

Updated · Jun 27, 2022
Updated · Jun 08, 2022
USB flash drives (or thumb drives) are among the most popular external storage devices. Their compactness, mobility, and ease of use make them a preferred method of transferring and storing files.
However, USBs can be formatted for different file systems. Some of them are specifically developed for Mac or Windows, while others can work on both. If you own a Mac computer, you might need to format your flash drive to a system that works with it.
Let’s get to it:
Formatting a thumb drive on Mac can happen in two ways: either through Disk Utility or the Terminal:
The Disk Utility feature conveniently comes with the Apple machine. To format your USB, just follow these simple steps:
Now I’ll show you how to change USB format on Mac through the Terminal. Keep in mind, however, that this method requires specific syntax. Unless you’re an advanced Mac user, I advise going with the previous guide.
Here are the steps:
diskutil erasedisk FILE_SYSTEM DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER
Now that you know how to format a flash drive on Mac, we’ll look at the different format types and help you pick the most suitable one:
Let’s cover them one by one and see what they mean:
NTFS is the file system developed for Windows by Microsoft. It supports very large files, it’s efficient in data organization, and has integrated file compression.
A Mac device can read data from an NTFS formatted USB but can’t write files to it.
MacOS can’t natively format a USB drive for an NTFS system. You’ll have to install a driver.
Let me walk you through the process:
You can also do that through the Terminal. Follow the explanation in the previous section, and for the final command, type in:
diskutil erasedisk NTFS DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER
You can pick the NTFS formatting type when intending to use your drive on a Windows machine.
Before I tell you how to format your flash drive to Fat32, here’s some information:
Fat32 is compatible with both Mac and Windows, as well as Linux. However, it only allows files that are 4GB max and doesn’t support long file names. Even more, it has no security features.
Nevertheless, it’s very suitable for flash drives since all main operating systems support it.
To use this format, you need to follow the aforementioned steps:
If you want to format your flash drive to Fat32 through the Terminal, you need to follow the steps I’ve explained above. The command this time would be:
diskutil erasedisk FAT32 DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER
ExFAT is almost the same as Fat32, but it doesn’t have the latter’s limitations. It’s not always natively supported on Linux, but ExFAT support can be downloaded.
The steps you need to follow are almost identical. The only difference is you need to pick ExFAT from the drop-down menu.
Similarly, going through the Terminal will be the same as above, with a small difference in the command:
diskutil erasedisk ExFAT DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER
When you need to format or reformat a USB drive on Mac, remember this important detail:
All the flash drive’s data will be erased.
However, data recovery software can help you get back the deleted information.
There are many available apps, but I’ll give you an example with Disk Drill:
Other such tools should work similarly.
Before you format an external drive on Mac, it’s a good idea to create a backup. This way, you can avoid losing your files.
Here are some ways to do so:
If there’s enough space on your Mac, you can simply transfer the files from your USB to the internal drive. It’s very simple:
Before formatting a thumb drive on Mac, you can use another flash drive to backup and store your information. Make sure that you have enough free ports on your machine or use a USB hub. Here’s how to transfer the data:
You can get as much storage space as you want with cloud services; however, you might have to pay. The process is similar for any cloud storage:
It doesn’t matter if you’re formatting a flash drive or any external hard drive – this is the process.
Now that you know how to format a USB on Mac for different file systems, you can easily use your external storage on different operating systems.
The information is a lot, but I hope you found it helpful.
Yes, you can. You can do it through both the Disk Utility feature and the Terminal on your Mac. You can also format a flash drive on Mac for the following format types:
If you want to use your USB on Mac devices only, then APFS is a good choice. However, if you’d like to use it on Windows devices as well – Fat32 or ExFAT are best.
A USB is reformatted the same way it’s formatted. The easiest way is through Mac’s Disk Utility:
Here’s how to do it on both types of machines:
For further info on how to format a USB on Mac, feel free to check out our full guide.
Velina Nenova
Velina describes herself as passionate media savvy and a versatile individual with numerous different interests, most a result of her Media & Communications BA. She has also developed a keen interest in Digital Marketing and Advertising. Her never-ending desire to constantly learn new things and enrich herself and her ultimate dream to go around the globe before 45 are her driving forces.
Latest from Author
Your email address will not be published.