Q&A for How to Format USB on Mac

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Will doing this make it ONLY compatible with a Mac? Currently I can use it anywhere but it's almost full and I can't seem to delete anything.

Friedolin Baum

Community Answer

Yes, if you choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" in step 7, the USB drive will then only work with Mac computers.

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I need to format the USB with "FAT32 32KB." How can I do this?

Tenjingawa

Community Answer

First, open Disk Utility as shown in the article. Then select your USB from the list of disks on the left, and then click on "Info" on the top right. A new window will appear. Note down the "BSD device node" shown. After that, open Terminal (in the same Utilities folder). Then type the following commands into the window (without the quotes): "diskutil unmount /dev/[BSD device node]" "sudo newfs_msdos -F 32 -c 64 -v VOLUMEID /dev/[BSD device node]" (-F 32 means FAT32, while -c is "the number of sectors per cluster". FAT32 has a sector size of 512 bytes, so you need 64 of them to have 32KB per cluster; 512B×64=32768B=32KB) Then enter your password if required, and wait.

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Question

I use "Mac OS Extended (journal)" in step 7, but I didn't know that my USB can be used only with Mac. How am I going to reset that or do something to make it work in another computer?

Sami8667

Community Answer

To make your USB drive compatible with both Mac and Windows, reformat it on your Mac: Connect the USB drive. Open Disk Utility in "Applications" > "Utilities." Select the USB drive. Click "Erase" and choose "ExFAT" or "FAT32" as the format. Name the drive. Click "Erase" (all data will be lost). Now your USB drive can be used on both Mac and Windows computers!

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How can I format my thumb drive to be compatible with both Mac and Windows?

Ilovepython103

Community Answer

You can format the USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS, as both file systems are compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

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If I choose the MS format, will the drive not work with Mac?

khushnuma

Community Answer

If you choose the MS format, such as NTFS or exFAT, the drive may have limited compatibility with macOS. NTFS is read-only on Macs, so you can access files but cannot write to them without additional software. However, exFAT is fully supported on both Windows and Mac, allowing read and write access. If you need full compatibility with both systems, exFAT is a better choice. NTFS is ideal for drives primarily used with Windows if you don't need to write data on a Mac.

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