How to format USB on Mac

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USB flash drives (or thumb drives) are among the most popular external storage devices. Their compact size, mobility, and ease of use make them the preferred method for transferring and storing files.

However, USBs can be formatted to different file systems. Some of them are specifically developed for Mac or Windows, while others can work on both. If you have a Mac computer, you may need to format the flash drive on a system that works with it.

Let’s get to this:

How to format USB on Mac?

Formatting a USB stick on Mac can be done in two ways: via disk utility or the Terminal:

disk utility

The Disk Utility feature conveniently comes with the Apple machine. To format your USB, follow these simple steps:

  1. Connect the flash drive to your Mac device.
  2. Go to Finder, then select Applications and click Utilities. Find Disk Utility and run it. You’ll see a list of all available devices on the left and some disk management options and device details on the right.
  3. Find your device in the list on the left. Select Delete.
  4. This is where you should choose the file system for your drive. You will see a drop down menu. We’ll discuss some of the options in a minute, so you can choose a Mac OS compatible USB format.
  5. Assign a name to the device.
  6. Before continuing, you can also look at the Security Options at the bottom left. If you select the Faster option there, a specialized program could later recover your deleted files. If you choose More secure, you will not be able to restore your data.
  7. Click Erase to start the formatting process.

Terminal

Now I will show you how to change USB format on Mac via terminal. Note, however, that this method requires a specific syntax. Unless you are an advanced Mac user, I recommend that you follow the guide above.

Here are the steps:

  1. Go to Finder, then Utilities. Click Terminal.
  2. Type the command diskutil list to see a list of available devices.
  3. Find the device you want to format and click on it.
  4. Enter the following syntax:

diskutil erasedisk FILE_SYSTEM DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER

  • Instead of DISK_NAME, enter what you want to call your device.
  • The disk identifier can be found in the list with devices, in the Identifier column.
  • Instead of FILE_SYSTEM, it will put your preferred format. More on that below.

Now that you know how to format a flash drive on Mac, let’s go through the file different types of format and we help you choose the most suitable:

Different types of formats

Let’s cover them one by one and see what they mean:

usb formatting Active NTFS Support Mac

NTFS is the file system developed for Windows by Microsoft. It supports very large files, is efficient at organizing data, and has built-in file compression.

A Mac device can read data from an NTFS-formatted USB but cannot write files to it.

Mac OS can’t natively format a USB drive for an NTFS system. You will need to install a driver.

Let me walk you through the process:

  1. Connect the flash drive to your Mac device.
  2. Download an NTFS driver for Mac (Tuxera NTFS, for example) and install it.
  3. As above, go to Finder, then select Applications → Utilities → Disk Utility. Throw it.
  4. Your USB should be in the list of available devices on the left. Find it and click on it.
  5. Select Delete. Choose NTFS format from the drop down menu.
  6. Click Delete. The format of the flash drive will be changed.

You can also do it through Terminal. Follow the explanation on the previous sectionand for the final command, type:

diskutil erase disk NTFS DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER

You can choose the NTFS format type when you want to use the drive in a windows machine.

usb formatting Lead to Fat32 in Mac

Before we tell you how to format your flash drive to Fat32, here is some information:

Fat32 is compatible with both Mac and Windowsas much as Linux. However, it only allows files with a maximum size of 4 GB and does not support long file names. It also has no security features.

However, since then it has been very suitable for flash drives. all major operating systems support him

To use this format, you need to follow the steps mentioned above:

  1. Connect your USB to Mac device.
  2. Go to Disk Utility.
  3. Find your device in the list and select Wipe.
  4. The format you should choose from the drop down menu is MS-DOS (FAT).
  5. Click Delete.

If you want to format your flash drive to Fat32 via Terminal, you need to follow the steps I explained above. The command this time would:

diskutil erase disk FAT32 DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER

Formatting a flash drive in ExFAT on Mac

ExFAT is almost the same as Fat32, but it is does not have the limits of the latter. Not always natively supported on Linux, but does support ExFAT it is downloadable.

The steps you need to follow are almost identical. The only difference is that you must select ExFAT from the dropdown menu.

Similarly, going through the Terminal will be the same as above, with a small difference in the command:

diskutil erasedisk ExFAT DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER

How to recover data after formatting

When you need to format or reformat a USB drive on Mac, remember this important detail:

All data on the flash drive will be deleted.

However, data recovery software can help you. recover deleted information.

There are many applications available but I will give you an example with disc drill:

  1. First, download and install the software.
  2. At startup, choose the device you want to retrieve data from. A scanning process will start.
  3. Look at the files found by the software. Select the ones you want to recover.
  4. Click the Recover button.

Other similar tools it should work similarly.

Backup before formatting a USB drive

Before formatting an external drive on Mac, it is a good idea Create a backup. In this way, you can avoid losing your files.

Here are some ways to do it:

Backup to internal drive

If there is enough space on your Mac, you can simply transfer the files from your USB to the internal drive. It’s very simple:

  1. Insert the USB into your Mac.
  2. Open the folder with its content.
  3. Create a new folder on the internal drive,
  4. Copy the files from the flash drive folder and paste them into the new folder.

Backup to another USB device

Before formatting a USB stick on Mac, you can use another flash trip to back up and store your information. Make sure you have enough free ports on your machine or use a USB hub. Here’s how to transfer the data:

  1. Insert both USB drives into your Mac.
  2. Open both folders.
  3. Copy the source files to the second device.

Cloud Backup

You can get as much storage space as you want with cloud services; however, you you may have to pay. The process is similar for any cloud storage:

  1. Create an account.
  2. Connect the flash drive to your Mac.
  3. Transfer your content to the cloud.

To wrap

It doesn’t matter if you are formatting a flash drive or any external hard drive, that is the process.

Now that you know how to format a USB on Mac for different file systems, you can easily use your external storage on different operating systems.

The information is a lot, but I hope you have found it useful.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.

Can I format USB to FAT32 on Mac?

If you can. You can make it through both disk utility feature and the Terminal on your Mac. You can also format a flash drive on Mac for the following format types:

  • APFS
  • HFS+
  • NTFS
  • fat32
  • ExFAT
  • est2

What is the best USB format for Mac?

If you want to use your USB only on Mac devices then APFS It is a good choice. However, if you want to use it on Windows devices as well, Fat32 or ExFAT are best.

How do you format a USB stick?

A USB is formatted the same way it is formatted. The easiest way is through Mac’s Disk Utility:

  • Open Disk Utility.
  • Find your USB in the list.
  • Click Delete.
  • Choose the format you want.
  • Click the Delete button.

How do I format a USB for Mac and PC?

Here’s how to do it on both types of machines:

  • Open Disk Utility.
  • Find your USB in the list.
  • Click Delete.
  • Choose the format you want: APFS for Mac, NTFS for PC, Fat32 or ExFAT for both. (NTFS driver is required to format a PC USB stick.)
  • Click the Delete button.

For more information on how to format a USB on Mac, feel free to check out our complete guide.

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