1 - purchase a second hard drive, format the new hard drive in HFS+, transfer the files from the NTFS drive into the new HFS+ external, and then format the old NTFS drive to HFS+, ExFAT, or FAT32. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced.
You’ve looked at buying a Seagate Backup Plus – Ultra Touch, Slim or Portable. But it says that it works with a Windows PC only.
You’re freaking out.
How can you make this portable external drive workwith your Mac?
The answer is yes. You can.
There are two ways:
- Use a software driver. And you can find out about it in my article here.
- Or Format your Seagate Backup Plus on your Mac.
And in this article I tell you all about it.
You can learn more about Seagate Backup Plus on this site by clicking on the picture above
How to Format your Seagate Backup Plus for Mac
Hold on!
Before you jump in and format your Seagate Backup Plus on your Mac or Macbook. Know that formatting deletes all the information on the drive.
If you have documents on the drive either from aWindows PC or from your Mac, copy them off first. Or you will lose them.
1. Turn on your Mac. Log yourself in.
Then plug your USB cable into your Seagate Backup Plus first.
Whether you have an Ultra Touch, Slim or Portable your hard drive is powered by its USB cable.
This means that your Backup Plus takes its power from your iMac or MacBook.
And if you’re low on battery power then plug your Macinto external power.
Put the drive on a stable safe surface before you plugit into your Mac and power it up.
These aren’t rugged drives and it’s better not toknock or shake them while they are working.
All the Seagate Backup Plus drives except the Ultra Touch come with USB A plug connections for the end that goes into your Mac.
This is fine if you have 2015 or earlier iMac or MacBook. Later MacBook’s come with USB C (3.1) or Thunderbolt connections.
And if you have a USB C port on your Mac you’ll needan adaptor cable. This adaptor cables changes the USB A end to USB C.
They are easy to get on Amazon. And if you want to stick to the Apple brand then the Apple USB-C to USB Adapter (Commissions Earned) is the one to use. Follow the link to see it on Amazon.
The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch comes with a USB-C adaptor plug. This means that you’ll be able to plug it into an earlier or later Mac and use the adaptor if you need too.
When you’ve connected your Seagate Backup Plus Slim, Ultra Touch or Portable. Its LED light should light and the drive starts up.
2. Look for the Backup Plus external hard drive iconon your desktop.
Don’t see it?
Check your finder window preferences.
Open a new finder window. And then choose to see yourfinder window preferences.
Click the boxes to show ‘Hard Disks’ and ‘ExternalDisks’ on your desktop.
Then you’re Seagate Backup Plus will show up.
3. Open Disk Utility.
Disk Utility is the software on your Mac that willchange your Seagate Backup Plus’ drive format.
You can find Disk Utility by doing a spotlight search.
The spotlight search magnifying glass is at the top ofyour desktop screen. Click on it there.
Then type in Disk Utility.
![Seagate Seagate](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125691410/584358720.jpg)
Double click on Disk Utility
4. The left side of the Disk Utility window shows you all the drives you have connected to your Mac.
Both the Internal and External drives. Your Seagate Backup Plus drive is listed under the External Drives List.
If for some reason its not there take a look at my FAQquestions at the end of this article.
Click on your Seagate Backup Plus in the External drives list. The little arrow head to the left of your drive name will open up the different levels.
Take care to click at the top level.
The level the yellow arrow in the picture points at.
The formatting won’t work if you click on the drive atthe wrong level.
Your Disk Utility window not showing you the drivelevels?
Look to the top left of your Disk Utility pop upwindow. Click to open up the view options.
Then select to show all devices. That will show the drive and the volume.
5. Then take a look at the top of the Disk Utilitywindow and click on Erase.
Concerned about clicking on Erase?
Don’t worry. Erase is the Mac’s way of reformattingyour Seagate Backup Drive. Nothingactually happens until you fill in some information on the next screen.
6. The next window is where you set up how you wouldlike your Seagate Backup Plus formatted.
The first thing for you to do on this window is giveyour Seagate Backup Plus external drive a name.
It’s best to have a name that makes it easy for you tofind the Backup Plus on your desktop. Or a name that tells you what you’re usingthis hard drive for.
Once you have typed in the name. Next set the format.Click on the up, down arrows to pick a format.
You choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if you plan toonly use the Backup Plus on your Mac.
And you want to copy and paste your documents to theSeagate drive.
This is the format you choose when you want yourSeagate Backup Plus for Time Machine backups on your Mac.
If you’re planning to share the Seagate Backup Pluswith a Windows PC choose ExFAT.
ExFAT is the file system format both iMac or Macbookand a Windows PC can understand and use.
But Time Machine can’t use an ExFat formatted Seagate Backup Plus drive for backup.
7. Check the Scheme says GUID Partition Map.
And then Click on Erase to begin your Backup Plusformatting.
Formatting only takes a few minutes. You’ll besurprised how quickly it finishes.
Formatting takes a little longer on a larger SeagateBackup Plus drive.
When your Backup Plus drive formatting finishes youcan get rid of the Disk Utility window.
8. Your Seagate Backup Plus will be on your desktop.
As an external hard drive icon with the name you gave it.
Now you can use the drive. Want some pointers on how?
Have a look at my article all about how to use your Seagate Backup Plus at this link.
When You’re finished Formatting or Using Your SeagateBackup Plus
When you’re done with your Seagate drive be sure toeject the drive. Do this before unplugging your USB cable out from your Mac.
While you’re busy copying and pasting files to yourBackup Plus. Or just using the drive day to day your Mac keeps some informationfor your drive in memory. By ejectingyou tell your Mac to write anything it is holding in memory down to yourSeagate Backup Plus. Closing everything off nicely.
If you forget to do this you risk ruining theinformation on your drive.
You do this by right clicking on your Seagate BackupPlus on your desktop.
And choosing Eject from the Menu.
Wait till the drive icon has disappeared from yourdesktop. And the light stops flashing on your Backup Plus drive.
Then you can plug out your USB cable and put yourSeagate Backup Plus Drive away.
And now you’re done. You have found out how to formatyour Seagate Backup Plus in 8 easy steps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Format Seagate Backup Plus – Why Would You?
Seagate Technology sells a few portable hard drives with the Backup Plus name. The Seagate Backup Plus Slim and the Seagate Backup Plus Portable were sold with a HFS+ option.
![Seagate Seagate](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125691410/965380814.jpg)
HFS+ is the file system a Mac uses.
The Seagate Backup Plus Slim now come in an ExFAT format. You’d reformat if you wanted to use the drive for a Time Machine backup.
You’ll find that the Backup Plus Ultra Touch and Backup Plus Portable are NTFS formatted.
When you’ve an NTFS formatted Seagate Backup Plus. Andyou want to use it on your iMac or Macbook Pro without a special driver.
Or lift the restriction of ‘Read Only’. So you can write to this drive or update the files on there.
You use the format steps above to change a NTFS orExFAT Backup Plus to the format you want.
When do you Format Seagate Backup Plus for a Mac?
When your Seagate Backup Plus has an ExFAT or NTFS file system on it and you want to change to HFS+
When you want to wipe the Backup Plus drive clear ofeverything on it.
When you want to change an NTFS file system to ExFAT so that you can share your Backup Plus between a Mac and a PC. Having an ExFAT file system allows you swap your Backup Plus drive between a Mac and a Windows PC.
I Don’t Understand, What is NTFS Format on a SeagateBackup Plus
NTFS describes the Seagate Backup Plus portable’s layout. This layout is called a file system. And it’s how a Windows PC understands what’s written on and to the Backup Plus drive.
NTFS is a file system your Mac can read. You can copyfiles off your Backup Plus onto your Mac. But you can’t update any of the fileson the drive.
Your Mac sees a Seagate Backup Plus as read only.
And you can’t use a NTFS Backup Plus as a place tostore your Time Machine backups.
Luckily, you’re not stuck with that file systemforever.
You can change it. And formatting it is a way you canput on a file system your Mac can read and write to.
Help! My Seagate Backup Plus Doesn’t Appear on theDesktop or in Disk Utility.
There are a few answers to this. One of these will bethe issue.
1. You may have a problem with the USB software on the USB port you’re using on your Mac. Try plugging into another port.
2. The previous device you had on that USB port may not have ejected properly.
A restart of your Mac will reset the software driveron your Mac’s USB port.
3. You might have a broken USB cable. Try a USB cable you know works.
4. Put your Backup Plus on a Windows PC to see if you can see it there. It may respond to be being formatted on a Windows PC and then your Mac can see the drive.
5. You may be unlucky and have a corrupted Seagate Backup Plus drive.
How Do I Password Protect or Encrypt the Files on MySeagate Backup Plus
When you format your Seagate Backup Plus you canchoose to set up a password. You can do this as well as encrypting yourportable.
You do this by clicking on the Security option. It’s onthe Disk Utility window where you put in the settings for your formatting.
Watch Out!
You’ll find this software feature very secure on aMac.
Even the FBI has problems accessing Mac data that hasbeen secured.
If you lose your password you will have a sad face fora very long time.
Last Words
I hope you enjoyed my article How to Format SeagateBackup Plus for Mac Help! Don’t Freak Out.
And you stopped freaking out and you’refeeling nice and calm about it. So calm you’re going to do it on the SeagateBackup Plus you have. Go on I dare you.
In no time you’ll have your Seagate BackupPlus working on your own Mac.
Other Seagate Documents on the site you’llfind useful
Looking for simple straight forward helpon how to format your Seagate hard drive for your Mac?
Because you just want to get your Mac’sbackup done.
Or you need your drive to free up space onyour Mac.
Or download that mass of photos becauseyou don’t want to pay for any more cloud storage. Then you can have your photosat home. Without the worry of someone breaking into your cloud storage.
Read on for your simple, easy to followinstructions.
Want a high level view? Here is whatyou’re going to do when you format your Seagate External hard drive for yourMac.
1. Log in.Plug your Seagate drive into your Mac.
2. Spotlightsearch Disk Utility. Press return.
3. Pickyour Seagate drive under External on the left.
4. Click onErase at the top.
5. Giveyour Seagate drive a name. Pick your Format from the menu.
6. PickGUID Partition Map for Scheme.
7. ClickErase bottom Right to Format.
How to Format a Seagate Hard Drive for Mac
Just one moment.
Before you go ahead and format your Seagate externalhard drive on your MacBook or iMac. Ask yourself if there any files on thereyou want.
Because formatting means you won’t be able to get toany of those files on the drive once you have formatted it.
If you know there are files on your Seagate externaldrive then copy them somewhere safe first. Then you can go ahead and format.
An example of the kind of files you may have on your Seagate drive are the ones Seagate put on there when you buy.
They are the files that allow you to register your Seagate external hard drive for warranty. And download some of Seagate Technology’s own software tools.
The Simple and Easy Steps to Formatting your SeagateDrive on Your Mac
1. Log into your Mac. And Plug in your Seagate Drive.
Your Seagate external hard drive unless it’s one of Seagate‘s desktop drives. Takes it’s juice, its power from your Mac, along its USB cable.
And that means you’ll need enough battery power inyour MacBook Pro or Air to drive the Seagate drive.
Even if you think your Mac has enough battery power. Plug your Mac in. Because you won’t want your Mac’s battery running out of power. And doing that part way through formatting your Seagate drive.
Formatting a desktop Seagate external drive? Then plugin its power cable to power it up.
Depending on the Seagate drive you have you may needan adaptor cable to plug into your Mac’s USB port.
Not sure what you might need? Then go over to my document here that walks you through the different generations of Macs. Their USB ports and the type of USB adaptor you need to look for.
When you’re plugged in and powered up your Mac willshow the Seagate’s drive icon on your desktop.
If for some reason you can’t see it. Take a look atyour finder window preferences.
Open a finder window. And go to your preferences.
Make sure the boxes show ‘Hard Disks’ and ‘ExternalDisks’ on your desktop are checked.
2. Spotlight Search Disk Utility.
You’ve free software on your Mac. It’s part of your Mac’s operating system. And that software will format your Seagate drive for you. That software is called Disk Utility.
You find it by doing a Spotlight search.
Click on the Spotlight icon at the top of your Mac’sdesktop screen.
Then type in ‘Disk Utility’ and press the return key.
Double click on Disk Utility to start up the program.
3. Pick your Seagate Drive Under External.
Once Disk Utility has started up you’ll see its pop upwindow.
On the left hand side of the pop up window you’ll seea list.
Disk Utility shows you in this list your attachedinternal and external drives.
Your Seagate external drive will be listed under‘External’.
Click on your Seagate drive in the list. The yellow arrow on the photo below shows youwhere.
It’s important that you pick your Seagate drive at theright level. Or your formatting may not work.
You may need to expand the list to see the levels. Youdo that by clicking on the down arrow to the left of the drive icon on thelist.
No List? Nothing under external? You’ll need to changeyour view.
At the top left of your Disk Utility pop up window you’llsee View.
Open up the view menu. On the view menu pick to toshow all devices. That will show thedrive and the volume.
4. Click on Erase at the Top.
At the top of your Disk Utility pop up window you’llfind the Erase button. Click on that.
Only click on the Erase button after you’ve clicked onyour Seagate drive at the top level.
This will take you to the next pop up window. There you’ll set up how you want to format your Seagate hard drive for your Mac.
5. Give your Seagate hard drive a Name
Now you put in the details for your drive’s format.
Choose and put in a name on the menu where it saysName.
This is the name your Mac will show on your desktopunder the drive’s icon.
Next pick the format.
You have a few options here.
Then pick Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
This is the format you choose when you want to to copyand paste your files. Or drag and drop your files to your Seagate hard drive.
This is the format your Mac wants to use when you do a Time Machine Backup.
Then pick ExFAT. You can drag and drop your files. Copy and paste your files.
But you can’t use an ExFAT formatted external harddrive for a Time Machine backup.
Don’t choose FAT32 unless you have to. It’s an oldMSDOS file system.
FAT32 is less robust and has file size restrictions.You wouldn’t choose it unless you had to. Say if you were using your Seagate hard drive for a device that willonly talk to FAT32.
The new Apple file system is for Solid State Drives. It can’t be used for a Time Machine backup. But you could choose it if you were formatting a Seagate SSD drive.
Pick your Format option.
You choose from a list that you open up using theup/down arrows at the end of the Format field.
6. Pick GUID Partition Map for Scheme
The next option you choose when formatting your Seagate hard drive for Mac is Scheme.
Pick GUID Partition Map.
This is the scheme your Mac likes to use. It doesn’t matter if you’ve picked Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or an ExFAT format or APFS. You Pick GUID Partition Map.
7. Click Erase Bottom Right
Set your formatting options. And when you click on theErase button at the bottom right of the window you’ll kick off the formatting.
In a few moments the formatting of your SeagateExternal Hard drive on your Mac will be all done.
When Disk Utility is finished you can get rid of yourDisk Utility window.
And in a few moments your Mac will show your Seagate external hard drive on your Mac’s desktop.
Eject your Seagate Hard Drive When You’re Finished
After you have copied what you want to your Seagatedrive. Or used it for a Time Machine backup. Be sure to Eject your Seagatedrive before you pull your USB cable.
Your Mac keeps stuff in its memory while you’re usingyour Seagate drive. Ejecting tells yourMac to copy everything in memory down to your Seagate.
And then it’s safe to plug out your USB cable.
You Eject the drive my hovering your cursor over thedrive icon on your Mac’s desktop. Right click. And choose Eject from the menuthat comes up.
In a couple of moments your Seagate’s drive Icon goesfrom your desktop and you take out the drive’s USB Cable.
And that’s it you’ve learnt how to format a Seagatehard drive for Mac.
YouTube Video Showing Formatting a SeagateHard Drive for Mac
Would you like to see a video showing youhow to format your Seagate drive? Take a look at this video. In total it’snearly 13 minutes.
But if you’re only formatting your Seagatedrive for Mac, you’ll see all you need to know in the first 3 minutes.
Seagate External hard Drive How to Setup on Mac
Video Credit: Tech & Design