You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Feb 02, 2018 how to reformat a disk to fat32 on a mac. Fat32 allows you to use the drive on both mac and windows allowing you to add and remove files in either operating system pretty much.
Lets get acquainted with each of them in more detail. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. Select your usb flash drive on the sidebar, choose erase. With a single line command, you can format large drives in fat32 format. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. Format to fat32 for usb or external hard drive in windows 10. Fat32 format works on both windows and mac but the problem is you can only work with the files with maximum size 4gb. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os.
For example, you might want to reformat a new or used removable storage device to make sure it. Usb external drive formatted in fat32 is not displayed in. Now, you can follow the steps to be highlighted below to get it successfully formatted. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state drives ssds provide one of the easiest ways to transfer files between separate computers without accessing the. Otherwise, you can only use data recovery software to recover. From the description of the issue, i understand that windows is unable to recognize the usb flash drive correctly. Jul 16, 20 when you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive.
Go to applicationsutilities and launch disk utility. May 26, 2019 picture 1 what is fat32, ntfs, exfat format. The commandline conduct is the same way to erase data with disk utility. Another way to format drives is to go to windows explorer, rightclick on the drive to format and select format. Right click on your usb drive and click on format option. Sometimes we need to format the u disk, then how to format it, here will tell you a way 1. First, plug in the usb drive and open the file explorer. Im here to use a windows 10 based hp laptop to format my lexar drive.
You can also format the drive in a variety of other formats depending on your needs. Using powershell in windows 10 to format an external hard drive to fat32 windows 10 users can use powershell instead of command prompt to format the external hard drive to the fat32 format. 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. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state drives ssds provide one of the easiest ways to transfer files between separate computers without accessing the internet.
How to format external hard drive, usb flash drive on mac. You have to format the drive to exfat or fat32 if the burning process failed due to the wrong partition scheme. Rightclick on windows icon and select windows powershell admin, click yes to open it. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing. Better still, it can be read from and written to on any mac running mac os x snow leopard or later and on windows. The maximum individual file size for exfat is 16 eb.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Format large usb drives with fat32 by using powershell. Youre likely familiar with this utility if youve been using a windows 10 pc for quite some time. Aug 16, 2019 on windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios.
This will make it readable by both macs and microsoft windows computers. Cant write to my fat32 usb drive on mac ask different. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. How to format a flash drive with a mac to fat32 techwalla.
In the lower half of the disk management utility, locate the listing for the target usb drive and rightclick on it. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. 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. Click on the erase button to format usb flash drive or external hard drive.
While windows vista does have a fat32 option, no version of windows can format a disk larger than 32 gb as fat32. My other external drive works perfectly on the same usb port but this other drive is formatted in ntfs. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. Therefore, many people, when deciding to format a usb flash drive in fat32 or ntfs, traditionally choose the first option. From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way mac s do the formatting on some larger drives, though, so give it a try and if your windows machines dont like it, just format the drive with windows. Apr 16, 2020 command prompt is windows command processor and it is used to perform commands in the windows system. Rename the usb flash drive, choose the format as msdos fat for format, master. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. It is a file system in windows 95, 98, and windows millennium edition.
Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command. Jan 15, 2019 the main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a windows pc, as well as a mac perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. Creating windows 10 bootable usb on mac is a common task for people who have multiple computers at home. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. Most usb flash drives on sale are designed to work with windows operating systems that run on fat32. How to format a usb flash drive to fat32 in windows 7 solve. On windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios. Select the drive you want to format and click erase button. Formatting a disk using windows maxes out the partition at 32gb, but not if the formatting is done using mac os x.
You can have a drive format to fat32 on an apple mac computer using apples disk utility, which comes with macos. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. That means my lexar disk is currently with the fat32 file system. How to read fat32 formatted external drive on windows 7. Select the quick format option, and then click the start button. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac.
From the window, select fat32 from the drop down bar under file system. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. Insert the usb flash drive into the usb port of the computer. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Rename the usb flash drive, choose the format as msdos fat for format, master boot record for scheme. Fat32 is the most widely used file system for usb flash drives. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. Mac devices on the other hand run on either mac os extended or apfs. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Although other forums suggest starting in os9 and formating to fat32, this option is not listed in the format window. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions.
In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. How to format a hard drive on windows or mac avast. In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which comes with all recent versions of the mac os x operating system and how you can use it to format usb drive on mac. Connect the usb drive you want to format to fat32 to the computer. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Mac computers running high sierra or mojave may be able to boot from usb flash drives that are exfat formatted. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac computer, it must be formatted to exfat or fat32 file format. How to format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt.
It has been the standard format for hard drives and floppy disks so to maximize the compatibility across modern systems including mac, linux, and windows. Thats why if youre going to be spinning with a usb drive, we. How to format a large capacity usb flash drive, fat32, windows. Situation you want to perform a software update on your philips tv. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac easily. Windows recognizes only the first primary partition on removable device like usb flash drive, thus you cant format the partition except the first one on usb flash drive or sd card. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. If you want to use your usb drive on both windows pc and mac, you may need to format the drive to fat32 on mac. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. Since we are using the command prompt, you need to know its drive letter before formatting the drive. Oct 29, 2019 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. For example, in windows xp my computer is equivalent to this pc on windows 10.
This drive is 1t formatted in fat32 and contains some data. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. The maximum size of the file you can store in the hard drive with fat32 is 4 gb along with 8tb maximum partition size. Although used extremely popular on external usb storage devices, fat32 format on computer hard drives is getting less and less. This file system is the oldest,the most common and most reliable it was replaced by fat16. You may also be preparing the drive for use as, say, a storage device for a media player or to record tv programmes on a tv with a usb port.
So i hooked it up to my vaio pc, running xp and formated it. 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. Step 1 in the windows search, look for the command prompt. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial. Jan, 2019 fat32 works on both windows pcs and macs, and its the recommended file system format by pioneer dj when it comes to cdj and xdj use. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus. You can format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 by using the format command in powershell or command promptthe command uses the same syntax in both tools. Go to applications utilities double click and open disk utility. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. I solved it by plugging the usb drive into a windows pc and running scandisk to check for and correct errors on the drive. 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 a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows central. Go to this pc, under devices and drives, highlight the disk that represents your usb flash drive, rightclick and select properties. In the new dialogue, pay attention to general format, where it says msdos fat32. Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with. Connect your usb drive to the device and click on open folder to view files option. How to format usb to fat32ntfsexfat on windows and mac. If you reformat the hard drive, we also recommend that you do not choose fat32, it lacks some modern security terms and features on ntfs. Format to fat32 for usb or external hard drive in windows. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes fat32 can suffice. In windows, how do i format a flash drive as fat32. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Note that it is important to safely eject the drive whenever you want to disconnect the drive from the mac.
No matter its a newly bought flash drive or a used one, you can directly use a capable usb format tool to format the usb drive to fat32 or ntfs. Jul 24, 2017 in the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. 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. Formatting a disk using windows maxes out the partition at 32gb, but not if the formatting is done using mac os. To format the usb drive to fat32, follow the next steps. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. How to format a usb flash drive to fat32 in windows or mac os. Use the exfat file system and never format your external.
The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. This is because we need the drive letter to target the drive. 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. But sometimes, you may want to format a usb flash drive or external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10 for some reasons, like making the usb or external hard drive faster when writing mostly large files to it or ensuring the compatibility with nonwindows operating systems.
Format fat32 drive on mac first, let us look on how to format fat32 drive on mac macos sierra. While you cant select an individual drive letter, this is still an easy way to format any drive into fat32, ntfs, or exfat. Click on start and ok to commence the formatting process. Click on the usb drive in the sidebar in disk utility. I dont know why i am so amused that you can format a drive for fat32 much more easily on a mac with a utility that comes included with every mac when the format is not one that you would normally use on a mac. Afterwards the drive worked just fine on both mac and windows for reading and writing. For now, you can use the following steps to create a usb windows 10 flash drive installer. So, apple could fix this problem by changing to boot camp assistant to format the usb flash drive as exfat instead of fat32. 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. U disk is a commonly used mobile storage tool in daily life. Now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. Type exit and hit enter to close the program when diskpart reports it has successfully formatted the usb. The partition need formatting to fat32 is not the first primary partition on removable disk.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Thank you for posting your concern here in microsoft community and welcome to the windows 10 family. As a matter of fact, in windows os for example, there are many accessible ways for users to format a disk. When you have a new hard drive, or when youre reinstalling windows, the os may ask you to format the drive. Apr 30, 2016 now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. 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. What i have read is the file system used on the hard drives of these recorders is a variation of ufs that is deliberately designed to be unreadable by anything but the recorder itself. Once the formatting process is finished, you can store the files in this newly formatted usb flash drive or external hard drive. 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. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. If you are good at working with commands, then you can try to format your hard drive to fat32 using the command prompt.
A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. If given a choice, the two common modes are ntfs and fat32. You can format a fat32 usb drive on a mac using disk utility. If you want to format external hard drive to ntfs file system, you need to install a ntfs for mac tool on your mac. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x.
One major advantage about this file system is that nearly all the operating systems can read and write from it. Formatting usb drive to fat32 file in windows 10 microsoft. Therefore, to format a drive in fat32 format, you will have to either use a thirdparty fat32 format utility, or manually force windows to format your drive as fat32 from the command line using diskpart. The good news is that formatting usb on mac is also as easy as on windows 10. If you are on an earlier operating system like windows 7, xp, etc. 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. The downside to doing this is that it can take a long time.