Not every USB drive can be used with a Mac out of the box, you'll need to format the drive to compatible with the MacOS extended file system. If you want to ensure full Mac compatibility on your USB drive or flash disk, just read this article. And you will find two ways which will teach you how to format a USB drive on Mac, including Disk Utility and Terminal command. And if you lost your important data because of formatting, you can use a data recovery tool to recover data from a formatted USB drive on Mac.
1 What You Should Do First Before Formatting USB Drive on Mac
Use Disk Utility to Format an External Drive After you connect an external drive to your Mac, open the Applications folder from the Finder window. The Disk Utility application is located in the Utilities sub-folder. Launch Disk Utility and then click to select the external hard drive listed on the left. Just like Windows, macOS also gives us a seamless option to format the hard drives for Mac (and PC). The operating system has an inbuilt tool, which is known as Disk Utility. Using it, you can erase a hard drive, create new partitions, and even repair your disk as well. To learn how to format in Mac your hard drive, follow these steps.
Yоu hаvе tо be sure that уоu know whаt уоu are doing whеn you execute thе соmmаndѕ, because you саn еrаѕе your еntirе hаrd drivе if уоu do this wrоng.
The only way to be sure of the content you are formatting is to first remove the USB drive from Mac, know the title of other storage disks, insert the USB disk again and note the name of the disk. Now you are sure not to be formatting a wrong disk this way. Next, drag the USB data to a safe location for backup/recovery measures before formatting it. Then you are set to get it done!
Dec 06, 2017 The top 5 disk formatting tools for Windows and Mac can help you securely format hard drive or external device under Windows/Mac OS. AweEraser is the outstanding one among the 5 disk formatting tools. It will securely format the hard drive and permanently erase the data. Then your hard drive is able to donated, resold, lent, or abandoned. Windows uses NTFS and Mac OS uses HFS and they're incompatible with each other. However, you can format the drive to work with both Windows and Mac by using the exFAT filesystem. Name- Enter a name for the disk such as Macintosh HD/SSD/USB Drive or anything else you want. Format- You have to choose a Mac supported format from the list. The most recommended format is APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). There are numerous other formats too which will be displayed in the drop-down menu.
2 What is the Best Format to Choose When Formatting USB Drive on Mac
You'll be given several format options when you try to format a USB drive on Mac, including OS X Extended (Journaled), OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT. If you are using macOS 10.13 or later, you'll also see an option named APFS, which is the default file system of macOS 10.13 and later.
1APFS
APFS is a new file system for macOS. It's the most appropriate format for flash drives and SSDs. However, in order to write to this file system, you need to have the latest macOS. If you're sure that you won't connect the USB drive to a Mac computer running old version, then you can format your USB drive with APFS.
2OS X Extended (Journaled) & OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
This is the default file system for macOS 10.12 and earlier. It doesn't put a limit on the size of files you can save on the drive, and that's the greatest advantage. Windows-running computers can read the files formatted to OS X Extended (Journaled), but can't write to them. In other words, you can transfer files from Macs to PCs without any problem, but you won't be able to transfer files from PCs to Macs. If you need to transfer data between PCs and Macs, you should consider other options.
The biggest difference between OS X Extended (Journaled) and OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) is the latter is case-sensitive to folder names. Therefore, if you do not have special needs, you can ignore this option.
3MS-DOS (FAT)
This is Disk Utility's name for FAT32 file system. It's compatible with Windows operating systems and macOS. A USB drive formatted this way can easily transfer data between PCs and Macs. However, a USB drive formatted to FAT32 doesn't support an individual file larger than 4GB.
4ExFAT
ExFAT, the successor of FAT32, offers larger storage space and supports files larger than 4GB. So, if you need to transfer large files between PCs and Macs, ExFAT will be the best format for your USB drive.
3 How to Format a USB Drive on Mac
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. Now, you can follow the steps highlighted below to get it successfully formatted.
Method 1: Format a USB Drive in Mac OS with Disk Utility
Step 1: Insert the USB to be formatted to a Mac computer.
Step 2: Navigate to Applications > Utilities, and click it twice to open it.
Step 3: Select the drive you want to format and click on Erase.
Step 4: Rename the USB drive (optional), and choose one file system from the options.
Step 5: Then select Master Boot Record for scheme, hit Erase.
Step 6: https://fgpro.over-blog.com/2021/01/download-google-drive-offline-setup.html. Once the process is done, you are ready to reuse the drive with new file system to save data again.
Format Hdd Fat32
Method 2: Convert/Format USB Drive to FAT32/ExFAT
Step 1: Connect the USB drive to your Mac computer.
https://abfrenarcrip1975.mystrikingly.com/blog/power-manager-5-4-5-x-4. Step 2: Click on cmd + space to run spotlight, input terminal then tap Enter How to view camera on mac. key.
Step 3: Type diskutil list to find the location of your USB drive (eg: dev/disk2 is the USB drive in the below picture).
Step 4: Type sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 MBRFormat /dev/disk2.
sudo gives you user right.
Diskutil calls disk utility program.
eraseDisk Mac studio fix fluid foundation. commands to format.
FAT32 sets the file system.
Mac games system requirements. MBRFormat tells disk utility to format with a Master Boot Record.
/dev/disk2 is the location of the USB drive.
Note: You can replace FAT32 with ExFAT in the command, and your USB drive will be formatted in that way.
After the process completes, type diskutil list in command once more to check if the USB drive has been formatted successfully.
4Bonus: How to Recover Lost Data after Formatting a USB Drive
Users perhaps format a USB drive by mistake. Only after formatting it, they would realize that they had lost important data. If you don' t have a backup for data, then you can recover lost data from formatted USB drive on Mac with this trusted data recovery software - iMyFone AnyRecover. You can now recover all kinds of data from formatted USB drive on Mac with only 3 simple steps.
Features of iMyFone AnyRecover:
- Your Comprehensive Mac Data Recovery Solution
You can get back your lost photos, videos, documents, compressed files, and numerous kinds of data from formatted USB drive easily. Alchemy synth mac.
It adopts all-round scan and deep scan simultaneously, which can greatly shorten the scanning time and recover more data.
It supports data recovery on all types of USB drives. It also supports file formats like NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, exFAT, etc.
It allows you to preview scanned files before recovery. And you can recover any 3 files for free.
Follow the simple steps below to recover data after formatting USB flash drive on mac:
Step 1: Make sure you have connected your USB drive to your Mac successfully. Launch AnyRecover software on your system and select the formatted USB drive you are trying to recover from. And press the 'Start' button to start the scanning.
Step 2: The software will immediately begin the scanning process. You can pause the process at any time and resume from that point later.
Step 3: Immediately after the scanning process is complete, the software will list all the files in their respective file formats and folders. Tick on and confirm what you are going to recover, then click on 'Recover' button.
Yo just got a new external hard drive and want to use it on your Mac. However, the Mac OS does not allow you to write data to the drive. You may wonder how to reformat an external hard drive on Mac. Follow the tutorial below, you'll get everything covered.
Bonus: How to Recover Data from Formatted External Hard Drive on Mac
Reformatting an external hard drive for use with Mac OSX is not as difficult as it might seem. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your back-up files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. Keep in mind that a MAC can generally read other file formats, but for the best performance and to create a bootable disk, formatting exclusively for MAC is required.
Part 1: Which File Format You Should Choose?
Before you begin formatting the drive, there are a few things to do. The most important, you should decide which format to use.
There are a few file formats you can use, but it depends on the purpose you want to use the drive for. Which one is right for your circumstance? We'll describe them here, you'll know your choice after reading the details.
APFS: This is the default file system in Macs with High Sierra. It is efficient and reliable. However, it won't be readable and usable on machines that are not running Mac High Sierra, and Windows or Linux PCs. What's more, it is compatible with SSD and flash storage devices only.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled/HFS+): If you didn't update your Mac OS to High Sierra, the default file system on your Mac shoule be Mac OS Extended. Mac OS Extended (encrypted) would be an ideal option if you probably carry your laptop or external drive here and there. You can encrypt it so that no one can access the contents on your drive.
MS-DOS FAT (aka FAT32): In addition to Mac, it can also be written and read by Linux and Windows. It enables you to regularly share files with your friends who own a PC. Nevertheless, this older file system is limited to no more than 4GB and there might be security issue and disk errors.
ExFAT: It is similar to ExFAT which can be read by both Windows and Mac, but it can store more than 4GB files.
NTFS: As the default file system in Windows, it can only read by Mac OS, writing to it is not available. Luckily, there are third-party tools to help you do so.
Part 2: Format External Hard Drive for Mac with Disk Utility
Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.
All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your Mac. Disk utility - the MacOS utility application can help you with this. Just follow these steps below:
Step 1. Connect the external drive or the USB drive to the MAC.
Step 2. Start the Disk Utility, located under Applications > Utilities.
Step 3. Find the name of the drive in the left side of the Utilities window and select it. And click Erase button.
Step 4. Follow on-screen prompts to choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system and allow the disk to format.
Bonus: How to Recover Data from Formatted External Hard Drive on Mac
In case you forgot to backup files before formatting the external drive. Here comes the cure - iMyFone AnyRecover - a one-stop solution to recover deleted, lost or formatted files from Mac.
Format Hdd Software
Follow these simple steps using AnyRecover to get your files back!
Get Ready!
Mac Disk Format Types
First, download and install AnyRecover, following on-screen prompts to accomplish the task.
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Get Set!
1. After loading AnyRecover, plug your external hard drive into your Mac directly or via USB.
2. Next select the drive under 'External Removable Devices' tab, click 'Start' to begin scanning lost files on the drive.
Go!
1. AnyRecover takes a moment to scan your drive. Once done, it will list out all scanning results by file type.
2. Double click a single file to preview it before recovery.
3. Select the files and press Recover to get them back.
What If?
What if my files were not found? Fear not. We can take this a step further. Enable 'Deep Scan' to try one more time, follow the steps above just as before to locate and recover your files.
It is plain to see that AnyRecover for Mac is a tool worthy of top shelf treatment in your arsenal of items that are used to defend, recover and keep your system up and running. Don't get caught without the file you need for that meeting or stumbling looking for baby photos that were stored on disk and suddenly 'hid' from your view. Allow AnyRecover to find and recover your lost files. AnyRecover is easy to use but provides sophisticated results that mean you know what you're doing!
