If you're moving it between Mac and Windows, you want to format your flash drive with the FAT32 filesystem. It shouldn't matter whether you format it on your Mac or on a Windows machine.
To do it on the Mac, plug in the flash drive, and open Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder). The drive should appear in the list on the left of the DU window.
Select the drive, then click the Erase tab. On that tab, select MS-DOS (FAT) as the volume format, choose a disk name if you want to, then click Erase, and wait.
That said, if your drive just 'didn't work any more' after a while, it may be faulty and it's possible that re-formatting it won't help. (All flash drives do have a finite number of read/write cycles before they don't work reliably any more, too, although it's unlikely you've reached that limit through normal usage.)
To do it on the Mac, plug in the flash drive, and open Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder). The drive should appear in the list on the left of the DU window.
Select the drive, then click the Erase tab. On that tab, select MS-DOS (FAT) as the volume format, choose a disk name if you want to, then click Erase, and wait.
That said, if your drive just 'didn't work any more' after a while, it may be faulty and it's possible that re-formatting it won't help. (All flash drives do have a finite number of read/write cycles before they don't work reliably any more, too, although it's unlikely you've reached that limit through normal usage.)
Format Flash Drive With Macbook
- Once the flash drive shows up on the desktop, right-click on the drive icon and click Get Info. Now, in the dialog box, you’ll notice your USB Drive’s file system next to the Format option. In my case, it’s.
- Type a name for the USB drive in the “Name” field. Click on the “Erase” button located at the bottom right corner of Disk Utility. Click on “Erase” again when the confirmation dialog box displays on-screen. Your USB drive will now be formatted and ready for use on your Mac computer.
- But the drives formatted as FAT32 are read and written to Mac operating system but it is not right and you may end up into problems if you don’t use the native format of Mac OS. So, if you have a USB drive that needs formatting or has been formatted as FAT32, then here is the right way to format USB flash drive on Mac.
How to Format an External Drive for Mac Compatibility. Connect the hard drive or USB key to the Mac. Launch Disk Utility, located in Applications Utilities. Locate the drive name from the left hand side of Disk Utility and click on it. Click on the “Erase” tab across the top. Next to “Format:”. Use Disk Utility to Format USB Flash Drive on Mac. The simplest way to format a disk in Mac OS is to simply use the Disk Utility since it is the Mac’s built in disk maintenance tool. To format USB drive on Mac using this method, all you need to do is plug in the USB device into your Mac and select it from the Disk Utility’s sidebar menu.
Format Flash Drive Mac Terminal
Aug 23, 2008 1:22 PM