The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. Format hard drivememory cardusb drive to fix logical errors. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina.
Proceed based on whether youre erasing your startup disk or some other disk. If you selected an encrypted format, enter a password and verify your password in the text fields. This is the easiest way and simply requires you to plug in your usb drive, open the windows file explorer and right click your drive to view a number of actions that you can perform. Erasing will erase the drive and set it up using the format you selected. When done, quit disk utility to return to the utilities window.
Format usb or external hard drive for mac using mac disk utility format usb or external hard drive for mac on windows pc using thirdparty usb format tool. This wont encrypt your usb drive within disk utility, but it will allow you to encrypt it using the simple finder method. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. Step 2 select the usb drive and click on erase option.
In todays technology, if you buy a usb hard drive, you can just simply use it directly using your mac. The other formats microsofts ntfs and apples mac os extended dont work well on the other operating system. In this guide, we show you virtually every method to format a usb flash drive and quickly erase its contents or fix data corruption and other issues using windows 10s builtin tools. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. The drive is most likely formatted as fat32 system. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus. Please back up all your data before you format the usb drive.
Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windows mac. Jan 04, 2012 how to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Before beginning the formatting approach for your mac, let me tell you that the drive is able to read wiki data only when it is formatted to wbfs with a usb loader. Click on the format menu and choose either msdos fat32 or. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. How to format usb driveexternal hard drive on macos catalina. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems.
Developers of the program claim that the fat is the best format for usb drive to avoid conflicts with other operating systems. To find it, type disk management or format disk in windows search and select create and format hard disk partitions. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. How to format a usb stick on a mac using disk utility. Because there are different types of formats for different purposes, its good to know the differences before accepting the default settings. Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility. Kingston usb format tool kingston usb format and repair app for windows.
How to format a large capacity usb flash drive, fat32. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os. This will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. May 12, 2015 how to format a usb stick on a mac sometimes you need to format completely erase an usb stick to restore it to its full capacity. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep. However, there are instances that not unless that your flash drive is build to use for your mac, you will not be able to format it. See this stepbystep tutorial for how to format your usb drive for mac machine macos and pc windows 10.
But, if you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead. This guide will be suitable for both beginners as well as those who want to try some experiments with file system techniques on your mac. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat. Kingston format utility does not contain any settings at all. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. Apr 22, 2012 to format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on winmac respectively. Means if one want to transfer movie or any stuff greater than 4gb it cant be done in this format. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. How to format a write protected usb on pc or mac with. You need to erase and format the usb to be compatible with your mac. You can view the current file system of the usb drive. How to format a usb flash drive on mac wondershare.
The main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a windows pc, as well as a mac perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. Is there any way i can drag files to it that are bigger than 4gb. Simply erasing a usb drive in disk utility will automatically format it too. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Now, you can follow these two solutions to format any hard drive, flash drive, usb drive, ssd or any other external storage drive so as to make them work on your mac now. This is a typical partitioning format that is supported by practically all computers windows, linux and mac os. Not every flash drive out there can be used with a mac computer right out of the box.
Disk utility step 1 connect your usb flash drive to the mac computer. This wikihow teaches you how to remove write protection from a usb drive so you can format it in windows or macos. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to. You may also be preparing the drive for use as, say, a storage device for a media player or to record tv.
Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. In this article, we have a quitedetailed guide on how to erase and format a usb drive and keep it accessible on the devices you like. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. This video will show you how to format a usb on a mac. Formatting usb flash drives and external hard drive to work on smart tv using your mac. Make sure the drive is blank, or copy the data to a safe place before proceeding. This wikihow teaches you how to change your flash drives default file format. No worry, actually it is not impossible to realize it no matter you use an external or internal drive of your windows system. The extended file system ext was the first file system created specifically for linux. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system.
File system formats available in disk utility on mac. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write.
Now, when you are formatting a usb drive on mac, you have an important decision to make. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Means if one want to transfer movie or any stuff greater than 4gb it. How to format and use a usb flash drive on your mac. However, if you want to use part of the drive for os xs time machine backups, you should do. Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. Many people think it is hard to format the windows drive on macintosh. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. Each time you access the drive, you will be prompted for that password, although keychain will offer to remember it for you when using it on your mac.
Format the usb flash drive under mac os x via emulated windows. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Initially external disks may be formatted for windows and after you connect it to your mac it appears in the device list in the finder, but is a read only disk meaning that you cant write to it in its current format. Reinsert the usb drive if you have not properly inserted the usb drive to mac, then you might encounter this issue. After you upgrade your mac to macos catalina, you may need to format a hard drive, memory card or usb flash drive for some reasons. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device.
Jul 05, 2017 in the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. It can help you resize partition, extend partition, format partition, convert fat32 to ntfs, check file system, copy. The item my item cant be copied because it is too large for the volumes format. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure. How to format a usb stick on a mac using disk utility tech. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. There are a few subtle differences between exfat and fat32, but most of these are only an issue if you are using a. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. Best usb format tools pen drive stick formatters for. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in.
To format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on winmac respectively. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. In this tutorial we look at formatting disks via the gui app called disk utility and its equivalent command line tool diskutil. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. For formatting, you need to specify a device usbflash drive and a file system. It will not affect the performance of the flash drive. Back up all your files on the usb drive onto a secure location on your mac. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. Whether the usb should be readable by windows machines and mac machines or just by mac and not readable in windows. Usb drives and external hard drives on macos catalina are used for storing and backing up important data such as photos, videos, audios, images, notes, messages, music. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine.
How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. Mar 03, 2020 as you can see, exfat is the only file system that works with all versions of windows and macos and does not have any max filesize or partitionsize limits. How to format a usb flash drive on a mac techwalla. Most external hard drives and usb drives are compatible for use on mac computers as long as you format the devices for use with mac os x. To erase and format any drive connected to a mac computer running os x yosemite, use disk utility. Essentially speaking, well help you format a usb drive in the right. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through.
Aug 16, 2019 in this guide, we show you virtually every method to format a usb flash drive and quickly erase its contents or fix data corruption and other issues using windows 10s builtin tools. Oct 29, 2019 to fix this, just remove the pen drive and clean the usb slot on your mac. Insert the usb drive into an open port on your windows computer and then launch the windows disk management utility. May 29, 2018 to format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. Format hard drive memory card usb drive to fix logical errors.
If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure 360 then this will be deleted on format, so you may want to make a backup copy onto your computer first. Jul 28, 20 this will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. Then you need to reformat the drive to mac os extended journaled. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. In our example, we have fat32 file system which is compatible on windows. Formatting your flash drive will typically remove any files or folders on the drive, so make sure you back up your files before. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive.
After a while, insert it once again, and check if it has been detected or not. To format usb drive in windows operating system, it is recommended to use the free usb formatter minitool partition wizard free edition. Youll see the drive s file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. We here will show you the full guides on how to format fat32 and ntfs drives on mac as an example. This video will guide you on how to format your pendrive or hard drive in mac so that you can use it. Alternatively, you can also set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. Apr 10, 2014 this video will show you how to format a usb on a mac. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to choose from. If you plan to use the usb drive on linux computers, you can format it to this file system. The main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure. Disk drill, a premium data recovery solution for mac os x with support for all popular file formats and common storage devices, is here to help you recover deleted files from usb flash drive.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. You should go ahead and format your storage drive with exfat. Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. The program is able to format and repair usb flash drives under windows 7, windows 10 and earlier versions of the os. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. Therefore, its perfect for a usb flash drive or external disk, especially when you need to save files more than 4gb in size. Format hard drivememory cardusb drive on macos catalina. Format usb for mac and pc on windows quickly and securely. Feb 21, 2020 how to format a usb flash drive with mac to fat32. Jun 04, 2018 in this article, we have a quitedetailed guide on how to erase and format a usb drive and keep it accessible on the devices you like. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. This wikihow teaches you how to change your flash drive s default file format. How to format a usb stick on a mac sometimes you need to format completely erase an usb stick to restore it to its full capacity.
How to format a usb flash drive using command prompt in windows duration. To fix this, just remove the pen drive and clean the usb slot on your mac. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. How to erase and format a usb drive on your mac techlila. I suppose if they used format then some people would think it meant to reformat the drive and somehow maintain the data. In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which comes with all recent versions of the mac os x operating system and how you can use it to format usb drive. Aug 27, 2019 in todays technology, if you buy a usb hard drive, you can just simply use it directly using your mac. Apr 30, 2016 now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. Jan 15, 2019 formatting usb flash drives and external hard drive to work on smart tv using your mac. All external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box. Now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
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