Learnwithjoel thank you, yes I’m subscribed, and greatly appreciate the time you take on walking through this very valuable info; if I might suggest a topic, it would be great to discuss any recommendations concerning locally backing up iCloud Photo Library. I’ve been wadding through DAS, NAS, SMB, iSCSI, etc. finding folks are mounting disk images in SMB shares on a NAS to try and get their photo library off external drives. Obviously there are tons of options, I’m sure many of your viewers would appreciate your guidance on how you might suggest we back up photos. For example, I’ve been leaning towards using an external hard drive, then creating a disk image on a NAS and using something like ChronoSync to incrementally backup to a TrueNAS machine via SMB; to keep a solid repository of the photo library, while still using time machine for snapshots or recovery.

[@Learnwithjoel]

@@ripvanwinkle2741 I actually just published a video related to backing up iCloud Photos. I'll link down below for reference. Long story short, I believe it all comes down to own many backups does the user want. Obviously something is better than nothing and for the average user like my mom, aunt or uncle, a NAS wouldn't be the best option as it would get too confusing too quickly. Time Machine for sure is not perfect, but it's start. I have a Synology NAS and I have it configured to be a Time Machine Backup that works well, but it's not as fast as a hard wired connection. And yes with those options you do need the NAS to be configured for it to mount to a SMB share volume and such. ChromosSync is actually a very powerful application. I came across that a few months back and stared experimenting with it and Apple could take some notes from it to improve Time Machine. Especially when it comes to recovering files. The crappy part about Time Machine and specifically to photos, is that it's terrible to recover just one photo. You have to restore the whole entire library. And for someone who has lets say a 500GB library, that's not very efficient. This could be easily solved by using ChronoSync, however if you use iCloud Photos, files have to be imported into the Photo Library and can't be referenced. So again not ideal when it comes to recovery of a photo. For me I currently backup using Time Machine to a local external hard drive and to my NAS just because I can. I may change that up until I'm more fluent in ChromoSync, but for the moment it works for me. I don't believe there's a right or wrong answer and it comes down to each user and what's important to them. Not sure if that answered any questions, but maybe gave some food for thought. Thanks for watching! How to BACKUP iCLOUD PHOTOS! Options for your Mac, iPhone and iPad! Cloud or No Cloud! kzbin.info/www/bejne/poi9i5-PiptlqtU

[@pdubstuff]

I have 2WD books external hard drive’s that I used to use on my Windows computers. I have stuff on there that I don’t need anymore oh that’s not important I would like to get rid of, rather than go out and purchase a external hard drive, can I erase everything on it and use it on my Mac instead. And if so how would I do that?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @pdubstuff! If you now want to use it only with a Mac, I'd recommend to reformat the external drive as Mac OS Extended, or if it's a Solid State Drive (SSD) then format it as APFS. This will be best to use with your Mac. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@andymorton5387]

Joel...can you do a video on how to change the icon on folders in more detail please?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @Andy Morton! I think I can make that happen! Stay tuned! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Learnwithjoel]

@Andy Morton Better late than never! Here's a video for ya! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4aYdGeXgtZko7M

[@MrPauldouglas]

I just formatted a new Samsung T5 and in Disk Utility the APFS was not an option in the drop down menu. Had to change the view to "view all" and then was able to select the external drive and change the Scheme to GUID and the format to APFS....

[@Learnwithjoel]

Yup, I don't know why they don't have the option to show "All Volumes" by default! Glad you were able to format successfully @Rainey Sky! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!