Best Format For Mac And Pc Usb Drive

Format USB drive for both Mac and PC use

To format external drive to file system compatible with Mac and PC, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below (Take formatting hard drive to exFAT in Windows 7 for example): Step 1. Jan 15, 2019  The main reason for formatting a USB drive as Fat32 on a Mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a Windows PC, as well as a Mac — perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. You may also be preparing the drive for use as, say, a storage device for a media player or to record TV programmes on a TV with a USB port.

I bet some of you have this dilemma: you have a USB drive and want to use it on bothMac and PC. If you format the USB drive to HFS+ File System, it will not besupported by Windows computer. And if you format it to NTFS, it will not be fullysupported in Mac Operating System. Here is a question: how to format USB drive forMac and PC on Windows? Or in other words, how to make external hard drive compatiblewith Mac and PC?

Format USB drive to FAT32 or exFAT

As a matter of fact, there are two File Systems that can be both supported by Mac andPC Operating System: FAT32 and exFAT. Then which File System should you choose?

FAT32 is more compatible. Besides Windows and Mac, it can also compatible withvarious devices like PS3, PS4, Xbox One, etc. However, you cannot store large filesover than 4GB on FAT32 formatted USB drive and the volume has 2TB restriction. Asfor exFAT, it is less compatible. But it breaks the limitation of 4GB in File sizeand 2 TB in volume size.

Therefore, if you want to use your USB drive with more devices, you can choose FAT32.If you need to store large file over 4GB, choose exFAT. In short, choose oneaccording to your situation.

How to format USB for Mac and PC on Windows 10/8/7?

Next, I will introduce you two detailed ways to format USB drive for Mac and PC onWindows. One is using Diskpart tool and the other is using AOMEI PartitionAssistant.

Format USB via Diskpart tool

Diskpart is a built-in tool that can manage your hard drives. You can use it toformat disk including internal or external hard drive.

Step 1. Press “Windows” + “R” to open Run dialogue. Type“diskpart” in the Run dialogue, and hit Enter.

Step 2. In Diskpart window, input the following commands and hit Enter after each command.

• list disk

• select disk n, where “n” is the disk number of USB drive.

• list partition

• select partition m, where “m” is the number of partitiongoing to be formatted.

• format fs=exFAT

Tips: If you need to format it to FAT32, replace the last command with “formatfs=fat32”.

Step 3. Type “exit” to close this window.

With Diskpart tool, you can format USB drive very quickly. However, if you use it toformat partition over 32GB to FAT32, the error message that thevolume is too big will appear. That is to say, you cannot use Diskpart toformat volume larger than 32GB.

Therefore, if you need to format the USB drive which is larger than 32GB, you can usea third party free software – AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Format USB drive for Mac and PC via freeware

AOMEI Partition Assistant, a free powerfulformat tool, is specially designed for Windows operating systems. It can supportalmost all file systems including Ext2, Ext3, NTFS, FAT32,exFAT, etc. You can use itto format USB drive quickly and securely. With this software, you can format USNdrive to FAT32 without the limitation of 32GB partition size. Let’s see how toformat USB drive for Mac and PC on Windows.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant andlaunch the software. In the main interface, locate the USB drive, right click it andchoose Format Partition.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, choose exFAT or FAT32 among the listed filesystems. Then, click OK.

Step 3. You’ll return to the main interface. Click Apply tosubmit the operation.

Conclusion

You can use both Diskpart and AOMEI Partition Assistant to format USB drive for Macand PC on Windows. It is obvious that you can have less limitation to format USBdrive with AOMEI Partition Assistant. You do not need to worry the 32GB partitionsize limitation with AOMEI product when you format USB drive to FAT32. The Proedition has more advanced features, you can format USB drive using CMD, migrate OSfrom MBR disk to GPT SSD or HDD, convert system disk between MBR and GPT partitionstyle, etc. You can upgradeto it if needed.

If you've switched to the Mac, welcome aboard. Your old external Windows PC drive will work great on the Mac. Apple has built OS X Yosemite and some previous OS X releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. If you're using such a drive and you'd like to write new data to them, you'll find you can't unless you add new software. Fortunately, you don't have to spend a dime.

Switch to Mac

Main

Every week our Peter Cohen brings you Switch to Mac — a column to help you move from Windows PC to the Mac and OS X!

One option is to back up your old Windows external drive (using Time Machine or another method). Reformat the drive using Apple's Disk Utility software and the company's HFS+ file system instead. Then you can restore the backed up data to the drive.

Even if the backed up and restored files originally came from a PC, they'll be stored on the drive using a file system the Mac fully understands. That way the drive will be fully Mac-compatible without any need for you to modify the operating system of the Mac to get it to work properly.

Obviously that solution doesn't work for everyone. Maybe the drive you're using has to be used with a PC occasionally. Whatever the case, the good news is that it's not a show-stopper: There are a few utilities out there that will enable Macs to write to mounted NTFS volumes.

Tuxera's NTFS for Mac is one of the best ways to do it. It uses smart caching to keep data transfer as fast as possible and works with every OS X version since 10.4 (Tiger). NTFS for Mac costs $31, and you can download a demo first to see how it does.

Paragon Software's NTFS for Mac 12 is another excellent choice. It includes several additional utilities for people who need to tinker or repair, to enable you to format drives with NTFS, check NTFS partition integrity, fix errors, and more. NTFS for Mac costs $19.95.

If you're a DIYer and you'd like to go the free route, you'll find a Sourceforge project called NativeNTFS-OSX that gets the job done. NativeNTFS isn't for rookies: It's a bash script that needs to run from the Terminal command line and requires you to have root (administrator) access to your computer.

An easier way to go is to download OS X Fuse, a third-party software tool that extends the Mac's file system capabilities. Follow the directions on the OS X Fuse website to download and configure the software. Follow the instructions to download NTFS-3G for Mac OS X, whose development seems stopped right now but still works in Yosemite. Once OS X Fuse and NTFS-3G are installed, your Mac should be able to read and write to NTFS disks just fine.

No, the video doing the rounds on social media isn't Apple's new iPhone 9

The video first appeared on TikTok before making the switch to Twitter. But it just isn't real.