How to format an external hard drive or flash drive If you want to re-format an external hard drive (a drive you plug into your computer, instead of installing inside of your computer) or flash ...

How to Format SSD on a MacBook. A Solid State Drive is primarily used on laptops and other lightweight devices, as its compact size proves adequate for such portable hardware units.

A Mac computer with an available USB port. An external drive or flash drive that you want to format. It can be an external hard disk, SSD, flash drive or USB drive.

While the Mac can use a hard drive formatted for Windows, some features may be limited. So it's a good idea to format a new hard drive specifically for macOS.