Insert an 8gb or larger flash drive, and give it a name. How to repairfix unreadable usb flash drives on mac. 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. This is the easiest way format usb flash drive to fat32, exfat or ntfs. Usb flash drive formatted with mac os extended will not format it with windows 8. If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure. I went to order an 8gb usb thumbdrive for my powerbook to back up photos in the field, but read of folks warning others about how a thumbdrive comes formatted fat32 or ntfs. Apr 28, 2020 learn how to format usb flash drive using cmd in windows 10, 8 and 7. A jump drive, or usb flash drive, offers convenient portability to your data. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. When you click on usb disk you will see a few tabs.
When youre reformatting a hard drive, windows will ask you what format to use. Works with my pc and my mac this was a great price for a great flash drive which i was able to download and mac os to allow me to image my macbook pro when i swapped the hard drive for a ssd drive and worked flawless. First of all, just download awecleaner and install it on your. How to format fat32 usb sticks with macos apple community. Youll see the drive s file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos. A dropdown menu will appear with the following options. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. So please back up your important files before you run super eraser for mac to format.
Cant read macformatted fat32 flash drive windows 7 help. How to format a flash drive to fat32exfatext4 in windows. This option is near the middle of the dropdown menu. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Firstly, connect your flash drive to the mac by inserting it to the correct usb slot. The reasons behind the problem of a usb device not showing up are various, including the usb port is not working, usb drive corruption, virus infection, macos faulty, etc. Jun 14, 2019 here is how to check the current drives file system.
Plug the drive into a usb socket if you have a recent macbook or macbook pro that only has usbc connectors, youll need a usbc to usba adaptor. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. Jan 30, 2017 usb drive format tool is a tiny freeware utility designed for formatting any usb storage devices usb flash drive, usb stick, usb pen drive, usb portable drive. Its below the file system heading near the top of the page. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Jan 25, 2011 cant read mac formatted fat32 flash drive i formatted a 64gb flash memory stick on a mac with msdosfat32 format and copied some files to it just fine. The main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. Formatting a flash drive erases all data currently stored on it. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility.
If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. How to format flash drive on win7 when it was formatted on. On the left side of the window are the drives connected to the computer. The second one master boot record is old, from the 80s dos 2, for old pcs. If the drive is called no name, directly above that, you should see the drive capacity of xxxx. Format usb flash drives for mac most offtheshelf usb flash drives are formatted for windows computers. Mine displays as 2 gb smi usb disk media, then underneath it you will see usb disk. As usual, insert the drive let us say the hard disk or usb drive.
Here is a list of alternatives to format usb or flash drive software for. Usb drive format tool is a tiny freeware utility designed for formatting any usb storage devices usb flash drive, usb stick, usb pen drive, usb portable drive. Usb flash drive formatted with mac os extended will not. Dec 04, 2011 i have tuxera ntfs installed on my mac. Oct 29, 2019 steps on how to unformat flash drive on mac step 1. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. You can easily reformat a drive to use the standard mac os extended format with the disk utility app.
Please back up all your data before you format the usb drive. This works well with my pc and maci like using a flash drive for recovery files for a new computer as i tape it to the actual computer and then if i ever need. How to format a usb flash drive on mac connect the usb drive. 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. How to format flash drive on win7 when it was formatted on a mac. Why is this offered as a scheme for mac os extended journaled. Also, go to mac s finder applications utilities and launch disk utility from here. When i plug the stick into my windows 7 64 bit machine, it wants to format it. It recognizes the drive, installs the drivers, yet never shows up as an active drive under computer. 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. Usb flash drive format tool free download and software.
I put it in my win 7 pro machine to format it for win7. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. How should the thumbdrive be formatted for the mac and how is it done. By using the command prompt, you can format any usb flash drive, pen drive or memory stick that is write protected, corrupted, damaged, unreadable, unrecognized by pc and mobile. Go to the applications folder on your mac s hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Many of these drives offer a keyring attachment hole, so you will never be without your data. Cant read macformatted fat32 flash drive windows 7. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Feb 02, 2018 how to reformat a disk to fat32 on a mac. It offers reliable tool to help you quickly format a usb flash drive on your mac.
Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. How to format usb flash drive on a mac 2018 youtube. Disk utility is the vital application in apple product. Jan 15, 2019 its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. This can be a hard drive, a solidstate drive ssd, a thumb drive, or a usb stickan 8gb thumb drive is perfect. This video will guide you on how to format your pendrive or hard drive in mac so that you can use it. Switch on your mac and connect the usb drive using one of the usb ports. For school or work projects, this portability means you can work from home, work or lab computers while. Download the latest version of recoverit data recovery with constant updates and upgrades coming to recoverit, make sure you get the latest version out there.
How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. So, to figure out the effective solutions for your own case, you need to take time to have some basic check, exclude the irrelevant issues, identify the potential risk, and finally. Make sure the drive is formatted os x extended journaled. It is hiding 746 gb and is format with mac os extended and nothing i do will let me format it with windows 8. How to format 128gb usb flash drive to fat32 easeus. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.
Now launch the application program and click on the utilities option on the right side window. Even though format usb or flash drive software for mac is not available for download, there are plenty of alternative apps to format a flash drive on mac. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question. I went to order an 8gb usb thumb drive for my powerbook to back up photos in the field, but read of folks warning others about how a thumb drive comes formatted fat32 or ntfs. Disk utility will erase data and format your usb flash drive after you click on erase button. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. Here is how to check the current drives file system.
To back up your data, insert the usb drive into the computer you used with the drive and copy the contents of the drive to the desktop or a folder on the computer. As the disk utility window would open, you can view the connected pen drive labeled under the external devices on the left. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. Also allows disk utility to format a hard drive or flash drive as ntfs file system. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. 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. Mac compatibility mac compatibility macbook air retina, inch, 2020 macbook air retina, inch, 2018 2019.
How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Fat32 and ntfs are the most common formats, but whats the difference. Therefore, this leads to our third point of discussion on how to format any drive on your mac. Format usb or flash drive software by sobolsoft is a piece of software that allows you to format your usb flash drive. Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Step 1 open file explorer to find the usb drive, rightclick on it and select format. Select the capacity of the drive respective to the one containing the device you wish to format then click the erase tab.
You can see drives file system displayed next to format, in the general section exfat, msdosfat, os x extended. Mar 03, 2020 go to this pc, under devices and drives, highlight the disk that represents your usb flash drive, rightclick and select properties. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Keeping the drive in msdos format may be a better option, however, if you plan to use it on both mac and windows computers. It recognizes the drive, installs the drivers, yet never shows up as an active. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. 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. Hey guys thanks for watching, i hope you enjoyed, and if you did hit like like button. I know the first one guid partition map is for booting modern macs. Oct 15, 2017 however, this is a tutorial on how to format a usb flash drive, not to do it for no reason. If you have already saved anything on the drive, back up the data before you format the flash drive. Booting is not an issue for my use of this flash drive. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. Hi there, i have a usb flash drive which was formatted for a mac.
Go to this pc, under devices and drives, highlight the disk that represents your usb flash drive, rightclick and select properties. Rightclick or controlclick the drive s icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info. Learn how to format usb flash drive using cmd in windows 10, 8 and 7. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. Formatting a disk using windows maxes out the partition at 32gb, but not if the formatting is done using mac os x. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. That allows osx to read write to ntfs formatted media. However, this is a tutorial on how to format a usb flash drive, not to do it for no reason. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to format any. In the new properties window, check general file system and youll see what type of file system your flash drive is currently with. Macs and pcs use different file systems, which can make it tricky to put data from your mac on a flash or hard drive and give it to a windows. Go ahead and plug your usb disk to a pc which is running windows so that it can be recognized by system. How to reformat a jump drive on a mac your business.
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