How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Heres how to how to format usb stick for mac and windows pc using the terminal command line. How to put movies on a portable hard drive to watch anywhere. Unlike windows os, mac os doesnt provide quick format tool. Many mac computers have usb a ports sometimes referred to as usb 3 ports, which look like this. However, i recently bought a very small physical size usb 3. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac.
To clean and format a usb thumb drive with command prompt, use these steps. The file allocation table 32 fat32 was the standard. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. Do you have a different mac, or a pc that you could plug the drive into. Rename the usb drive optional, and choose the msdosfat for format. Here are two outstanding mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on. Select the drive you want to format and click on erase. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost.
If that works, bring it back and try it on the mac that wont format it again. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. I converted the entire drive to gpt format see the convert gpt command. Install the parallels desktop emulator on your mac os.
Mac os extended journaled this is the default file system format for mac os x drives. Rightclick the usb drive you intend to format and choose format. Now you need to select the usb from the left had side pane. Ntfs or new technology file system is the current standard in windows. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any other. How to format a usb flash drive on mac wondershare. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. Select the capacity of the drive respective to the one containing the device you wish to format then click the erase tab. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32.
Enter a name that you want the volume to have after you erase it, such as macintosh hd. This will provide a list of all the mounted drives on your mac system. It is the recommended file format for windows computers, however, they are not suited for mac os. Disk utility shows the recommended mac format by default. Thats because os x, when it erases the disk with exfat, makes your usb drive unreadable for pcs. Its also the required disk format if the computer has an efi bios. Try doing so, and see if you can erase the drive there. Enter a name for the disk or volume, such as macintosh hd. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. V9 how to format usb into 2 partitions for dashcam and. The older mbr format was pconly, and other platforms eventually supported it, but not.
If the drive is called no name, directly above that, you should see the drive capacity of xxxx. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these fields. How do you know your mac, xbox, and windows pc can read your files. Whether youre formatting your classic usb drive or a more unconventional one like a usb brochure on mac, the first thing you should figure out is what file system you want to format your usb. Deleting files on a cruzer usb flash drive using a mac. A file system is a system available on drives that determines how the drive stores and organizes data. I use the exfat format so you can go between the two of them. The very main reason as to why you will be needing to format your usb drive to fat32 is so that you will be able to use the device on both your windows and mac device. A usb poweredb connector is also specified in the usb 3. On mac, thats not possible, what format do you want to use with the usb drive. Click on the erase tab displayed at the top of the disk. How to format usb on mac steps connect your usb drive to your mac computer. So please back up your important files before you run super eraser for mac to format.
This receptacle is physically compatible with usb 1. And we can use it to format the usb on mac as well. How to format usb flash drive on mac recoverit wondershare. Gpt is the newer, standardized partition format for drives, and its universal between windows, mac, and linux. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk. They were once the goto file system for formatting windows based devices. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. See this stepbystep tutorial for how to format your usb drive for mac machine macos and pc windows 10. The hp usb format tool allows you to format the usb flash drive in the mac os x.
Download hp usb disk storage format tool on mac, install it on emulated windows. The file allocation table 32 fat32 was the standard windows file system before ntfs. However, for this you need to follow the next steps. Whether you want to format a flash drive on your mac or convert a. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep.
Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. Best usb format tools pen drive stick formatters for. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to. You need to connect your hard drive usb to your mac system and then open disk utility application. We also have a command line disk utility interface in mac. Usb disk storage format tool by authorsoft corporation is a free utility that allows you to easily format your usb flash drives. 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. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility.
A file system that has been in business from the early 1980s. When you cannot format usb drive in windows explorer, or the usb drive not shows in my computer or windows explorer, you can go to the windows disk management to format usb drive. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Navigate to applications utilities, and click it twice to open it.
Connect the usb drive or pen drive to your computer. Click on the name of your usb drive in the left window pane in disk utility. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. This is the same as the standard os x extended file system, but with encryption. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under mac os. Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility. Usb is an industry standard for connecting computers and other devices. Choose either apfs or mac os extended journaled to format as a mac volume. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. How do i format a usb stick on my imac apple community.
How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. Make sure the drive is blank, or copy the data to a safe place before proceeding. Ntfs or new technology file system is the current standard in windows machines. Click on the format menu and choose either msdos fat32 or. Hid related specifications and tools device class definition hid. Click the erase button or tab, then complete these items. Any and all data on the usb drive will be destroyed during this process. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial.
The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. Set the format to mac os extended journaled and the scheme to guid partition map. Search for command prompt, rightclick the top result, and select the run as administrator option. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. 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. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. If you want to use exfat its the best if you want to use your usb drive with macs and pcs, you must erase the usb drive on your pc with windows. Here, doubleclick the terminal application to run it.
The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Ntfs works fine on my samsung tv, using the paragon for mac program. So you might want to use other applications to format your external storage devices. Rightclick the usb drive and select format at the menu.
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