Note: Formatting your flash drive will remove all files or folders onthe drive, so make sure you back up your files before formatting yourdrive.
- How to format an drive to use with a Mac & PC. If you want to format a drive so that you can copy files between a Mac and a PC you'll want to follow the tutorial above, but choose ExFAT from the.
- Fortunately, there is a file system (actually two, I'll explain) that you can format your flash drive to be fully compatible with Mac and PC. In other words, you can access the drive and transfer data without any hassles. That file system is — exFAT.
- How to Format Pen Drive on Mac. Just like Windows, Mac also allows a seamless solution to do pen drive format. To do this, you can take the assistance of Disk Utility, which is a dedicated system component in Mac.
- By Jack Scicluna Photography, LLC - guest writer. The latest trend with computers is not including a CD/DVD drive. This helps the computers to be small and lighter. Apple has started doing this when the Macbook Air arrived on the scene. They have also included this with their latest laptops and their iMac's. Recently photographers have switched from using CD/DVD's to USB flash drives to.
To begin to format USB for Mac and PC on a Windows 10 computer, insert the USB drive into an open port and then launch the Windows Disk Management Utility. To find it, type 'disk management' or 'format disk' in Windows Search and select ' Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions.' Step 2: Select the Drive to Format.
Windows:
Connect the USB flash drive to your computer.
Click 'This PC'.
Right-click the flash drive's icon. It's beneath the 'Devices and drives' heading in the middle of the page.
Click Format. This option is near the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so opens the Format window.
Click the 'File System' box. It's below the 'File System' heading near the top of the page. A drop-down menu will appear with the following options:
NTFS - The default Windows operating system format. If you're using your drive as a secondary Windows drive, you'll need to choose this option.
FAT32 - The most widely compatible format. Works with most computers and gaming consoles.
Note: exFAT format USB flash drives do not work with ClonerAlliance products.
Click a format option (FAT32 or NTFS). If you've formatted your drive before and you're positive that it isn't broken, you can also check the Quick Format box.
Click Start, and then click OK. Doing this will cause Windows to begin formatting your flash drive for you.
Click 'OK' when prompted. Your flash drive has successfully been formatted.
Mac:
Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.
Note: Some Macs don't have USB ports, so you'll need to purchase an adapter.
Click 'Go'. It's a menu item in the top-left side of the menu bar.
If you don't see Go, first click the Finder icon, which resembles a blue face in your Mac's dock.
Click 'Utilities'. This option is in the Go drop-down menu.
Double-click 'Disk Utility'. You'll likely find this option in the middle of the Utilities page.
Click your flash drive's name. It's on the far-left side of the Disk Utility window.
Click the 'Erase' tab. This option is at the top of the Disk Utility window.
Click a format option.
Note: exFAT format USB flash drives do not work with ClonerAlliance products.
Click Erase, then click Erase when prompted. This will begin the formatting process. Once the formatting is complete, you'll see an icon for your flash drive appear on your Mac's desktop.
If you have an external hard drive or USB flash drive that you'd like to use on both Macs and Windows PCs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing. Learn a few ways to make your drive Mac and PC friendly.
Need to access or transfer files between Mac and PC? As simple as this task sounds, it's not very straightforward for inexperienced users. Since Mac OS X and Windows use totally different file systems, the way a drive is formatted can determine what type of computer it will work with. In fact, there are four ways you can format an external or USB flash drive to achieve varying degrees of compatibility between Macs and PCs. Let's take a look at them:
HFS+
Mac OS X's native file system is HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended), and it's the only one that works with Time Machine. But while HFS+ is the best way to format drives for use on Macs, Windows does not support it. If you're only going to be using your external or USB flash drive with certain PCs – such as at home or the office – you might be interested in a program called MacDrive. When you install MacDrive on a Windows PC, it will be able to seamlessly read & write to HFS+ drives. This isn't a good solution if you need your drive to work on any PC without installing software, though.
NTFS
The native Windows file system is NTFS, which is only partially compatible with Mac OS X. Macs can read files on NTFS drives, but it cannot write to them. So if you need to get files from a PC to your Mac, NTFS is a decent option. However, you won't be able to move files in the other direction, from Mac to PC.
FAT32
The most universally supported way to format your drive is with the FAT32 file system. It works with all versions of Mac OS X and Windows. Case closed, right? Well, not so fast. Unfortunately, FAT32 is a very old file system and has some technical limitations. For example, you cannot save files that are larger than 4GB on a FAT32-formatted drive. This is a deal-breaker if you work with huge files. The other limitation is the total size of the partition. If you format your FAT32 drive in Windows, the drive partition cannot be larger than 32GB. If you format it from a Mac running 10.7 Lion, the drive partition can be up to 2TB. Much better, except for that pesky 4GB limit.
exFAT
The exFAT file system eliminates the two major deficiencies of FAT32: the largest partition and file sizes it supports are virtually unlimited by today's standards. Awesome, it's perfect! Almost… since exFAT is fairly new, it isn't compatible with older Macs and PCs. Any Mac running 10.6.5 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion) supports exFAT, while PCs running Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1, and Windows 7 are compatible. If you know you'll be using computers running updated versions of these operating systems, exFAT is the clear best choice.
Format a drive using Disk Utility on a Mac
- Launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities).
- Select your external hard drive or USB flash drive from the list on the left.
- Click on the Erase tab. Select the format – Mac OS Extended (HFS+), MS-DOS (FAT32), or exFAT – then name the drive.
- Click the Erase button and the drive will start formatting. Be aware that formatting a drive deletes all of the files on it, so back up anything important before completing this step.
Format a drive using Windows
Format A Thumb Drive For Mac And Pc
- Go to Computer (or My Computer in Windows XP).
- Select your drive from the list and right-click on it. Choose Format from the contextual menu.
- A window will pop up where you can choose the format – NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label.
- Click Start to format the drive.