NMC Tip: How to format your hard drive so it is Mac compatible... and why

Hi New Media Center patrons, if you plan to work often in the NMC, strongly consider reformatting your hard drives so they are Mac compatible. Drives that are not Mac-formatted may experience issues reading and writing to and from the drive. Note that reformatting the drive erases it, so patrons are advised to back up their footage before doing this (or ideally formatting the drive before saving anything to it). Also note that reformatting it for Mac may make it incompatible with a PC. If you need the drive to work on both, consult an NMC staff member.

To reformat the drive:

1. Plug the drive into any Mac computer. In the upper right corner, click the magnifying glass, then type “disk utility” (note that ‘disk’ has a k).
2. When the Disk Utility window pops up, you will see your drive in the list in the left hand window. Select the drive.
3. In the main window on the right, you will see several options across the top. Click on “erase.” Then under “format,” choose “Mac OS (journaled).”
4. Rename the drive if you wish.
5. Click “erase.”