Nowadays, when you buy a USB drive, you can use it right out of the box with your Mac. However, unless it’s been designed for use with a Mac, it won’t be formatted using macOS’ preferred file system (either Mac OS Extended or APFS, depending on which version of macOS you’re running).
Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for Windows compatibility. Go to the Applications folder on your Mac’s hard drive, then go to the Utilities folder, and launch Disk Utility. Select the drive you want to format. Warning: the following steps will delete any info you currently have on the drive. To format your external drive hard drive in Windows to use on Mac and PC platforms, first plug-in your drive with a Windows machine. Open the Disk Management tool by right-clicking on the start menu icon and then select Disk Management.
That’s because most of the computers in the world run Windows, and Windows uses a different file system, usually one known as Fat32. Drives formatted as Fat32 can be read from and written to by macOS, but it’s not optimal and you’re more likely to run into problems than if you use macOS’ native format. So, if you’ve bought a USB drive that’s formatted as Fat32, or any other format other than Mac OS Extended (also known as HFS+) or APFS, here’s how to format a USB drive on Mac. It’s exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a Mac.
How to format a USB drive on a Mac
1. Plug the drive into a USB socket (if you have a recent MacBook or MacBook Pro that only has USB-C connectors, you’ll need a USB-C to USB-A adaptor).
2. Open a new Finder window and click on the drive. Make sure it has no files on it that you need. The process of reformatting it will wipe all the data from it.
3. Once you’ve copied any files you need from the USB drive to your Mac, go to Applications>Utilities and double-click on Disk Utility.
4. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar and then choose Erase from the toolbar at the top of the window.
5. In the window that drops down type a name for the formatted drive in the box next to Name.
6. Choose a format from the dropdown menu.
7. If you have previously stored sensitive data on the drive, click the Security tab.
8. Choose a security level using the slider. The further to the right you move the slider, the more ‘passes’ the erase tool will make and the more securely files will be deleted. However, it also increases the time it takes to format the drive quite considerably.
9. Click Ok then click Erase.
Tip: You don’t need to erase a whole drive to delete files securely. If you have confidential files or sensitive data you need to remove from your Mac completely, you should use CleanMyMac’s File Shredder. It’s specifically designed to securely delete sensitive data and will render it unrecoverable. You can download CleanMyMac X for free here.
Which format to choose?
Format Flash Drive For Use On Mac And Pc Computers
If your Mac is running macOS High Sierra or later, you have two options for file formats: APFS and Mac OS Extended. Which should you choose? The key point is that disks formatted as APFS won’t be recognized by Macs running versions of macOS older than High Sierra. 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.
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 pre-High Sierra Mac, of course). Even on hard drives, however, APFS is faster and more reliable than Mac OS Extended.
Finally, if you plan to use the USB drive as a destination for Time Machine backups, choose Mac OS Extended. Time Machine can’t currently back up to an APFS disk and if you select one for use with Time Machine, it will offer to reformat it as Mac OS Extended. You can, however, backup an APFS formatted disk to a Mac OS Extended Time Machine drive.
How to format a USB drive to FAT32 on a Mac
The main reason for formatting a USB drive as Fat32 on a Mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a Windows PC, as well as a Mac — perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. You may also be preparing the drive for use as, say, a storage device for a media player or to record TV programmes on a TV with a USB port.
The fact that Fat32 can be read from and written to on both Mac and Windows makes it very versatile. However, there is a significant limitation — individual files have a maximum size of 4GB. So, if you’re using the USB drive to store large video files, you may run into trouble. There is a solution, however, exFAT. Unlike FAT32, exFAT doesn’t have a maximum file limit. Better still, it can be read from and written to on any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later and on Windows.
To format a USB drive in FAT32 or exFAT:
1. Plug the USB drive into your Mac.
2. Go to Applications>Utilities and launch Disk Utility.
3. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar in Disk Utility.
4. Click Erase in the Disk Utility toolbar.
5. Type in a name for the formatted disk.
6. Click on the Format menu and choose either MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFAT.
7. Click Erase.
Your USB drive will now be erased and re-formatted as either FAT32 or ExFAT, depending on the format you chose in step 6.
How to manage your drives easily
If you look for a quick and easy way to manage your drives, try using CleanMyDrive 2. With its help, you can drag-and-drop files directly to any drive, clean hidden junk from external drives, and check disk stats. It works for all drives, including USB drives, SSD, SD cards, external hard drives. All the drives will be at hand in the menu bar, so you can get to see types of drives you have and manage them easily. CleanMyDrive is absolutely free to use, so download it on the Mac App Store and enjoy!
It’s very easy to format a USB drive on a Mac using Disk Utility. There are a couple of things you should keep in mind, however. The first is that when you format and disk, you will erase all the data currently on it. So if you need that data, make sure you copy it onto another disk before you start. Secondly, there are several formats to choose from, each with advantages and disadvantage. Use the guide above to help you decide which is right for you.
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Dec 16, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions
It is no secret that USB flash drive comes with more flexible features for different use. They`re the widely used removable storage devices. And when buying one, the possibility of formatting never crosses your mind.
But the truth is that, with time, there will rise a necessity to format your flash disk drive. Not necessarily a negative situation, not necessarily when you want to fix a USB flash drive problem, but also when you realize you can demand more from it.
And here's the question that brings things into perspective: When is it appropriate to format your flash disk drive?
Let's explore some situations that necessitate formatting USB using CMD.
Part 1: Why Do You Need to Format a USB Flash Drive
1. To Change the File System
The default file system for most USB drives is Fat 32, which is only appropriate if you`re using it on different operating systems like Mac OS, Linux, and Windows. But if you're using it exclusively on Windows, you can demand more from it by safely changing the file system to NTFS.
And here is how the NTFS file system will serve you better:
- NTFS System file is more powerful and includes features that can host Active Directories
- NTFS has better protection from unauthorized physical access
- Your drive will support file large than 4GB
- Work faster on Windows—It is built for speed, and even more.
However, do not convert the file system to NTFS, if your flash drive is less than 2GB as it will affect its performance.
And to change from one file system to another, you must format your USB flash drive.
2. To Execute Fast Erasure of Bulk data
Removing personal data from a flash disk drive might be the most common reason why many people format flash drives. This is more common when you want to donate, sell, or you`ve bought a new drive, and you want to get it set for new usage.
Note that if you're seeking data privacy by formatting, it isn`t 100% secure as it doesn`t erase the digital signature of your data in the storage medium. The new user can retrieve non-overwritten data using recovery software.
3. To fix Bad Sector and Flash Drive Corruption
Sometimes flash disk drive denies access to the users due to the RAW data file system. Under this situation, Windows asks you to format it before you can use it. And there is no other way you can go about it.
If the data on such drive is essential, and you don't want to lose it but access it, you can format the USB drive with CMD then use a recovery tool to retrieve your data.
4. When you Want to Create a Bootable Flash Drive
If you want to create a bootable USB flash drive to use to deploy Windows server's essential or install an operating system to have Windows portable USB drive, you'll be forced to format the flash drive first.
A bootable Windows portable USB drive can save you a lot of time and energy of carrying your computer along.
5. When you want to Get Rid of Viruses
If your computer is infected with viruses, formatting or erasing the flash drive and starting over will undoubtedly remove any virus. However, this isn't the appropriate way to deal with malware. If your backup still has the virus your computer will be re-infected.
With the right reasons to format your flash disk drive, the next question you`ll ask yourself is:
How do you effectively format your drive?
As you know, there is a more straightforward way to format flash disk drive on Windows. But you should head over to formatting USB using CMD if you`re experiencing the following problems:
- When Windows was unable to complete format
- When the disk cannot be fixed and formatted using the disk manager.
Part 2: How to Format USB Using CMD
Step 1: Open the Windows Command Prompt and key in 'diskpart' and click enter.
Step 2: A Window will pop up and ask you to ask you if you want to allow the Diskpart software to run your computer. Click on the 'Yes' button to proceed.
Step 3: A new window will pop up. Then Key in 'List disk.' It is vital you know which disk is the USB Key You`re formatting. This command list all storage media connected on your PC.
Step 4: Key in 'Select disk Y,' where Y is the disk you wish to format. In this case, Y is 2. If your selection is successful, you`ll see 'Disk Y is now selected the selected disk.'
Step 5: Type 'Clean' to format your flash disk drive with cmd. If the formatting is successful, the cmd will tell you that Diskpart has succeeded in cleaning the disk.
Formatting Flash Drive On Mac
Step 6: Then enter, 'create partition primary' to create a specified partition.
Step 7: Key in (format fs=NTFS). If you like other file system format, change the command NTFS to the desired one such as exFAT, FAT32, etc.
The process can take some time.
Step 8: Type 'assign' and give a drive letter to the flash drive
Now if you were wondering about how to format a USB using CMD, you should be done already.
Flash Drive For Mac
Part 3: How to Recover Formatted USB Pen Drive in Windows 10
Some circumstance like data changing to RAW format makes your data inaccessible and forces you to format your pen drive using CMD. And if you didn`t mean to lose your data, you can get your data back utilizing the correct recovery software. And in this case, we`ll review one of the world`s best data recovery tool for formatted USB flash drive—Recoverit Data Recovery.
Features of Recoverit
- Comprehensive Scan: The tool employs an advanced algorithm that scrapes deep into your flash disk drive to bring back all your formatted file that is accessible. The algorithm delivers a high recovery rate of 96%.
- Clutter-Free User Interface: Quickly access the powerful and seamlessly knitted utilities to recover your formatted file. Recoverit utilizes graphics and words flawlessly to offer you an intuitive user interface that reduces recovery into a 3-steps procedure—Select, Scan, and Recover.
- Quick Data Recovery: Recover it has faster processing speed in both operational and scanning functions that quickly permeates your flash drive to get the formatted files in no time.
Video: How to Recover Accidentally Lost Files
How to Use Recoverit Software to Recover Formatted Flash drive
Step 1: Launch the program
After a successful download and installation on your computer, you can begin to enjoy the free version of this App. Plugin your Flash disk drive to your PC and launch the Recoverit tool.
Step 2: Select the location
On the main screen select the flash disk drive you want to recover. Select the path or location, and click the 'start' button to initiate the scan.
Step 3. Hit the 'Scan' button
Recoverit will thoroughly scan through your flash drive to get your formatted data. You will be able to see the entire list once it is populated.
Step 4: Preview and recover the data you want
Use the preview function to ascertain if you precisely need to retrieve the file. You can preview multiple data, including photos, videos, audios, pdfs, docs, etc. After the preview, hit the recover button to retrieve all the selected files.
The Bottom line: Formatting a USB flash drive is a straightforward job on Windows systems. But at a time, you might not be able to execute USB formatting using the windows-suggested method. Instead, you`ll get the error message 'Windows was unable to complete the format.' And that`s where CMD USB formatting comes handy—it will wipe the disk clean. And if you never intended to lose your data, you should carefully choose the data recovery tool or end up with tons of inaccessible files.
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