Formatting a flash drive for mac os x

By default, they format disks with the maconly os x extended file system. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. Click on the apply button and wait until the process has completed. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility. Jan 04, 2012 smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. Simply erasing a usb drive in disk utility will automatically format it too. Jan 09, 2020 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. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click.

This story, formatting a flash drive was originally. Mar 06, 2017 select the flash drive on the left column. Search for your flash drive on the sidebar of the disk utility app. Youll see the drive s file system displayed to the right of format under the general heading. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Disk utility application in macos is the best option to format a flash drive on macos. Here are the following most common reasons why would you like to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac under mac os extended journaled.

How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. May 10, 2010 format a flash drive for both mac os x and windows duration. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of. If your mac is from before 2009 or never had os x lion, click here to jump to the next section. Disk drill, a premium data recovery solution for mac os x with support for all popular file formats and. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to format any. Select mac os extended journaled, or your preferred format type. 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. This mode is only available on apple computers made after 2009 that were running os x lion or later.

Mac os x can only be installed on a hard drive formatted in mac os extended journaled, filesystem. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under. Jan 15, 2020 learn how to use macos recovery to reinstall the mac operating system on your builtin drive or an external drive. Dec 08, 2016 in this video i show you how to reinstall mac os x on your apple computer. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. The nt file system ntfs is the file system that modern windows versions use by default.

Sep 06, 2019 the simplest way to install macos or os x on a new hard drive is by using internet recovery mode. For instructions on how to format a drive in mac os 10. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Formatting your usb flash disk doesnt leave any files behind so make sure you copy your most important files to a temporary location. To erase and format any drive connected to a mac computer running os x yosemite, use disk utility. Its a universal format that is compatible with mac os x macos, windows, linux and dos systems. Feb 21, 2020 its a universal format that is compatible with mac os xmacos, windows, linux and dos systems. Oct 15, 2019 select mac os extended journaled, or your preferred format type. Disk utility and terminal well be detailing both of these methods below. How do i use disk utility to reformat my hard drive.

If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wi. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. Whether the usb should be readable by windows machines and mac machines or just by mac and not readable in windows. Select the volume you just created this is the subentry under the drive entry from the left side list.

Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. In the top menu bar, go to view, and choose show all devices. So, if users anticipate using the flash drive with more than one operating system, they will definitely benefit from the fat32 file system. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus. Jan 02, 2016 formatting an external drive on your mac is quite easy, though it isnt as evident and obvious as it is on a pc. You can use this format if you share the drive between mac os x and windows computers and have no files larger than 4gb. By default, they format disks with the mac only os x extended file system. Launch disk utility, located in applications utilities.

Mac os extended journaled this is the default file system format for mac os x drives. Formatting an external drive on your mac is quite easy, though it isnt as evident and obvious as it is on a 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. Now click the erase button which is located just below the title bar. Many users know how to use the disk utility within os x to format a usb flash drive, but if youre planning on using that usb drive with a cdj or xdj, you need to make sure you format it correctly.

How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. How to format a usb flash drive on a mac techwalla. Type disk utility in the search box and press enter. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application.

Rightclick or controlclick the drive s icon in the finders sidebar or on your desktop and select get info. 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. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. Help formatting corrupted usb flash drive apple community. In this video i show you how to reinstall mac os x on your apple computer. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Ntfs windows nt file system readwrite ntfs from native windows.

When copying that same folder from the flash drive to my hard drive the two were close1 minute 36 seconds for the os x extended format and 1 minute and 40 seconds for the msdos format. May 21, 2009 in the sheet that appears click the partition button and your flash drive will be formatted as a mac os x extended journaled drive. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format a usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and. If you plan to put these files back after formatting, organize the folder structure so you can better manage your disk next time you have disk space issues. Locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Because there are different types of formats for different purposes, its good to know the differences before accepting the default settings. Tried 4 times, each time it came back mac os extended journaled. Jun 14, 2019 unlike windows in file explorer, mac os x and macos do not include a format drive option in the finder.

How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. This method should work on all apple computers and with all recent versions of mac os. Oct 29, 2019 now, when you are formatting a usb drive on mac, you have an important decision to make. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. Select the upper level of the drive you would like to format and click the erase button. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Select the drive you want to format and click erase. Its necessary to format as a guid partition map, because a hidden partition called efi is also created that will be used to store the hackintosh enabling folder and. This video will guide you on how to format your pendrive or hard drive in mac so that you can use it.