How To Reformat A Seagate Backup Plus For Mac For Windows

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Seagate Expansion 1TB Convenient size Have a look at the on Amazon Available Hard Drive Capacities and Formats Lets take a look at the storage capacities that both external hard drives come in. Seagate Expansion Portable Capacity 1TB, 2TB, 4TB Backup Plus Slim Capacity 500GB, 1TB, 2TB The Backup Plus Slim starts with 500GB for those with smaller requirements while the Seagate Expansion goes up to 4TB for those with larger capacity requirements.

Question: Q: How to use a Seagate Backup Plus external drive with Time Machine on iMac with OS X 10.11.2 How can I use a 5.0 TB Seagate Backup Plus with Time Machine on my iMac running OS X 10.11.2? When I say I want to use the drive with Time Machine it says I have to erase the drive first. Seagate Backup Plus Hub is available in two models, Windows and Mac. The Windows model is formatted as NTFS while the Mac model is formatted as Mac OS extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+. While Mac OS X can read hard drives formatted as NTFS, write access is not available. Windows cannot read or write to hard drives formatted as Mac OS extended (Journaled). NTFS: since it is the native file system for Windows, volumes created in NTFS are read and write with computers running Windows. Mac OS can read and write to NTFS volumes with the help of the Paragon driver for Windows. Mac OS Extended (HFS+): the native hard drive file system for Mac.

You would have to move up to the Backup Plus range to the Backup Plus Portable to get a drive with 4TB capacity. Still given that most are looking for a 1TB or 2TB drives there isn’t much to differentiate them here. Inside the beautiful enclosures the drives are the same quality of drive, so there wouldn’t be much point paying more for a 1TB Seagate Expansion versus a 1TB Backup Plus solely on capacity. Physically Plugging into your Mac All the Backup Plus drives and the Seagate Expansion have type Micro B connections physically on the drive. Best duplicate finder for mac 2015. And a 18 inch USB cable in the box with a type A connection at the Mac end. Snipping tool for mac to highlight.

Seagate Backup Plus Instructions

Expansion and Backup Plus USB Cable The drives are USB powered. This means that the USB cable uses the power from your Mac to run these external portables. You may decide the cable is a little short for your liking.

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If where you want to put the external drive is further away than 18 inches to your Mac. You will want to consider purchasing a longer USB cable. The cable is standard, so just look for a USB 3.0 cable with type A at one end and type B Micro at the other end. Older Macs Both the Seagate Expansion and Backup Plus are backwardly compatible with USB 2.0. Backwards compatibility is part of the USB standard.

Slightly Newer Macs with Thunderbolt Ports Apple introduced the Thunderbolt ports with the 2011 Macbook Pro. How to get high sierra upgrade for mac mini late 2014. That Mac has Thunderbolt and type A ports so these drives will plug right into the type A port.

If you have other devices already connected and are running out of available ports then you’ll need to find an appropriate adaptor to connect these external drives to the Thunderbolt port. These drives won’t run at speeds of course, the beauty of backwards compatibility is that your Mac will talk to the drive at the speed the drive can cope with. Even Newer Macs With Thunderbolt USB C ports Macbook 2015 and later, iMac 2017, Macbook Pro 2016 and later have USB C ports that support USB 3.1 gen 1 or 2 depending on the Macbook and iMac generation. USB C Thunderbolt 3 Ports Again backwards compatibility is your friend in terms of USB protocol. Your Mac would communicate with both drives and transfer files at a speed the drives can understand. However you’ll note the physical connection is different and you will need to get a USB C 3.1 or 3.2 adaptor cable. I have an article that goes into, so take a look if you would like some more information.

To wrap up this piece on physical connections the Seagate Expansion versus the Backup Plus is just as easy or just as difficult to connect depending on the generation of your Mac. Actually difficult isn’t the right word, you need an adaptor so that has to be costed into the over all costs of your expansion drive. Software Compatibility with Mac Don’t worry I’ve not had you read all this way to find out you can’t use these drives on a Mac. The how may be different. Default Formats Format Seagate Expansion NTFS Backup Plus Slim NTFS or HFS+ Out of the box the Seagate Expansion Portable is formatted to NTFS. With the Backup Plus drive you have a choice on formats you can purchase.