Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. How to unformat flash drive undo format usb flash drive. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. From all above, you can have a general idea of fat32 and exfat file system. So your first move is to make usb can be recognized again, and then you can use mac hard drive data recovery software to recover files if the usb becomes inaccessible. Best usb format tools pen drive stick formatters for. Apr 17, 2020 to format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Incompatibility issues between the file systems of both flash drive and the mac computer. Earlier versions of macos dont mount apfsformatted volumes. How to create a bootable installer for macos apple support. It allows to choose standard formatting or erase all data on a flash drive, which can not be formatted by usual system way.
If the other mac isnt using high sierra or later, choose mac os extended journaled. May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. If i understand your table above, under fat32, the max partition size is 8mb, so i should have to have four 8gb partitions on a 32gb flash drive using fat32. Doyourdata provides unformat usb drive mac free solution to recover formatted data from usb drive on mac. On the following steps we will show you how to recover files from formatted flash drive, we will introduce the best formatted flash drive. First, back up the data on the macformatted drive if you have anything important on it.
How to recover formatted usb flash drive mac mojave. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Jul 16, 2017 heres how to format a new flash drive thumb drive usb stick on a mac for both pc and mac. If your flash drive states that it was formatted with one of these volume types, you should be able to plug it into your mac and use it without a problem. When you purchase something after clicking links in our. Lets take a look at some of the causes of a flash drive not showing up on a mac to determine if you can resolve your. Usb flash drives free delivery possible on eligible purchases. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. 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. Doyourdata provides unformat usb drive mac free solution. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in. To fix a corrupt or raw drive leading to usb drive not formatted error, follow the steps in this article to securely recover your lost data. It is only the space used to save it that is marked as available room for any new data. But, if you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs, you should format the disk with the exfat file system instead.
If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Recover files after usb flash drive becomes corrupt or. Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format. Have you ever ran into a problem where youre trying to use a flash drive on both windows and mac. This article would show you steps about how to format a usb drive on mac and how to recover formatted files from a usb drive.
Each time you access the drive, you will be prompted for that password, although keychain will offer to remember it for you when using it on your mac. See this stepbystep tutorial for how to format your usb drive for mac machine macos and pc windows 10. Remo recover mac is compatible on macos high sierra, sierra. The main reason for formatting a usb drive as fat32 on a mac is that you want to be able to use.
Sep 19, 2011 if the drive comes formatted in ntfs, which is the default file system for windows, youre going to want to reformat the drive because mac os x cant write files to ntfs formatted volumes at. If the drive comes formatted in ntfs, which is the default file system for windows, youre going to want to reformat the drive because mac os x cant write files to ntfsformatted volumes at. How to recover lost data from formatted usb flash drive. I use the exfat format so you can go between the two of them. If you want to insure full mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk, youll want to format the drive to the mac os extended. Actually, the data on the drive is hidden and cannot access to.
How to format a usb flash drive on mac wondershare. Heres how to correctly format the drive to work on both. Aug 16, 2019 in this guide, we show you virtually every method to format a usb flash drive and quickly erase its contents or fix data corruption and other issues using windows 10s builtin tools. Disk utility application in macos is the best option to format a flash drive on macos. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and.
This process wont actually convert the file system. Mar 12, 2020 connect the usb flash drive or other volume that youre using for the bootable installer. Flash drive works on mac but not pc apple community. In todays technology, if you buy a usb hard drive, you can just simply use it directly using your mac. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from. Macs and pcs use different file systems, which can make it tricky to put data from your mac on a flash or hard drive and give it to a windows. It is necessary to format an external storage device, such as a usb flash drive, pen drive, and a memory card, to a proper file system, so that mac os x or macos could recognize, detect or read data. Jun 14, 2019 formatted usb flash drive data recovery software free download.
Connect your formatted usb flash drive to your computer which has been installed m3 data recovery software. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. Its exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a mac. Formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Mac os x can only be installed on a hard drive formatted in mac os extended journaled, filesystem. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina. Dec 17, 2018 if your flash drives file system is msdos or exfat you can use it as it is without further formatting. I formatted my 32gb flash drive under fat32 using my mac and high sierra as a single 32gb partition, and put 31.
Heres how to format a new flash drive thumb driveusb stick on a mac for both pc and mac. These are windows volume formats, but they can be read by mac os x. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7 by jack scicluna photography, llc guest writer. Launch minitool power data recovery, and select removable disk. Feb 21, 2020 when your usb flash drive is not showing up on your mac, the reasons might be the usb port, or usb contains errors that make the drive undetectable. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Make sure that it has at least 12gb of available storage and is formatted as mac os extended.
Connecting such a flash drive to a windows pc wont make it accessible. In the sheet that appears click the partition button and your flash drive will be formatted as a mac os x extended journaled drive. When your usb flash drive is not showing up on your mac, the reasons might be the usb port, or usb contains errors that make the drive undetectable. Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. Just install it, and mac drives will show up like any other drive. The formatted data also can be recovered by mac data recovery software. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. If your flash drives file system is msdos or exfat you can use it as it is without further formatting. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Jul 22, 2019 have you ever ran into a problem where youre trying to use a flash drive on both windows and mac. If you selected an encrypted format, enter a password and verify your password in the text fields. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Usb disk storage format tool removes any traces of malware and viruses that.
Open terminal, which is in the utilities folder of your applications folder. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. If you plug in your drive and your mac wont read it, you need to format it. Your mac computer comes with a handy utility appropriately called disk utility, which can be used to.
Connect the usb flash drive or other volume that youre using for the bootable installer. Feb 03, 2020 if the other mac isnt using high sierra or later, choose mac os extended journaled. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. How to recover data from a formatted usb flash drive. Format usb flash driveexternal hard drive with macclean360 on macos catalina. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Earlier versions of macos dont mount apfs formatted volumes. Mar, 2020 this incompatibility occurs if the flash drive was used in mac and formatted in apfs.
As i know, the original data on a drive is not completely erased after the formatting or deletion. How to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exfat file system. If you have an old flash drive or one that was formatted to work with windows or another operating system, you can still format your flash drive to work on a mac. To format external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Dec 27, 2019 to fix a corrupt or raw drive leading to usb drive not formatted error, follow the steps in this article to securely recover your lost data. This tool can help you securely and quickly format usb. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. A drive with two partitions, for example can have one partitioned in exfat and another in a mac os extended format, so you can use the same drive on a mac and a windows computer. Jan 17, 2020 after your formatted the flash drive, the first important thing is you may not write any data on it, or the formatted data will not retrieve. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric.
Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Go to the applications folder on your macs hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. How to recover data from formatted usb drive stepbystep. If drivers are out of date, the mac operating system and your applications on the computer will fail to interact with all. This incompatibility occurs if the flash drive was used in mac and formatted in apfs. Unformat usb drive mac free mac formatted usb recovery. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. Windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead.
In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which comes with all recent versions of the mac. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Format usb flash drive external hard drive with macclean360 on macos catalina. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos. Have you written anything new on this formatted usb flash drive. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under. The latest trend with computers is not including a cddvd drive. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos.
How to recover lost data from formatted usb flash drive under mac os. After your formatted the flash drive, the first important thing is you may not write any data on it, or the formatted data will not retrieve. How to repairfix unreadable usb flash drives on mac. This article walks you through the whole process of how to unformat flash drive with a format recovery tool under windows or mac, making it an easy process for. This tool can help you securely and quickly format usb flash drive, external hard drive under macos catalina. How to recover files from formatted flash drive 2020. In case the usb flash drive is formatted with the ntfs file system which isnt compatible with macos. Macclean360 also offers disk management tool, disk manager. In this guide, we show you virtually every method to format a usb flash drive and quickly erase its contents or fix data corruption and other issues using windows 10s builtin tools. Actually, the data on the drive is hidden and cannot access. But if it is ntfs, format your flash drive to make it completely compatible with macos. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives.
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. Run m3 data recovery software and choose data recovery module. Here are the following most common reasons why would you like to format an external disk or a flash drive for mac under mac os extended journaled. Use remo recover tool to efficiently get back all data from a formatted usb drive of any make and kind using a mac os x running computer. Click the partition tab, if you want to use more than one partition in the drive. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. It is time to learn how to format your external hard drive or other. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. For a mac user, heshe might format a removable disk for many reasons. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial.
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