How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows

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  1. How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows 8
  2. Reformat Thumb Drive Mac

If you’re both Mac users, swell; with Mac and Windows in the mix, you might be tempted to pick FAT32 when formatting that thumb drive. But FAT32 is distinctly out of date. If you want to use the drive between a Windows and Mac machine, you can format it to FAT32. You can follow the steps as below to format USB drive to HFS+ or FAT32 in Mac. Here I will format the drive to FAT32 for demonstration. If you have an old flash drive or one that was formatted to work with Windows or another operating system, you can still format your flash drive to work on a Mac. Volume Format Most manufacturers use the FAT 32 or MS-DOS (FAT) volume format.

Note: Formatting your flash drive will remove all files or folders onthe drive, so make sure you back up your files before formatting yourdrive.

  • Rather than use a Mac-formatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exFAT-formatted drives for moving data between Macs and PCs. To format the drive in Windows, right-click it in the File Explorer window and select “Format.” Choose the “exFAT” file system in the list and click “Start.”.
  • Format USB Flash Drives to Work With Both Mac and Windows 7 by Jack Scicluna Photography, LLC - guest writer. The latest trend with computers is not including a CD/DVD drive.

Windows:

Drive

  1. Connect the USB flash drive to your computer.

  1. Click “This PC”.

  1. Right-click the flash drive’s icon. It’s beneath the “Devices and drives” heading in the middle of the page.

  1. Click Format. This option is near the middle of the drop-down menu. Doing so opens the Format window.

  1. Click the “File System” box. It’s below the “File System” heading near the top of the page. A drop-down menu will appear with the following options:

NTFS - The default Windows operating system format. If you’re using your drive as a secondary Windows drive, you’ll need to choose this option.

FAT32 - The most widely compatible format. Works with most computers and gaming consoles.

Note: exFAT format USB flash drives do not work with ClonerAlliance products.

  1. Click a format option (FAT32 or NTFS). If you’ve formatted your drive before and you’re positive that it isn’t broken, you can also check the Quick Format box.

How to format thumb drive for both mac and windows 10

  1. Click Start, and then click OK. Doing this will cause Windows to begin formatting your flash drive for you.

  1. Click “OK” when prompted. Your flash drive has successfully been formatted.

Mac:

  1. Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.

Note: Some Macs don’t have USB ports, so you’ll need to purchase an adapter.

  1. Click “Go”. It’s a menu item in the top-left side of the menu bar.

If you don’t see Go, first click the Finder icon, which resembles a blue face in your Mac’s dock.

  1. Click “Utilities”. This option is in the Go drop-down menu.

  1. Double-click “Disk Utility”. You’ll likely find this option in the middle of the Utilities page.

  1. Click your flash drive’s name. It’s on the far-left side of the Disk Utility window.

  1. Click the “Erase” tab. This option is at the top of the Disk Utility window.

  1. Click a format option.

Note: exFAT format USB flash drives do not work with ClonerAlliance products.

  1. Click Erase, then click Erase when prompted. This will begin the formatting process. Once the formatting is complete, you’ll see an icon for your flash drive appear on your Mac’s desktop.

Hello, gaminhk!


How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows 8

Thank you for reaching out and using the Apple Support Communities. We see from your post that your seeking a way to make your MP4 videos viewable on both Mac and Windows PCs. Having that shared compatibility between both operating systems is very important, especially when you want to share to them with others.

How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows


In this situation, the best way to ensure that both a Mac and a Windows PC can access the videos from the same external device is to make sure the device is in the correct disk format. This article explains how to format a device or disk (e.g. USB flash drive, external hard drive) into the proper format that is accessible by both Mac and Windows computers: Disk Utility 12.x: Format a disk for Windows computers

Reformat thumb drive mac


In regards to your second question, check out this article: If QuickTime Player can‘t open an audio or video file


Please let us know if this resolves your issues.

Reformat Thumb Drive Mac


Kindest Regards.

Sep 1, 2016 10:19 AM