This will allow you to use the hard drive on both a Mac and PC. FAT32 is often used among general users, but FAT32 has limitations that can affect filmmakers. FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 GB per file.
Accidental file deletions or file corruptions can be a serious problem, especially when we are not relying on cloud services. How To Format A USB Drive On A Mac? To format a USB drive, follow these steps: –. Connect USB drive into the given socket.
The latest MacBook Pro or another MacBook has only USB-C type connectors, so if you have the recent Mac’s, you will require an adaptor to convert from USB-C to USB-A. Click the fresh Finder window. Then select the drive. Note: – Formatting will wipe the entire data, so make sure the drive contains no important data on it.
Copy any crucial data on your Mac. Next navigate to Applications and select Utilities, then select Disk Utility by double-clicking on it. From the sidebar menu, select USB drive. Now select Erase from toolbar that is situated at top of window.
Next a window will drop down; here type a specific name for formatted drive. Next from the drop-down menu, select the type of format you want. If the USB flash drive, has some sensitive data, click on Security tab. This will let you choose how securely you want the files to be deleted. Just move the slider to right, the further it moves, the more passes the erase feature will make meaning that the files will be removed discreetly. But keep in mind this step will increase the time of the format. Finally, click on OK and then select Erase.
This is a complete process of formatting a USB drive on Mac. Don’t buy a new machine when you can upgrade your MacBook Pro with an SSD. Read and know the step. While Reformatting A USB Drive, Which File Format Should Be Used?
Image source: – engadget Depending on the currently running version of Mac- MacOS high Sierra or older, there are two available choices for file format- Mac OS Extended and APFS. Now, below are some pointers that will help you to select the best format according to your requirements:. If you have a Mac that runs the operating system (macOS) older than High Sierra, then it is crucial to format a thumb drive using the Mac OS Extended format. The reason behind this is that a reformatted disk in the APFS file format, will not load in the Mac. If you are planning to format a flash drive on a Mac, select the APFS format as they are SSD (solid state drive) optimized.
Even if you consider reformatting a hard drive, APFS is a better option as it is fast and reliable. If you are going to utilize USB drive for Time Machine backups, then go for Mac OS Extended. This is because APFS disk doesn’t support Time Machine backup and even if you use this file format, it will give the option to reformat USB drive with Mac OS Extended. However, any APFS formatted drive can be backed up to a Mac OS extended Time Machine drive. Steps To Format A USB Drive To Fat32 On Mac: Before we learn how to format a USB drive to FAT32 on Mac, it is necessary to learn why to do? And the reason behind this is as follows: –.
FAT32 format can be read and written to on both the operating system- Mac and Windows. There are many people who like to use the drive on both Mac and Windows, and others use it as a device for storage for TV shows and thus reformatting to FAT32 is necessary. The only limitation with FAT32 is that the individual files should have a 4GB size and not more which poses a problem when USB drive has bigger size files. However, in such cases, exFAT can be used as it no such limitation and can run on OS.
Beyond macOS skin, there’s a whole another world known as Mac command line. This article will describe how to use. Here Are The Steps You Should Follow: –. Into your Mac, plug in the USB drive. Next, select Applications Utilities and then launch Disk Utility. From the disk utility sidebar, select the USB drive.
From the disk utility toolbar, chose Erase. Give the formatted disk a name and select either MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFat from the format menu.6.
Finally, select erase. Now your disk/drive will be reformatted to either FAT32 or ExFAT depending upon your selection So, these are steps that you will need to follow while reformatting your USB drive. Remember that before formatting; check the drive for important data so that nothing crucial is deleted. For clarity on any doubts, feel free to connect with us in the comments section below.
The overwhelming majority of USB flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats:. The first format, FAT32, is fully compatible with Mac OS X, though with some drawbacks that we'll discuss later. If the drive comes formatted in NTFS, which is the default file system for Windows, you're going to want to re-format the drive because Mac OS X can't write files to NTFS-formatted volumes (at least not without a bunch of extra work that's beyond the scope of this article). How do you tell which format your brand-new USB drive has? Hook it up to your Mac and launch the Disk Utility app, located in your Utilities folder (which is in Applications).
Your new drive should appear in the left-hand column, and clicking the 'Partition' tab will bring up info on the drive which includes its current format. If the drive's format comes up as MS-DOS (FAT) or, less likely, ExFAT, you may be able to simply leave the drive as-is and not bother reformatting it.
If the drive is listed as NTFS-formatted, you're going to need to format it to something else if you want full compatibility with Mac OS X. There are several possible file system formats you can use for a USB flash drive, and changing them in Disk Utility is as easy as selecting the number of partitions you want on the drive (usually just one), picking the format you want for the drive, and clicking 'Apply.' Note that this will erase all information on the drive, so make absolutely sure you've got copies of everything before moving forward. Disk Utility gives you five different choices for drive formats in OS X Lion. Unless you have extraordinary needs, you can safely ignore two of them: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) and Free Space. I'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the other three formats below.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - This is the default file system format for Mac OS X drives. Advantages: Formatting your USB flash drive this way will give you full interoperability with Macs. It also includes support for features from OS X Lion, such as.
![Mac Mac](http://www.macyourself.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/031112-formatdrivemacpc-screen1.jpg)
You can even if you have the right files, the know-how, and a big enough flash drive, which will allow you to boot your Mac off an external disk if something goes wrong with your built-in drive. The 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' option will have the highest degree of support for Mac OS X features, and there's no limit to the size of files you can put on the drive. Disadvantages: Windows-running PCs can read files from drives formatted this way, but they can't write to them (at least not without the same amount of work it takes to get OS X to write to NTFS-formatted drives). If you're transferring files from Macs to PCs, this won't be an issue; however, transferring files from PCs to Macs won't be possible if your drive is formatted in 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled).' If you will only be working with Macs and not PCs, this may not be an issue.
Otherwise, you may need to consider one of the file formats discussed below. MS-DOS (FAT) - This is Disk Utility's name for the FAT32 filesystem. Advantages: FAT32 offers near-universal interoperability with virtually every computing system on the planet. A drive formatted this way can easily transfer files between Macs and PCs. You can also move files to video game systems like the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. Virtually all cameras and videocameras support FAT32, too. It's the closest thing we have to a universal file system format, which is why most flash drives are formatted this way right out of the box.
Disadvantages: FAT32 doesn't support files larger than 4 GB, and that's its greatest drawback. You also can't create a startup drive for your Mac using this format. Furthermore, feature - something users have discovered the hard way when working directly off of files stored on a USB flash drive (something ). However, those downsides may be more than outweighed by FAT32's near-universal support, and if you don't think you're going to be dealing with files bigger than 4 GB, this may be the optimal choice. ExFAT - A newer file format, supported in Mac OS X 10.6.5 or later. Advantages: has many of the same advantages as FAT32 in that it's a disk format that offers interoperability between Macs and PCs. It has one big advantage over FAT32: exFAT supports file sizes larger than 4 GB, so if you have a need to move huge files between Macs and PCs, this is likely the format you'll want for your flash drive.
ExFAT is supported by the following operating systems:. Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.5 or greater). OS X Lion. Windows XP SP2 or later (with an additional update for exFAT support). Windows Vista SP1 or later.
Windows 7 Disadvantages: As a relatively newer file system format, exFAT isn't supported in older versions of Mac OS X (anything prior to 10.6.5) or anything older than Windows XP SP2. If you won't be dealing with older Macs or PCs, this may not be a problem. Of greater issue is that most consumer electronics (cameras, camcorders, video game systems) don't support exFAT, either. If you need to transfer files between your Mac and one of these non-PC devices, you're almost certainly going to have to format your flash drive in FAT32 instead. The Bottom Line Here's a basic rundown of which format we recommend for your USB flash drive, broken down by use case.
If you absolutely, positively will only be working with Macs and no other system, ever: Use Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Macs and PCs: Use exFAT. In all other cases: Use MS-DOS (FAT), aka FAT32.