Format Flash Drive Mac Os

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Aug 29, 2015  How to format a usb flash drive on a windows 10 pc for mac os x & windows pc compatibility If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between macs and windows computers use exFAT or MS-DOS. Jul 02, 2020  You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended). You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer. You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't repair.

Erasing your disk: For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac, you should erase your entire disk.

Erasing a volume on your disk: In other cases, such as when your disk contains multiple volumes (or partitions) and you don't want to erase them all, you can erase specific volumes on the disk.

Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep.

How to erase your disk

  1. Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
    If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. Choose View > Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. The sidebar now shows your disks (devices) and any containers and volumes within them. The disk your Mac started up from is at the top of the list. In this example, Apple SSD is the startup disk:
  3. Select the disk that you want to erase. Don't see your disk?
  4. Click Erase, then complete these items:
    • Name: Type the name that you want the disk to have after you erase it.
    • Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
    • Scheme: Choose GUID Partition Map.
  5. Click Erase to begin erasing your disk and every container and volume within it. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
  6. When done, quit Disk Utility.
  7. If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the disk you erased, reinstall macOS on the disk.

How to erase a volume on your disk

Usb Flash Drive Format Utility

  1. Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
    If you're not erasing the volume your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. In the sidebar of Disk Utility, select the volume that you want to erase. The volume your Mac started up from is named Macintosh HD, unless you changed its name. Don't see your volume?
  3. Click Erase, then complete these items:
    • Name: Type the name that you want the volume to have after you erase it.
    • Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
  4. If you see an Erase Volume Group button, the volume you selected is part of a volume group. In that case, you should erase the volume group. Otherwise, click Erase to erase just the selected volume. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
  5. When done, quit Disk Utility.
  6. If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the volume you erased, reinstall macOS on that volume.

Reasons to erase

You can erase at any time, including in circumstances such as these:

  • You want to permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings. This is one of the final steps before selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac.
  • You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
  • You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer.
  • You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't repair.
  • The macOS installer doesn't see your disk or can't install on it. For example, the installer might say that your disk isn't formatted correctly, isn't using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system, or can't be used to start up your computer.
  • The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple RAID.

About APFS and Mac OS Extended

Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra or later can erase using either the newer APFS (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.

How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended

Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu. If it can't, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS. If you want to change the format, answer these questions:

  • Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
    If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, Disk Utility suggests APFS. Don't change it to Mac OS Extended.
  • Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later for the first time on the disk?
    If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files.
  • Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
    Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use as a Time Machine backup disk or as a bootable installer.
  • Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
    If the other Mac isn't using macOS High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't work with APFS-formatted volumes.

How to identify the format currently in use

If you want to know which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:

  • Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information shown on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
  • Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
  • Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.

If your disk or volume doesn't appear, or the erase fails

  1. Shut down your Mac, then unplug all nonessential devices from your Mac.
  2. If you're erasing an external drive, make sure that it's connected directly to your Mac using a cable that you know is good. Then turn the drive off and back on.
  3. If your disk or volume still doesn't appear in Disk Utility, or Disk Utility reports that the erase process failed, your disk or Mac might need service. If you need help, please contact Apple Support.

Learn more

  • If you can't start up from macOS Recovery, you can use a different startup disk instead.
  • If Disk Utility shows a Security Options button in the Erase window, you can click that button to choose between a faster (but less secure) erase and a slower (but more secure) erase. Some older versions of Disk Utility offer the option to zero all data instead. These secure-erase options aren't offered or needed for solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage.

Windows formatting tool can not always format the USB flash drive correctly. Standard formatting is not solution at all if a file table information on the storage device has been corrupted. Unfortunately, it's harder to recover data on a flash drive with this kind of damage.

Consider the best programs for formatting flash drives, there are more or less versatile tools. You can easily find other alternatives, free and proprietary utilities offered by manufacturers and download it for Windows. So, let’s begin!

Important! Save the USB flash drive contents on the computer before formatting. All data stored on the formatted media will be irretrievably deleted.

Contents:

JetFlash Recovery Tool - simple usb stick formatter

JetFlash Recovery Tool is a universal solution to format usb drive. It will be useful in case if:

  • USB flash drive consists any file table errors or bad sectors
  • Information on the flash drive can not be read (reasons unknown)
  • You just need to format a USB flash drive

Install the JetFlash Recovery Tool and try to forcefully format flash drive with it. The flash drives formatter works with A-DATA and Transcend brands, but other variants are possible as well.

JetFlash Recovery Tool can be downloaded from the official website. Install it on the computer according to the instructions that come with the program.

USB Disk Storage Format Tool

USB Disk Storage Format Tool allows you to format a USB flash drive on Windows quickly and correctly. You can specify the file system of the formatted usb media: FAT, FAT32, exFAT or NTFS.

The main features of the utility:

  • It allows to choose standard formatting or erase all data on a flash drive, which can not be formatted by usual (system) way
  • USB Disk Storage Format Tool removes any traces of malware and viruses that could infect the USB flash drive
  • Search and fixing of reading errors and bad blocks on a flash drive
  • Creating a volume label (name) for USB drives
  • Creating a partition in FAT32 with a 32 GB > capacity
  • Low-level formatting of flash drives of the required model (Kingston, HP, Sony, Lexar, Imation, Transcend, Corsair and so on).

USB Disk Storage Format Tool has been successfully tested on thousands of storage devices (Compact Flash media, Thumb Drives, Pen Drives). It supports such brands as SanDisk, Kingston, Transcend, Corsair, Sony, Lexar, Toshiba, Verbatim, Silicon Power, IronKey and HDE.

There is also a Pro version of the USB Disk Storage Format Tool. It can be useful for making bootable flash drives, performing low-level formatting, changing the size of the clusters and so on.

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HDD Low Level Format Tool

HDD Low Level Format Tool is utility for low-level hard disks formatting. This app allows you to read SMART data and get service information about data storage devices on your Windows PC.

Format Flash Drive In Mac Os

However, the HDD Low Level Format Tool supports not only hard disks. It is also possible to format usb pen drive or memory card (SD, MMC, MemoryStick and CompactFlash) – you need a card reader to connect them via an USB port.

HDD Low Level Format Tool will erase data from SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI or SSD via low level access. The utility also works with any USB and FIREWIRE external drives, as well as SD, MMC, MemoryStick and CompactFlash sticks.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for Windows

A very simple utility for the correct flash stick formatting in FAT32 or NTFS formats. The main function is to help the user to quickly select options and format the USB flash drive on the computer by pressing a “Format” button.

HP USB Storage Format Tool is available for free, the installer can be downloaded for Windows 10, 7, 8, etc.

In addition, through the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, you can make a bootable USB flash drive (which other similar usb flash formatters can’t do).

How to format a USB flash drive in Mac OS

The HP USB Format Tool allows you to format the USB flash drive in the Mac OS X. However, for this you need to follow the next steps:

  1. Install the Parallels Desktop emulator on your Mac OS
  2. Install Windows on Parallels Desktop
  3. Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool on Mac, install it on emulated Windows
  4. Format the USB flash drive under Mac OS X via emulated Windows

Format Usb Flash Drive Mac Os X Windows

Kingston USB Format Tool

Kingston format utility does not contain any settings at all. For formatting, you need to specify a device (usb-flash drive) and a file system.

Developers of the program claim that the FAT is the best format for usb drive to avoid conflicts with other operating systems. It will not affect the performance of the flash drive.

The program is able to format and repair usb flash drives under Windows 7, Windows 10 and earlier versions of the OS.

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Format Flash Drive Mac Os

Therefore, if you have a Kingston flash drive and noticed that it works slowly, try this app: maybe it will solve the problem.