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How To Initialize An External USB Hard Disk On Mac?

I erased an external HD. Now when I want to use it, it cannot be mounted, alert tells me it is not initialized. How do I do that?? (In both Catalina and Ventura?

Best Answered by

Vain Rowe

Answered on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

You can use Disk Utility to initialize the external USB hard disk to a normal state again.

Step 1: Open the Disk Utility app on your Mac via Spotlight Search.

Step 2: Choose View > Show All Devices.

Step 3: In the sidebar, select the storage device you want to erase, then click the Erase button.

Step 4: Click the Scheme pop-up menu, then choose GUID Partition Map.

Step 5: Click the Format pop-up menu and select APFS for macOS Ventura and macOS Catalina.

Step 6: Enter a name.

Step 7: Click Erase, then click Done.

After these actions, your external USB hard disk is initialized and you can use it for any file storage purpose!