Format Flash Drive In Mac For Windows
Of the two systems, Mac comes with native read support for NTFS, meaning, if a drive is formatted in NTFS, it can be read (only) on macOS. However, Windows (including the latest version, Windows. See full list on anysoftwaretools.com.
- Format Flash Drive On Mac For Windows
- Format Flash Drive In Mac For Windows Iso
- Format Pen Drive In Mac For Windows
Note: Formatting your flash drive will remove all files or folders onthe drive, so make sure you back up your files before formatting yourdrive.
Windows:
Connect the USB flash drive to your computer.
Click “This PC”.
Right-click the flash drive’s icon. It’s beneath the “Devices and drives” heading in the middle of the page.
Click Format. This option is near the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so opens the Format window.
Click the “File System” box. It’s below the “File System” heading near the top of the page. A drop-down menu will appear with the following options:
NTFS - The default Windows operating system format. If you’re using your drive as a secondary Windows drive, you’ll need to choose this option.
FAT32 - The most widely compatible format. Works with most computers and gaming consoles.
Note: exFAT format USB flash drives do not work with ClonerAlliance products.
Click a format option (FAT32 or NTFS). If you’ve formatted your drive before and you’re positive that it isn’t broken, you can also check the Quick Format box.
Click Start, and then click OK. Doing this will cause Windows to begin formatting your flash drive for you.
Click “OK” when prompted. Your flash drive has successfully been formatted.
Mac:
Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.
Format Flash Drive On Mac For Windows
Note: Some Macs don’t have USB ports, so you’ll need to purchase an adapter.
Click “Go”. It’s a menu item in the top-left side of the menu bar.
If you don’t see Go, first click the Finder icon, which resembles a blue face in your Mac’s dock.
Click “Utilities”. This option is in the Go drop-down menu.
Double-click “Disk Utility”. You’ll likely find this option in the middle of the Utilities page.
Click your flash drive’s name. It’s on the far-left side of the Disk Utility window.
Click the “Erase” tab. This option is at the top of the Disk Utility window.
Click a format option.
Note: exFAT format USB flash drives do not work with ClonerAlliance products.
Click Erase, then click Erase when prompted. This will begin the formatting process. Once the formatting is complete, you’ll see an icon for your flash drive appear on your Mac’s desktop.
How to format and create a USB drive or pen drive that is compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7 or Mac or Linux.
A file system is a method and structure of data used by an operating system, called Windows, Linux or Mac OS, for reading media files such as disks, removable drives, etc.
Types of File Systems
It is vital that we are aware that each developer implements a series of file systems for their operating system, for example, we have the following:
Windows:
- FAT
- FAT32
- NTFS
- exFAT
Linux:
- ext2
- ext3
- ext4
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- ReiserFS
- Swap
Mac OS:
- HFS +
- MS-DOS (FAT)
- exFAT
- APFS (Present in the new edition of macOS High Sierra)
Each system manages its file system and in this way, USB drive with NTFS can only be recognized in Windows environments but not in Linux or macOS environments, even if it is accepted in macOS we can not make changes to it.
At this point, another question arises, what type of file system to use that is compatible with these three operating systems?
In technical terms, it has been recommended that the file system of the USB drives be FAT32 thanks to the fact that it is an old file system and that it has evolved to FAT32 at present, but there is a format that is much better regarding security, reliability, and compatibility: exFAT.
Let’s see in detail what is and what covers each of these file systems.
FAT32:
This format is one of the most compatible, but due to its useful life, it has been in force since the 90s, it has a series of limitations that can affect the pace of updates we are experiencing today.
Being a format with so much active time is compatible with virtually any operating system.
As mentioned, it has its limitations such as the inability to host files larger than 4 GB or that partitions with this file system cannot have more than 8 TB capacity.
exFAT:
exFAT is in a way a more modern and dynamic FAT32 which was developed in 2006 and is present in most modern operating systems.
By default, all traditional operating systems, Windows, Linux or Mac OS are compatible with exFAT, and its use is highly recommended for external drives, such as USB devices or external drives, thanks to its simplicity and multiple features.
Now we will analyze a little more in detail the fields of action where these two file systems are compatible to know which is the best option to choose.
Device Support
This is the first fundamental field since if the USB device formatted with FAT23 or exFAT is not compatible with the device where it has to be connected it will be impossible for it to be recognized and to access its contents.
In this field, we can say that FAT32 has an advantage over exFAT because, being an old file system, it is compatible with all operating systems and devices such as game consoles, Smart TV, multimedia players and others.
ExFAT, although it is currently compatible with more than 95% of the devices on the market, can still find individual limitations in some Linux distros or Android devices.
In some Linux distros the exFAT file system will not be recognized immediately, so we must install the several utilities by executing the following line:
Then update the packages running the line:
Reading & Writing Speed
Another of the pillars in a file system is the ability with which this can access the content and read or write it since this depends on optimal performance which is a highly required value today. Undoubtedly in this regard exFAT outperforms FAT32 to be a much more recent technology which is compatible with USB 3.0 which can have a transfer rate up to 5 Gbps.
In the previous graphic of flexense we can see the performance of exFAT on FAT32, and in the following link we will be able to look in detail multiple operations carried out by this software developer called Flexsense
Size of Supported Files
Undoubtedly on this field wins exFAT because, as we mentioned above, FAT32 only allows files with a maximum capacity of 4 GB in partitions that do not exceed 8 TB of storage while exFAT is virtually unlimited in this aspect to support 16ZB files.
How To Format a USB drive with exFAT
Starting from the detail that exFAT is the most practical and functional file system, unless we are not going to use files of more than 4 GB, this is the process of formatting the USB drives with exFAT.
It will first be necessary to install the exFAT tools by executing the following command, as we have mentioned before:
Format Pen Drive In Mac For Windows
Later we run the fdisk -l line to list the active disks in the system.
There we will locate the USB drive which has the extension /dev/sd** (Replace the ** with the indicated number)
Once the USB disk is identified, we will execute the following syntax:
As we understand, we have the freedom to select the best file system for our USB drives to have the best capacity and performance.