Things needed for this tutorial to be useful is just a usb drive, the capacity doesnt matter. The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. If your drive is an apfs format or a mac os format you can format your drive easily but if it is a fat32 format this may be a problem. Thats how format flash drive on mac to fat32 file system using terminal command line works. For xp there is a free download for exfat from microsoft if its not already installed. In your terminal type sudo mkdosfs devdiskandpartition s 16 f 32. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. However if you want to format your storage as fat32, the app will not always oblige. Today i am going to show you how to format usb drives using the terminal. Sometimes we need to format the u disk, then how to format it, here will tell you a way 1.
This will work in all modern versions of apple mac osx including 10. Format fat32 drive on mac first, let us look on how to format fat32 drive on mac macos sierra. Offline xbox update worked like a charm via usb stick. Usually when it comes to formatting a usb stick, sd card or an external hard disk on macos i would use the disk utility app that comes with the os. It is a file system in windows 95, 98, and windows millennium edition. Plug in your fat32 usb drive to your windows computer, make sure it can be detected. And most game consoles, such as playstation, require external usb drive with the fat32 format. Refer to detailed steps of using both tools for fat32 format. One major advantage about this file system is that nearly all the operating systems can read and write from it. It should be something like disk2s1 go to the terminal use spotlight again write. It is the fastest way to format an external hard drivedevice under mac os.
Complete guide to format usb to fat32 on mac fonepaw. Your best option is to format the external drive on the windows machine using exfat as it will do it correctly, the mac has issues formatting exfat for windows. If you are a mac user, here is an overview of different file system systems and how to choose the format to use for the usb drive to ensure compatibility with other operating systems. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os.
If it is the case, do not panic, just download imyfone anyrecover to get your lost. Terminal command and disk utility and in case you lose important data while formatting, it is possible to recover the data using a data recovery tool. Free download aomei partition assistant standard, install and launch it. I want to format a usb external disk using osxs diskutil commandline utility, and i want to use a format for this that plays well with ubuntu. Follow these steps to format a drive in fat32 in windows 10. Jul 24, 2017 in the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. For whatever reason, the option to format usb drives larger than 32gb with the fat32 file system isnt present in the regular windows format tool. That allowed me to format a usb drive as ntfs with full readwrite access and then write the system update files to the usb drive. Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. This tutorial is called the magnified version due to the first instance being difficult to see on small phone screens. Easily format a sd card in osx to fat32 less than 1 minute read the problem. Being portable software, there is no need to install it. The easiest way to format a disk in mac os x is using disk utility.
On this page we will tell you how to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac. When i inserted a toshiba usb flash drive into windows 10 computer and chose format, i got the dialogue box as shown below. Jul 28, 20 then below you will see the format type which will be ntfs or possibly msdos fat, we need to reformat the volume and make the format mac os extended journaled. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. No doubt, it is a little bit complex for users who arent much familiar with the command line. Download disk formatting software for mac doyourdata. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. The command line approach to disk erasure in macos is a bit different and it requires precise syntax to insure that you are erasing the proper disk, making this method of erasing any disk only. This lee sapara with a 30 second short video on formatting a usb drive to fat 32 on your mac.
I was looking for this for some hours, so i just wanted to share. How to format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Fat32 has a limit that files larger than 4gb cant be stored on a fat32 drive. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Apr 30, 2016 now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. There is a generic fat or exfat option but you have no control on wether the disk will be formatted as fat16 or fat32. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to.
Mac s on os x cant format or write to ntfs formatted drives, they can read from it though. Feb 21, 2020 for apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. Fat32 is one of the most popular and versatile file formats for a drive. It will display you the main interface including all disks on your computer. All external usb disks can be formatted to work on mac osx, but not always straight out of the box.
But not compatible like fat32 as there are devices that dont support it, like xbox 360 and playstation 3. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. If you are having a hard time using the command line, try the disk utility app, which is simpler and uses the gui. However, when you format your hard drive with super eraser for mac, all your data will be permanently lost. How to format a usb stick, sd card or external hdd as. Dec 14, 2016 win 10 has removed the option to format external drives to fat32 for whatever reason maybe they want the users to move to mac os or linux. The system is commonly used for shared hard drives connected to the computer most of the time. Reformatting the disk still with the external disk selected in disk utility go to the erase tab, select mac os extended journaled from the format dropdown, choose to name the disk. This will format the entire device as vfat32 with a 4096 byte allocation size which is commonly used by windows. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. Your usb drive or external drive not showing on mac or cant format on macos mojave, high sierra, ei capitan running on imac, macbook, mac mini.
This is the easiest way and simply requires you to plug in your usb drive, open the windows file explorer and right click your drive to view a number of actions that you can perform. You can run it on your mac, and use it to format external hard drive or device on your mac. How to format a usb external disk for mac osx using disk. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos easeus. How to format a disk to ntfs using mac os x ask different. So please back up your important files before you run super eraser for mac to format. But both of them cant format the hard drive which the mac os is installed on because the mac system doesnt allow other software to destroy the system. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily recoverit. Disk utility application in macos is the best option to format a flash drive on macos.
In recent versions of windows 10, you will no longer see fat32 as the format option for drives that are larger than 32gb. To do so you can either use the disk utility or the terminal command line. I want to format a usb external disk using osxs diskutil commandline utility, and i want to use a format for this that plays well with ubuntu the relevant format options i get from running diskutil listfilesystems are exfat msdos fat msdos fat12 msdos fat16 msdos fat32 mac os extended mac os extended casesensitive mac os extended casesensitive, journaled mac os. Ive been working with the raspberry pi 2 and wanted to install noobs on my sd card to play with linux. I tried using disk utility as well as the offical sdcard application for osx. I learned that my toshiba usb drive was allowed to format to ntfs, fat32 default and exfat. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. The relevant format options i get from running diskutil listfilesystems are.
If youre searching for a way that helps you recover formatted usb drive on mac, download recoverit data recovery software. On the main screen, select the drive you want to format in fat32. Insert the usb flash drive into the usb port of the computer. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Some mac users may require the ability to erase a disk or erase a hard drive from the command line on mac os, a task which is typically performed through the disk utility application from the gui. Macclean360 is one of the best disk cleaning and management software for mac os. There are basically two ways to format usb to fat32 on mac. Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command.
This format works on windows, linux with fuse and mac os x. 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. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Type disk utility in the search box and press enter. Win 10 has removed the option to format external drives to fat32 for whatever reason maybe they want the users to move to mac os or linux. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. This perfect file system for those who work only on windows computers. If you have made the mistake of buying a flash drive they runs on a fat32 file format you dont have to discard it altogether.
Because of it, you have to use the 3rdparty tool, such as iboysoft ntfs for mac. How to make a windows 10 usb using your mac build a. To be able to control exactly which fat type is selected will require using diskutil from the terminal. You will see output like this note your mac s terminal may be black text on a white background if you havent customized it.
In my case, i want to format a usb drive in fat32 format. Apr 22, 2020 however if you want to format your storage as fat32, the app will not always oblige. Select the drive you want to format and click erase button. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. The reason why msdos fat32 is greyed out on your mac could be that the option is unavailable for the usb drive you are formatting. Apr 05, 2017 this tutorial is called the magnified version due to the first instance being difficult to see on small phone screens.
If you wish to adjust the size just replace 16 with the required number. Now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Once youre able to format your usb drive to fat32, you can use it on both mac and windows pc. I see formatting usb drives from the terminal very handy. Aug 30, 2016 you can, however, format a windows hard drive from a mac if you connect the windows hard drive to the mac and format it through disk utility, or the command line as described above. Thats why this method is recommended for those who know how to use the terminal on mac. If disk utility doesnt work for formatting your usb drive, you can also. I needed to perform an offline system update for xbox one s but i only have macs. In this tutorial, the name of the drive am going to format is seth and its path under the filesystem is devsdc1. For see all the disk partition present on your mac internal and external. The two hard drive formatting software for mac can help you securely format hard drive or device under mac os. In this tutorial we look at formatting disks via the gui app called disk utility and its equivalent command line tool diskutil.
Next format your usb drive to windows fat32 format. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Otherwise, you can only use data recovery software to recover data from a. First, download fat32 format software from the official website and execute the downloaded exe file. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. By default, macs use hfs, while pcs use ntfs, which are not compatible with each other. How do i make ntfs format for partition i apple community. Select the entire drive on the left pick the drive makers name and size then partiton. You may need to format your usb drive to fat32 if you want to transfer files between mac and windows pc with the usb drive or use the drive for the navigationaudio system in your car. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily. For example, mac doesnt allow you to format 32 gb and smaller sd cards as msdos fat32. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. How to format a usb stick to fat32 on windows 10 youtube.
You can choose to format the drive on the mac, however its better done on the pc. Exfat msdos fat msdos fat12 msdos fat16 msdos fat32 mac os extended mac os extended casesensitive mac os extended. Format usb external disk for ubuntu using osx diskutil. May, 2019 fat32 works with all versions of windows, mac os x, and linux. Here is the guidance on how to format usb drive from fat32 to exfat.
How to erase a disk from command line in mac os x osxdaily. Apr 26, 2016 there are several ways to format the usb flash drive in mac os x environment. Practically, most usb drives are preformatted with fat32. Installed the paragon ntfs for mac using 10 day trial. How to format a usb stick, sd card or external hdd as fat32. Otherwise, you can only use data recovery software to recover data from a formatted usb drive.
For apple mac users, there are two ways to format usb flash drive to fat32, including disk utility and terminal command line. Use disk utility follow the steps to format fat32 with disk utility. Due to the smallest userbased percentage worldwide, mac os x users are the ones who might run into these file format problems. Easily format a sd card in osx to fat32 michael crump. U disk is a commonly used mobile storage tool in daily life. Follow the tutorial to format your usb drive to fat32 on mac catalina. Jan 04, 2012 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. How to format a write protected usb on pc or mac with pictures. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. Unforunately, the sd card that i had would not format to fat32.