The first part is for mac users, and the second part is for pc users windows 10 based. Select disk utility, and then choose the drive to format. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus. Yes, connecting an external hard drive or usb flash key to a mac will generally read and work fine as is because the mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a windows and mac machine, formatting it to be entirely mac compatible filesystem is highly recommended, and necessary for.
Connect your usb drive to the device and click on open folder to view files option. Click the drive name on the left side list in disk utility, and then click the erase tab. It works in the same scenarios when something went wrong with the bootable partition or when you want to format c drive in windows. Click erase button, the external hard drive will be formatted. Connect the hard drive or usb key to the mac launch disk utility, located in applications utilities locate the drive name from the left hand side of disk utility and click on it. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. This scenario enables you to have the best computing experience while keeping the compatibility with other oses. How to format a flash drive with a mac to fat32 techwalla.
Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. The next content is how to format large hard drive to fat32 with aomei partition assistant. Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility.
Therefore, this leads to our third point of discussion on how to format any drive on your mac. Formatting a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32 file. Dec 29, 2015 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. If you have trouble in formatting usb to fat32 on mac, follow this guide, which will show you 2 ways to format the flash drive to fat32 on mac. Guide how to format hard drive from usb with bootable. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac youtube.
You can have a drive format to fat32 on an apple mac computer using apples disk utility, which comes with macos. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. In case if there is data loss after formatting the drive, using recoverit is as soon as possible is strongly recommended to recover your lost files. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x step1. To do so you can either use the disk utility or the terminal command line.
Using the methods mentioned here can help you in formatting your hard drive to the fat32 file system on your windows system. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. How to use external hdd with windowsmaclinuxandroid. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility. And we usually perform formatting in our usb or external hard drive when we want to get rid of viruses, or we want to clean the disk as it was when we purchased it. As usual, insert the drive let us say the hard disk or usb drive. There are various free thirdparty windows applications that can be used to format sandisk usb flash drives in the fat32 file system for use in devices that do not support the exfat file system. Click on the format menu and choose either msdos fat32 or. To format hard drive from bios settings, you got two options. Please follow this procedure to format a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32 file system using seagate discwizard. Launch the file explorer and from it find the usb drive.
Steps for formatting drive with aomei partition assistant. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. For apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. From the window, select fat32 from the drop down bar under file system. Formatting sandisk usb flash drives in fat32 format using. Whats the difference between fat32, exfat, and ntfs. Disk utility is the vital application in apple product. The takeaway from this chart on portability is that fat32 having been around for so long is supported on almost all devices. You can format a fat32 usb drive on a mac using disk utility. Mar 25, 2020 first we connect the disk or stick to a free usb port on our computer, then wait for windows 10 to recognize the new drive then double click on the icon this pc from the desktop alternatively lets go to start file explorer this pc, press the right button on the usb stick or hard disk icon and click on the item format. Also, since i dont know whether you are on a pc or mac to perform this operation, im here to break down this guide into two parts.
Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Select your usb flash drive on the sidebar, choose erase. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Connect the drive you wish to format for dual compatibility to the mac. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. All commands given below should be entered without quotes. Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. Next navigate to applications and select utilities, then select disk utility by doubleclicking on it.
Formatting a large drive greater than 32gb with a fat32. May 29, 2018 to format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. Mar 03, 2020 read this usb drive data recovery guide for more information. Feb 21, 2020 how to format a usb flash drive with mac to fat32. Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. This will make it readable by both macs and microsoft windows computers. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Name the formatted disk and choose either exfat or msdosfat32 from the. Turn on your macintosh notebook computer or desktop system and login. Formatting usb drive to fat32 file in windows 10 microsoft. Select the quick format option, and then click the start button.
Jul 16, 20 when you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. The computer geeks can use the terminal for disk formatting through the use of command lines. Sep 05, 2011 very easy way to format an external hard drive into fat32 with a mac using the disk utility. Rename the usb flash drive, choose the format as msdos fat for format, master boot record for scheme. You can the close disk utility your drives icon will be on your desktop. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily. And you will find two ways which will teach you how to format a usb drive to fat32 on mac, including disk utility and terminal command. 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. But dont forget to back up your important data in the drive into a safe place. 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. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus.
A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. You can also format the drive in a variety of other formats depending on your needs. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. Load disk utility with the usb drive inserted into one of your macs usb ports. How to format usb drive or external hard drive on mac. Overview of formatting usb drive on mac mac systems have a different os to windows and this is where most of the problems like. Formatting with the fat32 format tool will provide full storage support for use in.
Click the pulldown menu alongside format and select msdos fat. Here, we are going to learn the procedure to format a usb drive and an external hard drive on mac. Jan 15, 2019 to format a usb drive in fat32 or exfat. We recommend using fat32 format tool from ridgecrop consultants ltd. To format the usb drive to fat32, follow the next steps. You may need to use an adapter if your mac doesnt have usb ports.
Other than following the bootable usb methods to format a hard drive, you can also try to format a hard drive from bios. Most usb flash drives on sale are designed to work with windows operating systems that run on fat32. How to share an external drive between a mac and a pc. Use disk utility follow the steps to format fat32 with disk utility. You can, however, backup an apfs formatted disk to a mac os extended time machine drive. 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 usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily recoverit. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
If given a choice, the two common modes are ntfs and fat32. Nov 18, 2017 once you have set these options and optimized them to your liking, just click the erase button to begin the formatting process. Search for the command prompt on the start menu or just type cmd. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. If you need to recover deleted files after formatting the drive or extracting files from the drive before formatting, you can also use a usb file recovery tool fonepaw data recovery to help you with that. Select the drive from the list of drives, making sure to choose the right one, and click erase. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. Apr 26, 2016 the best file formatting settings that i can recommend for mac users are.
To format a hard drive on your mac, follow these instructions. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. Nov 21, 2017 formatting in context of usb or hard drives means deleting everything from that drive and rebuilding the file system so that we can use it with an operating system. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os atto digital. Right click on your usb drive and click on format option. Apr 16, 2020 thats how to format hhd to fat32 on windows 10 pc. Jul 24, 2017 in the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Select the drive you want to format and click erase button. After that, the usb drive will be formatted and you can start using it.
How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. Dec 11, 2019 fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. A common and easy way to format a usb drive to fat32 is to make use of the file explorer. Click on start and ok to commence the formatting process. Oct 29, 2019 even if you try to format fat32 drive on mac, you might end up causing more issues. If youre looking to decide which file system to use when formatting a usb drive, most of all, you should consider two of the most important aspects. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below.
Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Apr 30, 2016 another method of formatting your usb drive is by using diskpart, a command prompt utility. So, if you have got your hands on a drive which is formatted as fat32 of any other format instead of mac os extended or apfs, then you should go through this article. Thus, if you want to format a 250gb hard drive or larger hard drive to fat32, you can take use of some third party software like aomei partition assistant. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. Feb 21, 2012 mac os x wont let you create a fat32 partition larger than 2tb. This makes it strong candidate for being the file system of choice for most usb drives, so long as you can live with fat32s file size limitswhich well go over next. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Rightclick the command prompt icon and select run as administrator. Connect the usb drive or the desired external hard drive to the windows 10 computer.
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