How to Format USB on Mac

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Last Updated: September 15, 2023

Most external hard drives and USB drives are compatible for use on Mac computers as long as you format the devices for use with Mac OS X. USB drives can be formatted on your Mac using the Disk Utility application.

Things You Should Know

Formatting a USB involves prepping the device to store information.
Most USBs are compatible with Mac if they are formatted beforehand.
When formatting USB drives on your Mac, you can use the Disk Utility application.

Steps

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” The Disk Utility window will open and display on-screen.
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The former option can help ensure that the USB drive is made fully compatible with your Mac, since most USB drives are preformatted for Windows computers by default.
Your USB drive will now be formatted and ready for use on your Mac computer.^{[1]
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Question

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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Question

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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