- #Mac os format usb drive software for windows how to
- #Mac os format usb drive software for windows for mac
- #Mac os format usb drive software for windows mac os
- #Mac os format usb drive software for windows drivers
- #Mac os format usb drive software for windows upgrade
If you need compatibility with systems that are older than this, you’ll need to fall back to the ancient FAT32 format. In most cases we recommend you select Microsoft’s exFAT format: this will give you full read and write access in both Windows (Vista or later) and OS X (Snow Leopard 10.6.5 or later). You can choose this from the drop-down menu in Windows’ Format dialogue, or in the Erase pane of Disk Utility. To use your USB disk on both Windows and OS X, therefore, you’ll need to use a different filesystem.
#Mac os format usb drive software for windows drivers
There are free drivers available, but again these are limited to read-only access. However, neither is suitable if you want to move files back and forth between Macs and PCs: OS X can read NTFS volumes, but it can’t write to them, while Windows in its default configuration can’t access HFS+ disks at all. These formats are sensible defaults because they support all the features of their respective operating systems, such as native compression and encryption.
#Mac os format usb drive software for windows mac os
Once again, as a kind reminder: formatting a flash drive will likely erase all files and data stored in the device, it’s vital to ensure you have made at least one copy of the data before you get started.If you follow the instructions above then Windows will, by default, format your disk using Microsoft’s NTFS filesystem, while a Mac might suggest the Mac OS Extended filesystem. I hope the above guide is helpful to you. Like I said, if you want to use the device for both a PC and Mac, you should consider reformatting it to exFAT once you figure out the drive isn’t with another file system.
#Mac os format usb drive software for windows upgrade
Thankfully, exFAT - a strict upgrade over FAT32, is a file system optimized for USB flash drives.
That makes using the drive a bit troublesome on Mac machines.įAT32 is popular but the 4GB file-size limit makes it inconvenient, for instance, when you want to make a bootable macOS Sierra USB drive which the system file takes about 8GB of storage space according to Apple. Most of the external hard disks and flash drives are formatted for Microsoft Windows operating systems.
#Mac os format usb drive software for windows how to
Folders Became Shortcuts? How To Recover Shortcut Files.“Windows Was Unable To Complete The Format”? How To Fix It.If so, the following articles may be of help to you:
Pro tip: chances are that you may encounter some issues formatting a flash drive on a PC or the disk is malfunctioning. The quickest way is to search on Spotlight and click the result under “TOP HIT.”Īlternatively, you can access it via Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. The app now has a new user interface that looks slightly different on Yosemite or earlier OS X versions.
Please note: since OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Apple made a few changes to Disk Utility (see details from this ComputerWorld article).
#Mac os format usb drive software for windows for mac
The first part is for Mac users, and the second part is for PC users (Windows 10 based). Read this USB drive data recovery guide for more information.Īlso, since I don’t know whether you are on a PC or Mac to perform this operation, I’m here to break down this guide into two parts. Because the process of reformatting a disk drive will very likely erase all content and make recovery impossible. Important: make sure you have at least one backup of all the data stored on the device before you proceed. How to know what current file system your flash drive is with, and how to format it to exFAT? Now that you’ve learned exFAT is the ideal file system to go. This is because an NTFS-based drive can be read by macOS but you can’t write data to the drive. You may notice that NTFS is marked “Partially” under the Compatible with macOS column. You should go ahead and format your storage drive with exFAT instead of FAT32, assuming that all devices you want to use the drive support exFAT. Therefore, it’s perfect for a USB flash drive or external disk, especially when you need to save files more than 4GB in size. See the table below for more info.Īs you can see, exFAT is the only file system that works with all versions of Windows and macOS and does not have any max file-size or partition-size limits. Note that there is another file system called FAT32 that pretty much does the same thing but with one major flaw. In other words, you can access the drive and transfer data without any hassles.
If your disk was initially formatted to NTFS on a PC (or HFS+ on a Mac), most likely you’ll suffer limitations, for example, the data on your drive can’t be read or written on one of your computers.įortunately, 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. If you have a USB drive, and you plan to use it on both a Mac and PC, things can get a bit tricky here. By default, Macs are with HFS+ (since 2017 there’s a new Apple File System, APFS, optimized for flash storage), while PCs are with NTFS. It’s no surprise that PCs and Macs do not work well with each other, due to differences between the two operating systems (Windows vs.