To format a hard drive before you start using it in Windows, use the Disk Management utility; on a Mac, use Disk Utility.

How do I format a hard drive? A computer hard drive stores your files, allowing you to access them at any time. The majority of the time, you want these files to remain stored properly and safely.

If you have to use a flash drive on both Macs and Windows PCs, make sure both systems can read it. Here's how to format the drive correctly. While there is a lot of interoperability between Apple's ...