- Attach the drive to your Mac. Launch Disk Utility (from Applications Utilities Disk Utility). Select the drive in the left-hand sidebar. From the Format menu, select ExFAT.
- How to format a usb flash drive on a windows 10 pc for mac os x & windows pc compatibility If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between macs and wi.
- Learn how to format your USB flash drive or USB external drive so you can use it on both Mac OS X and Windows computers. Now you can share files between a Ma.
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Attach the drive to your Mac. Launch Disk Utility (from Applications Utilities Disk Utility). Select the drive in the left-hand sidebar. From the Format menu, select ExFAT. Dec 08, 2020 It allows you to format partition to exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2 and Ext3 and Ext4 on an external hard drive, internal hard drive, USB flash drive and SD card. It can work with Windows 10/8/8.1/7, XP, and Vista.
Dec 03, 2020 • Filed to: Windows Computer Solutions • Proven solutions
USB Flash Drives are the new file briefcase in this world of technology. It allows you to store as many files you want within a little device. It makes files very compact, easily transportable, and organized. However, just like with a filing system used in paperwork, USB drives also make use of file systems. The most common file systems used are NTFS, exFAT, and FAT32. If you’ve been using flash drives and other external storage devices for a long time, you may be already familiar with this. Each file system has its pros and cons. Many PC users are opting to format or change their file systems to NTFS. If you’re unfamiliar with the file system and have no idea why this needs to be done, keep on reading. In this article, we will provide you with three easy ways you can format your USB drive to NTFS.
Why Do You Need To Format a USB Drive to NTFS?
The default format used by most USB flash drives and other external storage media is FAT32. Some people are fine with keeping this format. But for most users, they always find the need to convert or format their USB drive to NTFS. This is for many reasons. With a USB drive that uses the FAT32 file type, you can only copy or add files less than 4GB. This may be a hassle for some users who want to transport large files like movies, program installers, etc. Meanwhile, NTFS doesn’t have this limitation. You can copy or add files of any size and the partition sizes usually have a large capacity.
What is NTFS?
NTFS is a type of file system. It stands for the NT File system and is also called the New Technology File System. It’s a way of organizing files within a flash drive. It’s a new improvement from previous file types like File Allocation Table (FAT) or Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) previously used by Microsoft Windows. Because it’s a relatively new file type, it has increased security from its new features like file permissions and encryptions. NTFS also has a Change Journal where the driver keeps track of the changes made within the drive. This means that if ever your PC unexpectedly shuts down or you experience a system crash, you can recover files that were lost during the event.
Here are three proven methods on how to format USB flash drive to NTFS.
Method 1. Format USB Flash drive to NTFS using Disk Management
1. Find My Computer in the Start menu or by typing it in the search bar. Right-click on it and click on Manage.
2. In Device Manager, look for your USB drive in the Disk Drives tab.
3. Right-click on your drive and choose Properties.
4. Under the Policies tab, click on Optimize for performance. Select OK.
5. Go to My Computer and look for your drive. Right-click and choose Format in the drop-down menu.
6.In the format options that will pop-up, select NTFS to convert your drive to NTFS.
7. Select Start and wait for the process to finish.
Method 2. Format USB flash drive to NTFS using Command Prompt
Using Command Prompt, make sure to type in the exact commands to avoid unexpected errors.
1. Launch Command Prompt by typing in cmd in the Run tool or typing Command Prompt in the search bar. Select Run as administrator.
2.Type in the command:
convert G: /fs:NTFS
NOTE: In this command, we’re formatting drive G. Change this to whatever drive letter you’re trying to work with.
Method 3. Formatting your USB drive using Windows tools
You can easily format your USB drive with just the built-in features of your Windows computer. Follow the steps below to perform this:
1. Plug the USB drive into the USB port of your computer or laptop.
2. Go to My Computer and right-click on your USB drive. A drop-down menu will appear. Choose Format…
3. The format window will open. Here you will see the device’s capacity, File System, and Allocation unit size. You can also rename the volume label. The Restore device defaults button will revert your drive’s settings to default. You can change the file system in NTFS or FAT and also assign the unit size.
4. Select the Start button at the bottom of the window and click OK to begin the format and erase all the data contained in the drive.
Formatting your USB drive may seem intimidating at first. Formatting changes the file type of your drive and along with this, also wipes out all the data saved within. So it’s important to back up all the files to your computer or another drive before performing any format. With any of the methods previously mentioned above, you will be able to perform a format of your USB flash drive easily and quickly.
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By Adela D. Louie, Last updated: August 27, 2019
In today’s technology, if you buy a USB hard drive, you can just simply use it directly using your Mac. However, there are instances that not unless that your flash drive is build to use for your Mac, you will not be able to format it.
Why is this so? The answer to this is because most of the computers actually run on Windows and they actually use a different file format which is known to be the Fat32.
Those drives that are formatted in Fat32 can be used in your Mac for reading and writing but there might be an instance that you might experience some trouble once that you use your macOS native format.
So, in case that you have a flash drive that is formatted into Fat32 or any type of format rather than having a Mac OS Extended or AFPS, then we are going to show you in this article how you could possibly format your flash drive using your Mac.
Part 1: How To Format Flash Drive On Mac
Here are the steps that you need to follow. Do these steps and you will then be able to format your flash drive on your Mac.
Step 1: Go ahead and plug in your flash drive in the USB port on your Mac.
Step 2: After that, go ahead and launch the Finder and click on your flash drive detected by your Mac.
Step 3: See to it that there are no files saved on your flash drive that you no longer need. This is because formatting your flash drive will remove all the data that is stored in it. If there are some files that you want to remain, simply copy these files to your Mac.
Step 4: After getting all the files that you need from your flash drive, go ahead and click on “Applications” and then click “Utilities” and then choose “Disk Utility”.
Step 5: And then, go ahead and click on your flash drive from the sidebar.
Step 6: Once that you have chosen your flash drive, go ahead and click on the “Erase” button located at the toolbar at the top of the window.
Step 7: On the next window that will appear on your screen, go ahead and key in a name for the flash drive that you are formatting from the box next to the “Name” option.
Step 8: And then select a format that you want from the drop-down menu.
Step 9: No, if you have previously stored a data on your flash drive that is highly sensitive, just go ahead and click on the Security Tab.
Step 10: From the security tab, go ahead and choose the level of the security that you want. The more that you move to your right, then the more “passes” the deleted tool will be but it will securely delete your files. However, doing to so will take more of your time to format your flash drive.
Step 11: After that, go ahead and click on the “OK” button and then click on the “Erase” button.
Part 2: Choosing the Right Format
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There are formats that you need to choose from depending on the Mac that you are using. If you are using the macOS Sierra or a later version, then you have to options to choose from. One is the AFPS and the other one is the Mac OS Extended. The question now here is that which one should you choose.
You have to keep in mind that once you have formatted your flash drive into AFPS, then those Macs that are running on macOS that is older than the High Sierra will not be able to recognize it.
So, if you would want to use your flash drive on Macs that are running on High Sierra, then you have to choose the Mac OS Extended format.
However, you also have to know that AFPS is actually optimized for SSD or “solid state drive” and it includes flash drives.
That is why if you are going to reformat a flash drive on your Mac, then you should definitely choose the AFPS format as it is known to be the most reliable and faster than the Mac OS Extended. But again, that is if you do not have any plans in using it on a pre-High Sierra course.
And lastly, if in case that you would want to use your flash drive as one of your backup options in Time Machine, then you should definitely have it formatted in Mac OS Extended.
This is because Time Machine does not have the ability yet to backup flash drives that are formatted in AFPS. So, if you are using an AFPS formatted flash drive on Time Machine, it will just ask you to format your flash drive into Mac OS Extended.
Part 3: How To Format Flash Drive To Fat32 On Your Mac
Once that you have a flash drive, then what you would need to do is to have it formatted into Fat32. Why? This is because once that you have formatted your flash drive into Fat32, then you will be able to use it on both Windows and Mac PC when you want to save or transfer files with either of the two.
The Fat32 format can be used – read or write – with both Mac and Windows PC and because of this, it makes the device more versatile.
However, there are some limitations that you should need to know such as an individual file should only have a maximum size of 4GB. But do not worry because there is still something you can do about it and that is by formatting it to exFAT.
The exFAT format will not give any limitations on the file size that you are going to store on your flash drive and you can still use it on both Windows and Macs that are running in Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later version. For you to be able to format your flash drive into Fat32, here is what you need to do.
Step 1: Go ahead and connect your flash drive to your Mac.
Step 2: And then, go to Application and then click on Utilities.
Step 3: After that, go ahead and launch Disk Utility.
Step 4: And then, go ahead and click on your flash drive located at the sidebar in Disk Utility.
Step 5: After that, click on 'Erase' in the Disk Utility window.
Step 6: After that, go ahead and enter the name for the flash drive that you formatted.
Step 7: And then, choose the Format menu and then select MS-DOS (FAT32) or the ExFAT.
Step 8: After that, go ahead and click on the 'Erase' button.
Once that you are done with the provided steps for you, your flash drive will then completely wipe out all the data stored and it is re-formatted into either an ExFAT or FAT32 depending on what you have chosen on the previous steps.
Part 4: Getting Your Mac System Run Fast
Now that you have known with how you can format your flash drive on your Mac, now it is time for you to get your Mac cleaned up.
Getting your Mac clean on a regular basis after doing tasks can help your Mac maintain its speed and will also give you more space for your storage.
There is one great option for you to clean up your Mac in no time and this is by using the software called the FoneDog Mac Cleaner.
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The FoneDog Mac Cleaner will help you to speed up your Mac with just a few simple clicks. This software can also help you in scanning your Mac faster and find all of your junk files on your Mac.
It also has the capability of checking your Mac's system status which includes your CPU status, your memory usage and more. This way, you will have an idea of what is the data that is actually eating up a lot of storage space on your Mac and which is causing it to perform slower than the usual.
The FoneDog Mac Cleaner will not only help you in removing all of the junk files that you have on your Mac. It can also help you to completely uninstall applications that you no longer use together with all the files that are associated with that app. It can also serve as a Similar Image Finder, an Extension Manager, a Duplicate Finder, and more.
For you to start cleaning up your Mac, all you have to do is to follow all the steps that we are going to provide to you. Do not worry, this is really simple and easy to follow and it will not consume a lot of your time. In addition, the screenshots below are shown under the dark mode on Mac.
Step 1: Download and Install
Have the FoneDog Mac Cleaner downloaded from our official website at https://www.fonedog.com/mac-cleaner/. Once that you have completely downloaded the program, go ahead and have the program installed on your Mac.
Step 2: Launch the Program
After that installation process is complete, go ahead and run the program on your Mac. Once that the program is up and running, you will be able to see on your screen the system status of your Mac. With that information, you will have an idea which files are taking up a lot of space on your Mac.
Step 3: Select Cleaner
Cleaner provides you with the cleaning function for the system, photo, email, files, apps and other fields on your Mac.
Step 4: Choose iTunes Junk
Here, take iTunes Junk as an example to show you how to clean junks on your Mac to make your Mac run faster.
Note: As for the other tools like 'System Junk' and 'Email Junk', the steps to clean up them is the same as that in 'iTunes Junk' tool.
Step 5. Scan iTunes Files
After clicking into the page of iTunes Junk, press the Scan button to start scan all the iTunes backups, Cache, updates and downloads on your Mac.
Step 6: Review and Select Items
After that scanning process is completely done, you will be able to see on the left side of your window screen a list of category folders of all the junk files of iTunes that you have on your Mac. If you click each folder, you will see on the right side of your screen all the items that each folder contains.
Review each item on each folder for you to make sure that all the junk files shown on your screen are unnecessary any more.
Once that you are satisfied with the result, you can go ahead and simply click on the 'Clean' button to clean up all your junk files.
Step 7: Confirm Your Choice
There would be a pop-up window called Confirmation turning up. Please press the 'Confirm' button if you are sure to delete the selected files; otherwise, please press the Cancel button and return to the previous page.
Step 8: Cleaning Done
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Once that the cleaning process is done, all those unnecessary files that you have there will all be deleted from your Mac.
Part 5: Conclusion
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Now, as you can see, formatting your flash drive on your Mac is a very easy thing to do. All you need to have is the knowledge on how you can do.
And keep in mind that if you are going to format your flash drive, make sure that you choose the right format so that you can use it in any PC.
Format Usb Flash Drive For Mac And Windows Pc
Formatting is easy, just like in cleaning up your Mac. Getting your Mac tidy is one of the best things that you should do for you to be able to maintain the speed of your Mac and of course for you to get more space on your storage. And the best way for you to clean up your Mac is by using the FoneDog Mac Cleaner.