“I am wondering what it means that reformatting is required to use with MAC OS. I have a Macbook Air and am wondering will I be able to use this drive and how much time and computer knowledge is required to perform the reformatting? Thank you”
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The Mac Operating System uses a different file format system than Windows does. This drive comes formatted for Windows. Thanks to the Time Machine backup program being built into your MacBook, when you connect this drive to your MacBook, after a moment, it will ask you if you want to use this drive with Time Machine. Just select Yes, and your MacBook will take care of formatting the drive for you. Just acknowledge the message that it will erase all data on the drive (there is nothing on the drive when you first buy it anyway, except a couple basic utilities which are not needed), and then your computer does the rest for you.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Reformatting is done through the disk utility. Finder> applications> utilities > disk utility Just follow the instructions available here https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22241?locale=en_US
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Reformatting refers to the file system the drive uses. It comes formatted for Windows, fat32 I think, so you'll have to format it when you start using it. It's a simple process that is nearly automated. I'm fairly sure the directions are in the box but if not you can get them from their website. Only takes a few minutes to do.
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.When you plug it into a Mac it will allow you to see files on the drive, but will not allow you to load files unless you format the drive for Mac. It will say “read only”. Works fine on a PC with no additional formatting
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