How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. And then click on erase to erase and format the external disk or flash drive. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for macos sierra select the guid partition map if you are creating a bootable install disk or going to use with time machine backup. Easy methods to fix flash drive not recognized problem in windows. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat.
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. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. This format will allow you to use your flash drive on mac without any limitations. If you have a thumb drive, cd, dvd or other storage device with mac operating system installed, you can choose to boot from usb on mac instead of the builtin startup disk, and if not, please follow the 3 steps in this article to learn how does mac change boot order to usb drive. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. I put it in my win 7 pro machine to format it for win7. Make sure you have right files and know how to do it. When you fix the usb flash drive not recognized with format solution, all your data on the drive will got formatted and lost. Usb flash drive format tool free download and software. 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. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
Heres how to format a new flash drive thumb drive usb stick on a mac for both pc and mac. Have you ever ran into a problem where youre trying to use a flash drive on both windows and mac. Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. The first technique to format write protected usb drive is by using the registry editor on windows.
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. In the file system list box, choose exfat, type in a volume label if you want, and then click start. If you have important data on your usb flash drive, you should backup your drive before formatting it. So, if you want to format a flash drive connected to a usb, firewire, or thunderbolt usb type c or not on a mac you need do the following procedure. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. Proceed based on whether youre erasing your startup disk or some other disk. Lets see how to format usb drive on a windows pc first. It will not affect the performance of the flash drive.
How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos. How to format usb flash drive on windows or mac os. Unlike windows in file explorer, mac os x and macos do not include a format drive option in the finder. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. So, if it needs to be formatted at all, you need to format it as fat32. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window.
In the essay, we will talk about how to format usb flash drive on windows and on mac os and how to recover usb data. Once, your data from flash drive is securely stored, you can now proceed with the troubleshooting methods. Dont worry, the following part will show you the solution for windows and mac os users. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. This format is considered as default file system format of the mac os x drives. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. 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. 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. Go to the applications folder on your mac s hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. Formatting your flash drive will remove all files or folders on the drive, so make sure you back up your files before formatting your drive.
Formatting a usb drive can repair corrupt partition as well as change file system format, thus we may need to format usb flash drive from time to time. How to format flash drive on win7 when it was formatted on. 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. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. As said earlier, both windows and mac will have different methods. Technician pc windows pc that youll use to format the usb flash drive. By the way, we will talk about production usb and nonproduction usb. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos high sierra. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Formatting usb flash drive means emptying all files in the drive and returning to the initial state. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac.
If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows. How to format a flash drive to fat32exfatext4 in windows. Click ok to the format warning and wait until the process is complete. Hi there, i have a usb flash drive which was formatted for a mac. As you can see, exfat is the only file system that works with all versions of windows and. The process for formatting a drive is different depending on the system youre using.
Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7 by jack scicluna photography, llc guest writer. This drive will be formatted, so make sure it doesnt have any important files on it. The program is able to format and repair usb flash drives under windows 7, windows 10 and earlier versions of the os. 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. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state drives ssds provide one of the easiest ways to transfer files between separate computers without accessing the internet. How to format usb flash on mac or how to format hard disk on mac with best usb drive formatting software download for mac or hp usb disk storage format tool mac edition download and free hard disk format tool mac to format usb flash drive fat32 on mac os or to create bootable usb or format usb in mac. There are several ways to format drive in windows pc, you can do that in this pc or in disk management. Learn how to format usb flash drive using cmd in windows 10, 8 and 7. In macos, choose apple menu system preferences, click software update, then install all available windows support software updates.
Learn how to format your usb flash drive or usb external drive so you can use it on both mac os x and windows computers. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. Now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. Rightclick your flash drive and then select format. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Moving from windows to mac transferring your documents. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format.
Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep. 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 part 3. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu.
On this guide we will show you how to recover data from flash drive not recognized on windows. 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. How to format a usb flash drive as exfat on windows pc. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then. Best usb format tools pen drive stick formatters for. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. This article mainly talks about how to format reformat usb flash drive to fat32, exfat, ntfs or ext4 file system in windows 1087xp.
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, and sdcard in fat, fat32, exfat. The latest trend with computers is not including a cddvd drive. Its a universal format that is compatible with mac os xmacos, windows, linux and dos systems. If your mac restarts after installing an update, open software update again to install any additional updates. Install windows on your older mac using boot camp apple. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to choose from. So, if users anticipate using the flash drive with more than one operating system, they will definitely benefit from the fat32 file system. Developers of the program claim that the fat is the best format for usb drive to avoid conflicts with other operating systems. You can format a hard drive or usb flash disk specifically so that it will be compatible with both mac os x and windows pc computers.
How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. To learn how to format write protected usb drive via the registry editor, follow these steps. Windows cannot read a mac formatted disk, but macs can read a windows formatted one. Flash drive not recognized issue on windows and mac. Rather than use a mac formatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. 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. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. In todays technology, if you buy a usb hard drive, you can just simply use it directly using your mac. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format a usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and.
It recognizes the drive, installs the drivers, yet never shows up. How to format a usb drive for mac and pc compatibility youtube. Use microsofts media creation tool to ensure you have a windows 10 boot drive handy should you ever run into issues with your current pc. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. Recoverit data recovery software can easily help you recover lost files from flash drive, even the drive got damaged. 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. Not every flash drive out there can be used with a mac computer right out of the box. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. I use the exfat format so you can go between the two of them. 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. With mac os extended journaled format, you can setup os x startup drive. When you have a flash drive, the first thing you may need to do is format it in such a way so it can be read by both mac and windows machines. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Install windows from a usb flash drive microsoft docs.
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