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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

iBoysoft author Vain Rowe

Vain Rowe

Answered on Tuesday, December 3, 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!

 

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