Package Contents: Seagate Backup Plus portable drive Seagate Dashboard backup software 18-inch (45.72cm) USB 3.0 cable NTFS driver for Mac. Quick start guide.Requires Internet connection Model #: STDR5000101. How to Reformat Seagate External Hard Drive? Step 1: First of all, as I said before, reformating will erase all your data that stored on the hard drive permanently. So the first step you must do is move all of your important data to your PC/Mac, or to cloud storage service. Remember, once the data is gone, there’s no way to recover it.
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.
The spotlight search magnifying glass is at the top ofyour desktop screen. Click on it there.
Then type in Disk Utility.
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. Quicken 2017 for mac.
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.
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.
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+ Idm download free for mac.
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.
Seagate Ntfs For Mac Mojave
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.
Seagate Ntfs Driver For Windows
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