# How to format USB BU Drive and create HFS+ Partition



## rok7751 (Nov 30, 2015)

I have a Seagate Plus 3 tb USB Drive that I formatted with partitions for FAT32 and HFS+. since my macbook stopped recognizing the drive ( does not appear in Disk Utilities) and since i am not concerned with losing the files i would like to format the drive and start over with just the HFS+ system.

the drive is recognized immediately in my win xp so I assume the trouble is not with connections. my question is “how to go about the format to erase the drive and create the HFS+ partition…….??


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## MartyF81 (Jan 23, 2013)

Are you able to format the drive in the Windows Machine?

I would erase the entire drive in Windows, and then try and connect it to the Mac. Seems like there is some kind of issue with the Partition Scheme that it is not recognizing the drive.


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## MartyF81 (Jan 23, 2013)

Also, can you provide the exact model of the drive. Some 3TB USB drives... are actually 2 1.5 drives in one housing that are simulating 1 drive that is 3TB.... and Seagate has special software you have to use to Format the drives. You may need to download the software from Seagate to accomplish the formatting.


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## rok7751 (Nov 30, 2015)

Thanks for prompt response, i was worried that formatting in Windows would be a wrong move. I did look at Seagate support site but found no mention of my situation..

Info on drive Label….Seagate Backup Plus, Desktop Drive
Model SRDOSDO Part No. 1DXAP3-500 3TB

Macbook Pro OSX yosemite


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## MartyF81 (Jan 23, 2013)

Ok the tool to reformat that drive is on this page of their site: Business Windows Backup - Backup Windows Group | Seagate

It is called Seagate Dashboard for Mac OS.

There is also a link on the page for your exact issue in the Troubleshooting issue: Why can't I reformat my 3TB drive after plugging it into a system running MacOS?


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## rok7751 (Nov 30, 2015)

OK, i'll be on this tonight and report back tomorrow,


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## rok7751 (Nov 30, 2015)

Went to that Seagate link and see that is refers to formatting a drive with a GPT partition and how to go about it. 
The windows Disk Management shows my Seagate disk as having a healthy but unknown partition
lt seems i can just delete the partitions then and format the drive. what is still unclear is how do I then format it with the recommended HFS+ partition....


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## MartyF81 (Jan 23, 2013)

The link... was to address why your Mac is not able to see the drive at all. You need to fix your Mac being able to actually see the device first.

Once you get your Mac to see the device.... you likely need to use that software they have available on their website to do the partitioning. 

This is because I think those externals have 2 physical drives in there and a small controller board that ties them together to simulate a single drive. The software they have for downloading does the actual formatting for you.


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## rok7751 (Nov 30, 2015)

Well, after following the steps to erase the GPT partition in Windows i was able to then connect it to my Mac and format it with the mac os extended journaled partition. i would then use it just for the macbook BU.. problem is, the next time i booted the mac the problem returned where the drive is not seen. after several reboots with no success i decided to use the drive on the windows computer where it has worked fine for several years now.
my thanks for your time and suggestions.


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