If your flash drive s file system is msdos or exfat you can use it as it is without further formatting. However it is an easy way to make the most out of your data storage experience. It is strongly recommended to use mac data erasing software to reformat usb flash drive on mac. How to format a usb flash drive on a mac techwalla. Reformatting your drive mac are you finding that you are unable to drag documents and folders to your external hard drive. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. Apfs is optimized for ssd solid state drive such as flash drives, so if you reformat a flash drive on a mac, you should definitely choose apfs unless you plan to use it with a prehigh sierra mac, of course.
Formatting the flash drive as exfat or ntfs will resolve this issue. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac you will be presented with a dropped down panel where you need to type a name for the volume and select the format type as mac os extended journaled and partition map scheme as guid. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. The advantages of doing this is that your flash drive is wiped completely clean, removing all files regardless of their attributes including hidden files. When you purchase something after clicking links in our. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. Youll likely find this option in the middle of the utilities page. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application.
Heres how to format a new flash drive thumb drive usb stick on a mac for both pc and mac. Tesla dashcam flash drive formatting and setup on a mac. Transferring a 4gb or larger file to a usb flash drive or. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus.
Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. But again, that is if you do not have any plans in using it on a prehigh sierra course. Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. But if it is ntfs, format your flash drive to make it completely compatible with macos. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. The 64gb and higher capacity drive can be formatted as exfat. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. 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. If you have an old flash drive or one that was formatted to work with windows or another operating system, you can still format your flash drive to work on a mac. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. All data on the drive will be lost after formatting.
In the sheet that appears click the partition button and your flash drive will be formatted as a mac os x extended journaled drive. Mar 03, 2020 go to this pc, under devices and drives, highlight the disk that represents your usb flash drive, rightclick and select properties. If the drive comes formatted in ntfs, which is the default file system for windows, youre going to want to reformat the drive because mac os x. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. How to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran posted on jan 2, 2016 dec 29, 2015 in mac most external drives ship in formats that are universally recognised amongst nearly all operating systems fat, im looking at you, but there may be times where you might want to completely wipe a drive andor set it up to be compatible with. Files larger than 4gb can not be stored on a fat32 volume. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. How to initialize sandisk ssd on mac systems via usb. Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format. Your rating has been submitted, please tell us how we can make this answer more useful.
I have a write protected sandisk that once used on mac and once used for linux. The thing you need to keep in mind is that reformatting will erase all files on this usb flash drive, which means, you need to make sure an existing file backup. How to format a usb flash drive using file explorer. Fat32 is a universal format that is compatible with mac os x, windows, linux and dos systems. Incompatibility issues between the file systems of both flash drive and the mac computer. Transferring a 4gb or larger file to a usb flash drive or memory card. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it click on the erase tab across the top next to format. The easiest way to reformat one of these things is to launch disk utility applicationsutilities, select the flash drive from disk utilitys list of drives, click the erase tab, choose msdos. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. We will show you how to use this feature as your advantage to make sure everything is deleted permanently. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. How to format usb drives on windows 10 by ayo isaiah posted on apr 30, 2016 apr 28, 2016 in windows if you have a malfunctioning or corrupted usb drive, formatting it may be the best way to get it back to its original working state.
The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Formatting a memory card, flash drive or device using a pc. Use the file system dropdown menu and select the ntfs option. Super eraser for mac is a very powerful yet easytouse mac data erasing software application. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wifi menu in the menu bar. If the usb port or cable of the computer is not working properly, your mac computer wont recognize or read the flash drive. Now that the flash drive not recognized problem is solved on your windows or mac computer, make sure you had backup all important document in the flash drive. Deleting files on a cruzer usb flash drive using a mac. Under the devices and drivers section, rightclick the flash drive and select the format option. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your backup files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. In disk utility on mac, you can erase and reformat storage devices to use with your mac. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems.
How do you reformat a usb flash drive that has been set up. I also show you how to securely format the drive if you have sensitive information on it. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. For school or work projects, this portability means you can work from home, work or lab computers while still having access to your documents. Feb 21, 2020 how to format a usb flash drive with mac to fat32. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. You dont have to be a technological wiz to reformat your usb drive. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. Go to the applications folder on your mac s hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Most do not even realize it is possible to manipulate their file storage in this way. This is to ensure that you will be able to access the files stored in the flash drive should it happens again. So if you are formatting a drive that has already been used, be sure to copy any files you will ever want to see again onto a computer or backup drive.
You can reformat disks in mac os x yosemite using the disk utility in the utilities folder. Wipe usb flash drive by using inbuilt format option. How to repairfix unreadable usb flash drives on mac. I also show you how to securely format the drive if you have sensitive information on it and are giving the. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7 by jack scicluna photography, llc guest writer. Dec 17, 2018 this simple guide will teach you how to format a flash drive on mac. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. Jan 15, 2020 macos recovery makes it easy to reinstall the mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. Nov 15, 20 this video will show you how to format a usb flash drive on a mac running osx mavericks. Solved usb flash drive not mounting on macos catalina. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which. It is the easy, secure way to wipe data on usb flash drive under mac os.
Backup your data formatting your usb flash disk doesnt leave any files behind so make sure you copy your most important files to. If you havent used your hard drive in a while, or you just bought a new one, you may have to reformat it to be compatible with your computer. Basically, formatting is the process of preparing the storage devices such as hard disk drive, solidstate drive, usb flash drive, or any other for initial use. Usb flash drive format tool erases my usb flash drive for more than 10 passes. Its a menu item in the topleft side of the menu bar. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. Before you get deep, it is important that you understand what is drive formatting. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Jul 24, 20 nearly all mac s sold after july 20, 2011 came with factory installs of os x 10. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Disk utility application in macos is the best option to format a flash drive on macos. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Fixrepair corrupted usb drive without formatting easeus.
Nov, 2018 get your flash drive formatted and set up for dashcam on v9 of tesla incar software. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. How to reformat a jump drive on a mac your business. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it. Reformatting your usb on a mac computer copy all the files, including the vault encrypted folder from the flash drive to the desktop of your computer or somewhere handy. In the new properties window, check general file system and youll see what type of file system your flash drive is currently with. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos high sierra july 20, 2018 dennis sellers. How do you reformat a usb flash drive that has been set up with two partitions by the manufacturer, into one distinct drive.
Once the usb flash drive external hard drive is formatted by this software, all data on the usb flash drive external hard drive will be gone forever, cant be recovered by any data recovery method. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or flash. The usb jump drive is usable on both pc and mac computers. Flash drive not recognized issue on windows and mac. Several usb flash drives that i have are set up with more than one partition by the manufacturer. You can also open a finder window, select applications in. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. Jan 15, 2019 so if you think you might need to plug the usb drive into a mac running an older version of macos, format it as mac os extended. Most of the time is is a direct result of the manufacturers bundled enhanced flash drive security system. Not only this, we will help you pick the best file system for your usb flash drive that you are planning to use on a mac. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos.
All windows and mac computers comes with an inbuilt format disk option to erase everything from a usb flash drive. That is why if you are going to reformat a flash drive on your mac, then you should definitely choose the afps format as it is known to be the most reliable and faster than the mac os extended. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. So, before you format your usb flash drive or external hard drive with doyourdata super eraser for mac, youd better back up your data to a safe.
This video will show you how to format a usb flash drive on a mac running osx mavericks. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. The latest trend with computers is not including a cddvd drive. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. For instructions on how to format your hard drive on a mac, please reference the following links. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Reformatting the usb jump drive erases all data and gives you a fresh start. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Copy all the files, including the vault encrypted folder from the flash drive to the desktop of your computer or somewhere handy. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac.
Also, one major category of flash drive that you can not delete persieved partition are the flash drive that follow the u3 standard. Formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. Most usb flash drive users do not ever think to format their drives. Reformat the flash drive to the exfat file format system. I use the exfat format so you can go between the two of them.
Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. Here are the basic steps in reformatting your usb flash drive. Or you can recover lost data from the unmountable usb flash drive before you fix the usb flash drive not mounting issue on mac by reformatting. Connect the drive to a pc mac computer through the usb connector. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. Jan 31, 2020 the size is also relevant when inserting it into your computer if your usb ports are close together, especially if you already use them regularly, a small flash drive will make sure the other accessories dont get pushed out in the process. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac. Now you will be able to copy large filesfolders to the flash drive or encrypt them in a vault using your enc datavault or secureaccess security software. 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 on mac. How to permanently wipe usb flash drive on mac or windows. To start up from macos recovery, turn on your mac and immediately press and hold one of the following. In case the usb flash drive is formatted with the ntfs file system which isnt compatible with macos.
Usb flash drive format tool free download and software. This process wont actually convert the file system. See this stepbystep tutorial for how to format your usb drive for mac machine macos and pc windows 10. Even on hard drives, however, apfs is faster and more reliable than mac os extended. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Format your removable flash drive to fat32 with your mac if you anticipate using the drive with more than one operating system. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. It offers secure and easy solution to reformat usb flash drive on mac. The main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide.