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Nowadays, when you buy a USB drive, you can use it right out of the box with your Mac. However, unless it's been designed for use with a Mac, it won't be formatted using macOS' preferred file system (either Mac OS Extended or APFS, depending on which version of macOS you're running).
Apple iMac 27-inch (2020): Price and availability. The Apple iMac 27-inch (2020) starts at $1,799, and includes 3.1GHz 6-core 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, an AMD Radeon Pro 5300 with. S iMac was the first mainstream product with USB and the iMac's success popularized USB itself. Following Apple's design decision to remove all legacy ports from the iMac, many PC manufacturers began building legacy-free PCs, which led to the broader PC market using USB as a standard. Right-click the USB flash drive, select the Format Disk for Mac option from the left navigation pane. Format Disk for Mac using GPT partition Quick note: You want to do this before creating the bootable media because there is a good chance that the drive was formatted using a Windows device.
That's because most of the computers in the world run Windows, and Windows uses a different file system, usually one known as Fat32. Drives formatted as Fat32 can be read from and written to by macOS, but it's not optimal and you're more likely to run into problems than if you use macOS' native format. So, if you've bought a USB drive that's formatted as Fat32, or any other format other than Mac OS Extended (also known as HFS+) or APFS, here's how to format a USB drive on Mac. It's exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a Mac.
How to format a USB drive on a Mac
1. Plug the drive into a USB socket (if you have a recent MacBook or MacBook Pro that only has USB-C connectors, you'll need a USB-C to USB-A adaptor).
2. Open a new Finder window and click on the drive. Make sure it has no files on it that you need. The process of reformatting it will wipe all the data from it.
3. Once you've copied any files you need from the USB drive to your Mac, go to Applications>Utilities and double-click on Disk Utility.
4. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar and then choose Erase from the toolbar at the top of the window.
5. In the window that drops down type a name for the formatted drive in the box next to Name.
6. Choose a format from the dropdown menu.
7. If you have previously stored sensitive data on the drive, click the Security tab.
8. Choose a security level using the slider. The further to the right you move the slider, the more ‘passes' the erase tool will make and the more securely files will be deleted. However, it also increases the time it takes to format the drive quite considerably.
9. Click Ok then click Erase.
Tip: You don't need to erase a whole drive to delete files securely. If you have confidential files or sensitive data you need to remove from your Mac completely, you should use CleanMyMac's File Shredder. It's specifically designed to securely delete sensitive data and will render it unrecoverable. You can download CleanMyMac X for free here.
Which format to choose?
If your Mac is running macOS High Sierra or later, you have two options for file formats: APFS and Mac OS Extended. Which should you choose? The key point is that disks formatted as APFS won't be recognized by Macs running versions of macOS older than High Sierra. So if you think you might need to plug the USB drive into a Mac running an older version of macOS, format it as Mac OS Extended.
APFS is optimized for SSD (solid state drive) such as flash drives, so if you reformat a flash drive on a Mac, you should definitely choose APFS (unless you plan to use it with a pre-High Sierra Mac, of course). Even on hard drives, however, APFS is faster and more reliable than Mac OS Extended.
Finally, if you plan to use the USB drive as a destination for Time Machine backups, choose Mac OS Extended. Time Machine can't currently back up to an APFS disk and if you select one for use with Time Machine, it will offer to reformat it as Mac OS Extended. You can, however, backup an APFS formatted disk to a Mac OS Extended Time Machine drive.
How to format a USB drive to FAT32 on a Mac
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. 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.
The fact that Fat32 can be read from and written to on both Mac and Windows makes it very versatile. However, there is a significant limitation — individual files have a maximum size of 4GB. So, if you're using the USB drive to store large video files, you may run into trouble. There is a solution, however, exFAT. Unlike FAT32, exFAT doesn't have a maximum file limit. Better still, it can be read from and written to on any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later and on Windows.
To format a USB drive in FAT32 or exFAT:
1. Plug the USB drive into your Mac.
2. Go to Applications>Utilities and launch Disk Utility.
3. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar in Disk Utility.
4. Click Erase in the Disk Utility toolbar.
5. Type in a name for the formatted disk.
6. Click on the Format menu and choose either MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFAT.
7. Click Erase.
Your USB drive will now be erased and re-formatted as either FAT32 or ExFAT, depending on the format you chose in step 6.
How to manage your drives easily
If you look for a quick and easy way to manage your drives, try using CleanMyDrive 2. With its help, you can drag-and-drop files directly to any drive, clean hidden junk from external drives, and check disk stats. It works for all drives, including USB drives, SSD, SD cards, external hard drives. All the drives will be at hand in the menu bar, so you can get to see types of drives you have and manage them easily. CleanMyDrive is absolutely free to use, so download it on the Mac App Store and enjoy!
It's very easy to format a USB drive on a Mac using Disk Utility. There are a couple of things you should keep in mind, however. The first is that when you format and disk, you will erase all the data currently on it. So if you need that data, make sure you copy it onto another disk before you start. Secondly, there are several formats to choose from, each with advantages and disadvantage. Use the guide above to help you decide which is right for you.
Format Usb On Mac Fat32
Formatting a USB drive is one of those things that most of us do so rarely, we forget how to do it every time. Fortunately, macOS has simple built-in tools that make it super easy. In this article, we'll show you how to format a USB drive for use with Windows, Time Machine compatibility, or simply to erase it.
Using Disk Utility To Format A USB Drive
The simplest way to format a USB on macOS is through the Disk Utility. First, plug your USB drive into your Mac. Depending on which Mac you're using, you may need to use a flash drive that has a USB C socket or an adapter from USB A to USB C.
Once your USB drive is plugged into your Mac, open Finder. You should see the drive in the sidebar.
Make sure that there are no files on the drive that you wish to keep because the formatting process will erase everything on the drive.
Next, press command + spacebar to pull up Spotlight, type 'Disk Utility', and hit return. This will open the Disk Utility app.
Imac Usb Drive
In the sidebar of Disk Utility, click the USB drive you want to format and then click Erase in the toolbar at the top of the window.
Change Usb Format On Mac
A dropdown menu should appear asking you to rename your drive. You can name it anything you like, or simply leave the name the same
Next, choose the format that you're going to reformat the drive to. You'll see the drive's current format already selected, like so:
If you're not sure which format to choose, here are some pointers:
- APFS (Apple File System): This is a relatively new drive format from Apple that is now macOS's default. It's secure, simple, and reliable. However, it's not readable by a non-Apple machine (meaning you can't plug the drive into a Windows or Linux computer) and Macs running software older than High Sierra won't be able to read the drive. If none of these things affects you, choose this format.
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled): This was the default Apple drive format before APFS. It's more or less the same as APFS, just a bit older. You can't move files to a drive using this format on Windows computers either, but you can view the files on it on a Windows computer, which is a small point for compatibility.
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): This is the same as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), with the exception that you can give your drive a case-sensitive name ('Flash Drive') instead of an all-uppercase name ('FLASH DRIVE').
- MS-DOT (FAT): This file format comes with a big benefit and a big drawback. It's compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux, making it a great option if you need to move files between the three operating systems. However, MS-DOT (FAT) only allows files that are 4GB or less. And, since it's a little older, it has no security features.
- ExFAT: The same as MS-DOT (FAT) except that it supports files over 4GB in size.
- NTFS: This is the Windows equivalent to APFS; it's Windows's default drive format. A Mac computer can read files on an NTFS drive, but it can not write files to that drive. This is a good option if you're formatting the drive for a Windows computer.
Finally, there's Security Options…:
This brings up a slider where you can choose how deleted the files you erase from your drive really are. On the least secure option, a sophisticated program would be able to recover the deleted files, and on the most secure option, it would be more or less impossible for anybody to recover the files. If you're not in a rush, the most secure option is obviously best, though you should be safe on the least secure setting, unless you have particularly sensitive data on the drive.
All that's left to do is press erase! Once you do this, Disk Utility will erase all of the data on your drive and format it to your format of choice. How long this takes will depend on how many files you have on the drive, how much storage the drive holds, and which security settings you chose.
And that's it!
FAQs
What happens when you format a USB drive?
When you format a USB drive on macOS, the computer wipes all of the data off of the drive, making it a blank slate of computer memory. It then configures this memory to whatever format you choose.
Will formatting a USB drive delete my files?
Yes, formatting a USB drive will delete all of your files on that drive (though not the files on the rest of your computer) so make sure you have them backed up somewhere if they are valuable to you. And if you don't want those files to be saved, choosing the highest security settings when formatting the drive will ensure the erased files are unrecoverable after formatting.
Why would you format a USB drive on macOS?
There are a few reasons to format a USB drive on macOS. First, to prepare the drive for Time Machine; macOS should handle this for you. Second, to make the drive compatible with Windows or Linux devices, as all three operating systems use slightly different USB formats. And third, to erase all of the data on a USB drive.
How do I format a USB drive for Time Machine?
Format Usb For Mac And Pc
Most USB drives should automatically bring up a prompt for Time Machine the first time you plug them in, assuming they are blank. Otherwise, you can format a USB drive for Time Machine by opening Disk Utility, selecting the drive you want to format, clicking Erase, and choosing the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
Once formatted, open System Preferences, click Time Machine, click Select Disk…, and choose your USB drive from the available options.
