Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. If youre erasing an external drive, make sure that its connected directly. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. How to format an external drive in os x make tech easier. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020.
How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. How to format flash drive on macbook pro keepthetech. How to delete files from flash drive on mac, formatting flash drive on mac. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. The fat32 file format has 3 main limitations when used with mac os. There are many tools can help you format usb flash drive, portable hard drive, memory card or other storage device on macos catalina. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac.
How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos high sierra. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a usb flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive. As earlier stated, you need to first back up your usb drive before formatting the drive as you may not be able to recover the contents again. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. How to format external hard drive, usb flash drive on mac. And we can use it to format the usb on mac as well. Whether you want to format a flash drive on your mac or convert a usb hard drive to use as a media player, disk utility makes it easy. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. You cannot save a file to a fat32 formatted drive if the file is larger than.
Youll see the drives file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Three ways to format usb flash drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. How to format an external hard drive on windows formatting a hard drive on windows is a simple affair, especially if you leave everything as default. How to format a hard drive for mac internal, external or. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. Format external drive usb flash drive mac os x windows. 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.
Once the formatting process is finished, you can store the files in this newly formatted usb flash drive or external hard drive. Aimed at multimedia professionals, the caldigit av pro 2 is a welldesigned, macformatted external drive that comes in ssd and spinning disk. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Rightclick the removable drive and select the format option. You can run it to format the usb flash drive, external hard drive on macos catalina.
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. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. Launch disk utility, located in applications utilities. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. Yet when you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. In the volume label field, type a label to quickly identify the flash drive in file explorer.
Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. The quickest way to do this is a simple spotlight search click the search icon on the upper right corner, or go to. If your integral usb has a security or zip software preloaded integral splash, secure. Locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. Please back up all your data before you format the usb drive. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. 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. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system.
Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. 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. Click on the erase button to format usb flash drive or external hard drive. Once the formatting process is finished, you can store the files in this newly formatted usb flash drive or. We also have a command line disk utility interface in mac. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system.
But dont worry, this page talks about the reasons for this issue, and how to fix usb flash drive not mounting on mac without data loss. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. How to erase a flash drive from disk utility on a mac. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. If you want to format external hard drive to ntfs file system, you need to install a ntfs for mac tool on your mac. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. 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. There are several applications available online for formatting usb drives such as 321soft usb flash recovery for mac,data recovery for mac, and disk drill. How to format an external drive or flash drive even your brand new device it works when you plug it in, many external and flash drives come with extra software that isnt useful or necessary.
However, if the usb flash drive is not mounted on mac, you will lose access to the usb flash drive as well as to the data stored on it. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Format usb flash drive external hard drive with disk utility on macos catalina disk utility is a builtin disk management application on macos catalina. Which mac file system is best for an external drive.
Is it possible to format the inaccessible usb flash drive on the mac to fix the issue. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. How to format your external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. There are many ways to make a usb flash drive inaccessible or dismantled, the most common are. How to format an external drive in os x by shujaa imran jan 2, 2016 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 apples mac lineup only. 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. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through. How to format inaccessible or unmounted usb flash drive on.
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