✔️ Top 2 Ways to Format USB Drive on Mac
– Reviews News
A USB flash drive is one of the best portable external storage devices you can carry around. You can connect it to your Mac to store and transfer important files such as documents, photos, videos, presentations and more. But what if you want to format a USB flash drive on your Mac?
Formatting a USB drive on your Mac can be easily done using the built-in applications. This article will show you the two best ways to format USB drive on Mac.
Why format your USB flash drive?
If you frequently use a USB flash drive to transfer or store your data, you should consider formatting it to remove files you no longer need. If you have a limited number of USB drives, formatting one will give you the peace of mind of storing more data when needed. If you're switching from a Mac to a Windows PC or vice versa, it's a good idea to format your USB drive to change its file format for better compatibility.
But before formatting a USB drive, you must remember to backup your data to cloud storage like iCloud, Google Drive or OneDrive. You also choose your file formats.
Format USB Drive on Mac Using Disk Utility
Disk Utility is an inbuilt program available for macOS users to manage storage devices on Mac. With Disk Utility, you can check available storage on your device, repair storage errors using First Aid, and format storage devices such as USB drives, hard drives. drives and SD cards on your Mac.
Here is how you can format your USB drive on Mac.
Step 1: Insert your USB flash drive into your Mac.
Step 2: Press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search, type Discoverer, and press Return.
Step 3: Click Applications in the left menu.
Step 4: Click the search bar in the upper right corner under Applications.
5nd step : To write disk utility and press Return. Double-click Disk Utility to open it.
Step 6: Click on the name of your USB flash drive in the left menu in Disk Utility.
7nd step : After displaying all the storage information on your USB drive, click Clear in the upper right corner.
Step 8: If you want to change the name of your USB key, you can type in the new name of your choice.
Step 9: Click Format to change the file format of your USB flash drive.
You have three file format options: Mac OS Extended, MS-DOS (FAT), and ExFat.
Mac OS Extended: Select this option if you want to format the drive to be compatible with macOS-based systems only. This format offers the best compatibility with Macs. After choosing this option, the player will not work with Windows computers or phones Android.
MS-DOS (FAT32): Choose this option to make your USB drive work on different platforms. Although the cross-platform interoperability is great, it won't allow you to copy files larger than 4GB.
ExFAT: Choose this option to exceed the 4GB file transfer limit of FAT32. Moreover, you will get compatibility with multiple devices and platforms.
10nd step : Once you have selected the file format, click Delete.
You have successfully formatted your USB flash drive. You can format any disk using Disk Utility on Mac.
Format USB Drive on Mac Using Terminal
The second way to format a USB drive on your Mac is to use Terminal if you are an advanced user. The Terminal app can also help you customize your Mac's interface and settings. This is how you can format your USB drive using Terminal on Mac.
Step 1: Insert your USB flash drive into your Mac's USB port. If you have a newer model Mac, use a dongle to connect the USB drive.
Step 2: Press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search, type terminal, and press Return.
Step 3: Once the Terminal application is open, type the following command and press Return to display all mounted storage devices:
list of disk utilities
Step 4: Among the storage devices listed, find the disk name of the USB flash drive and the disk ID of the disk you want to format.
5nd step : Type the following command and press Return to format your USB drive.
disktuil erasedisk FILE_SYSTEM DISK_NAME DISK_INDENTIFIER
Under File System, it will mention the syntax of the new file format for your USB drive.
For Mac OS Extendeduse HFS+
For MS-DOS (FAT)use FAT32
for ExFatuse ExFat.
In our case, we will use the following command and press Return.
diskutil erasedisk ExFat ESD-USB disk4
Step 6: Click OK to allow access to the terminal.
Once the USB drive is formatted, you will see the following command.
Format your USB drive on Mac
Both of these methods will help you format a USB flash drive on your Mac. If you have Type-C ports on your MacBook, you can check out our recommendations for the best USB-C hubs with an SD card reader.
SOURCE: Reviews News
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