the window and macOS are two different operating systems and because of these differences, you can use flash drives or USB drives on PC and Mac. Fortunately, you can format a hard drive or USB flash drive specifically to be compatible with Mac OS X computers and Windows PCs. In this guide you will find out Format flash drive for mac and pc.
Although many users are unfamiliar with this excellent cross-platform compatibility feature, it is not a complicated process and if you use Mac and Windows PCs frequently, you will find it particularly useful since whatever data, media or file is saved on the drive is always saved by be accessible from any operating system. It only takes a few minutes to get started and it’s incredibly fast, and I’ll walk you through the process of formatting the flash drive for PC and Mac compatibility.
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What you will learn in this guide:
USB stick for Mac and PC compatibility
If you have a USB stick or flash drive and are trying to use it on both Mac and Windows PC, you will probably run into problems. If your hard drive was originally formatted for NTFS On a PC (or HFS+ on a Mac) you’re more likely to encounter limitations such as: B. that you cannot read or write data from your drive on either computer.
Fortunately, there is a file system (exFAT) With it, you can format your USB drive to be fully Mac and PC compatible.
In the meantime, exFAT is the only file system that works for both Windows and macOS versions and has no global file storage or partition storage limitations. Therefore, it is perfect for USB flash drives or external drives, especially when files larger than 4GB need to be stored. You can go ahead and format your storage drive with exFAT instead of FAT32 as long as all devices you choose to use exFAT authorize the drive.
How do I check the file system of a USB stick?
First, plug your USB drive into your computer’s USB port. Make sure your device is discoverable and discoverable.
On Windows PC:
Step 1. Go to This PC Where file managerFind your flash drive below devices and drivers. right click on it and select Characteristics.
2nd step. When the properties window opens, select the General tab and you will see what type of file system your flash drive currently has next to it file system.
Check the file system of the USB flash drive on the PC
On Mac:
Step 1. Once the flash drive appears on the desktop, right click on the drive icon and click on it to gather information.
2nd step. In the dialog box you will now see next to the file system of your USB drive format Possibility. In my case it shows MS-DOS (FAT32).
Check USB flash drive file system on Mac
Format flash drive for Mac and PC compatibility (exFAT)
Remember that formatting a drive will erase all data on it. Therefore, backup important files before proceeding. However, exFAT is not compatible with computers older than Windows Vista Where Mac OS X 10.6.5.
Since I don’t know if you’re using a PC or Mac to format flash drives for Mac and PC compatibility, I decided to show you both ways. So here is the flash drive formatting process for Mac and PC.
Format flash drive on Mac
Step 1. Open Disk Utility. You can start it from either dock or search Disk Utility on projector.
2nd step. Find your USB drive under the External Tongue. For example, drive information is also displayed just below your device name Cut, case system etc.
Step 3. Click on Wipe off above.
step 4. In the new pop-up window, click the drop-down menu next to format and select ExFAT. You can also change the name of your USB drive.
Format flash drive for Mac and PC
step 5. Finally click Wipe off and wait for the erasing process to complete. When you’re done, click Do.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the flash drive is properly formatted in ExFAT format and now fully compatible with Mac and Windows PC.
Formatting the flash drive on a Windows PC
Step 1. Go to This PC.
2nd step. Locate your USB drive under devices and drivers so what right click on it and select it format Possibility.
step 3. Now click on the drop down menu next to file system and select exFAT. You can also rename the name next to that volume label. On the last click begin.
Format flash drive for Mac and PC
step 4. When you click the Start button, you will see a warning message “Formatting will erase ALL data on this drive…” Click on OK if you have backed up all important data stored on the drive.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the flash drive is properly formatted in ExFAT format and now fully compatible with Mac and Windows PC.
Wrap
That’s it. This guide was all about formatting flash drives for Mac and PC compatibility. Thanks to the ExFAT format, you can easily transfer files between Mac and Windows PC. If you want to use a USB flash drive or flash drive for PC and Mac, you need to format it to exFAT.
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