Format and Wipe Buffalo External Hard Drive on Mac

Quick Navigation:

• Before Your Format Your Buffalo External Hard Drive
• Format a Buffalo External Hard Drive for Mac
• How to Wipe Buffalo External Hard Drive on Your Mac
• Maintaining Your Buffalo External Hard Drive on Mac
• Conclusion
• FAQs About Formatting and Wiping Buffalo External Hard Drive on Mac

It is important to format a Buffalo external hard drive on a Mac to ensure it works with the computer and runs at its best. The formatting process ensures the drive is compatible with macOS, whether preparing a new drive for use, reusing an old one, or fixing a problem.

This guide shows you step-by-step how to format your Buffalo drive thoroughly. Following these steps, you can use your portable hard drive for general storage or time machine backups. Learning how to format and care for your drive will help you get the most out of it and ensure it lasts as long as possible. That will make managing your data easier and your Mac run more smoothly.

Before Your Format Your Buffalo External Hard Drive

There are some important things you need to do before you start formatting:

1. Backup Your Data

When you format a drive, everything on it is erased. Before moving on, back up any important files on the Buffalo portable hard drive to another storage device or the cloud.

2. Check Compatibility

Make sure that your Mac can connect to your Buffalo external drive. It's best to check, especially if you're using an older model, but most Buffalo drives will work with newer ones.

3. Choose the Right File System

macOS has several different file systems, each good for a different task. Take a quick look at this:

• APFS (Apple File System, for macOS 10.13 or later)
• HFS+ (Mac OS Extended, for older macOS systems)
• ExFAT (Support Windows and macOS)

Format a Buffalo External Hard Drive for Mac

1. Connect a hard drive from outside your Mac. You can add a Buffalo external drive to a USB or Thunderbolt port on your Mac. Some portable hard drives also need to be plugged in. Before moving on, ensure all the wires are in place.
2. Next, open up Finder. Left-click the face button in your Dock to do this. Another way is to left-click on an empty spot on your screen and press the Command and N keys simultaneously.
3. After that, go to Apps. To do this, click Applications on the left side of a Finder window.
4. After that, open the Utilities folder. To open this folder, double-click it in the Applications folder.
5. After that, choose Disk Utility.
6. After that, click View. That is in the window's upper left corner.
7. Push the Show All Devices button next.
8. Then, select the external hard drive to begin formatting. It is under External Drives on the screen.
9. After that, click "Erase." It is at the very top of the Disk Utility window. That will bring up a small window that tells you that erasing the drive will erase everything on it and that you can't fix it.
10. After that, give your driver a name and pick a style and scheme. You may pick any name, but most of the time, "GUID Partition Map" should be your Scheme name. It depends on how your Mac and external hard drive are set up when it comes to the Format option.
11. After that, click "Erase." It will erase the whole drive right away.
12. Click "Done" when your external hard drive is ready.

Note: The lost data which is erased by Disk Utility can be recovered by data recovery software. It means you can recover deleted, formatted or lost data from your Buffalo external hard drive.

Troubleshooting Common Issues:

It's usually easy to reset a Buffalo external drive on a Mac, but sometimes things go wrong. Here are some usual issues and how to fix them:

1. Drive Not Recognized

If the portable hard drive from Buffalo doesn't show up on your Mac, try these things:

• Make sure the drive is turned on and properly linked.
• On your Mac, try a different USB or Thunderbolt port.
• Start up your Mac again and connect the drive again.
• See if Disk Utility can find the drive. If it doesn't, the drive might be broken, or the cord might need to be changed.

2. Disk Utility Errors

If Disk Utility shows an error message when it tries to format the drive:

• Make sure you pick the right drive and file system.
• Change the format or partition plan and try again.
• Try running "First Aid" in Disk Utility to see any problems with the drive and fix them if there are any.
• You could format the drive with a third-party disk control tool if all else fails.

3. Slow Performance After Formatting

If the speed of your Buffalo portable hard drive is slow after formatting it:

• Ensure you're using the right file system for your drive (APFS for SSDs and Mac OS Extended for HDDs).
• Make sure that no background tasks are being used on the drive.
• To determine the cause of performance problems, test the disk's speed with a tool like Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

Note: You may not format the Buffalo external hard drive to NTFS file system with Disk Utility. If you want to format a Buffalo external hard drive to NTFS, you can try NTFS for Mac tool.

How to Wipe Buffalo External Hard Drive on Your Mac

Before you sell, donate or dispose of your Buffalo external hard drive, you should permanently erase all data from it, ensure no data is recoverable.

DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac is a powerful disk software for Mac. It can help you format and wipe your Buffalo external hard drive. All data stored on the Buffalo external hard drive will be permanently erased.

Step 1. Download and install DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac on your Mac and connect the Buffalo external hard drive to your Mac.

Step 2. Open Buffalo external hard drive, choose Wipe Hard Drive mode, then select the Buffalo external hard drive, click on Wipe Now button.

Step 3. Select a data erasure standard, then click on Continue button.

Step 4. It will format and wipe all the data from your Buffalo external hard drive.

Step 5. Once the process gets finished, all data stored on the Buffalo external hard drive is lost for good, cannot be recovered by any method.

More Features of DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac:

• Shred files from Buffalo external hard drive on Mac.
• Wipe free disk space of the Buffalo external hard drive and permanently erase all deleted/formatted/lost data.
• Mount or unmount Buffalo external hard drive on Mac.
• Fix damaged Buffalo external hard drive on Mac.
• Format Buffalo external hard drive on Mac.

Maintaining Your Buffalo External Hard Drive on Mac

After you reset your Buffalo external drive, it's important to keep it in excellent condition so it lasts and works well. Here are some ideas:

1. Regular Backups

Always save a copy of your important files somewhere else, like on a hard drive or in the cloud. Even well-maintained drives can fail at any time.

2. Safely Eject Your Drive

To prevent your data from getting lost, always safely eject your Buffalo external drive before unplugging it from your Mac. Drag the icon to the Trash on the drive in Finder and choose "Eject."

3. Keep Firmware and Software Updated

Buffalo changes the firmware on their drives from time to time. Check the Buffalo website for any updates for your model, then follow the on-screen directions to install them.

4. Monitor Drive Health

Use Disk Utility's "First Aid" tool often to find and fix problems with your drive. You could also use a third-party tool like Do Your Data Recovery for Mac to monitor the health of your Buffalo external drive.

Conclusion:

It is important to format your Buffalo external drive on a Mac so that it works properly and quickly with Mac OS. If you follow the steps, setting up your drive with the right file system and partition scheme will be easy, whether you're using it for general storage or specific jobs like Time Machine backups.

Safe ejection and checking the drive's health as part of regular care will make it work better and last longer. Following these tips, you can keep your external hard drive in good condition, protect your files, and maximize your Mac's storage space.

If you will sell or donate your old Buffalo external hard drive, you can use disk wipe software, such as DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac to wipe the drive and permanently erase all data from it.

FAQs About Formatting and Wiping Buffalo External Hard Drive on Mac

1. How to format a Buffalo external hard drive on Mac?

Disk Utility can help you format a Buffalo external hard drive on Mac:

• Connect the Buffalo external hard drive to your Mac.
• Go to Launchpad > Other > Disk Utility, open Disk Utility.
• Select the Buffalo external hard drive, click Erase.
• Select APFS, Mac OS Extended or ExFAT as the file system.
• Click Erase again to format the Buffalo external hard drive.

If you have lost data due to formatting the Buffalo external hard drive, you can use data recovery software - such as Do Your Data Recovery for Mac to scan the Buffalo external hard drive and get all lost data back.

2. How to wipe a Buffalo external hard drive on Mac before selling or donating?

Mac disk wipe software can help you wipe the Buffalo external hard drive:

• Download and install DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac.
• Open DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac, choose Wipe Hard Drive mode.
• Select the Buffalo external hard drive, click on Wipe Now button.
• Select a data erasure standard, click on Continue button.
• Wipe the Buffalo external hard drive.

3. How to format a Buffalo external hard drive to NTFS on Mac?

First of all, you can try to format the Buffalo external hard drive using Disk Utility. If NTFS is not available in Disk Utility, you can use NTFS for Mac tool to help you force the Buffalo external hard drive to NTFS.

• Download and install DoYourData NTFS for Mac.
• Open DoYourData NTFS for Mac.
• Select the Buffalo external hard drive.
• Click Format.

• Select NTFS as the file system, then format it to NTFS.