How to quickly make a mac os x bootable usb on windows. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. In general any fat format should work on both a pc and a mac as i understand it not from personal experience for from others and again in general if you select photos in photos and export them file menu export to a desktop folder then drat that folder to a fat formatted usb stick you should be able to use those photos on either a mac. It could take one or two hours to complete the process depending on your computer. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Whilst the process of downloading and installing an os through the mac app store is straightforward enough, its painful for people with a slower internet connection, or if theyve.
How to create macos bootable usb on windows 10 uubyte. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. Format a flash drive for both mac os x and windows. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. Open the finder window and navigate to applications install macos sierra. When boot camp assistant is done, the usb drive will be renamed to wininstall. Dec 29, 2015 the instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. This option is near the middle of the dropdown menu. A common and easy way to format a usb drive to fat32 is to make use of the file explorer. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to. In theory, this should be easy, but sometimes it can be problematic because the usb pendrive can be read by other devices but its not possible to save files on it. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep.
Just like windows, mac also allows a seamless solution to do pen drive format. How to quickly create a macos bootable usb on windows 10. Click the format dropdown menu and select one of the following file formats. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. A dropdown menu will appear with the following options. Click the file menu and select load file system from device. Dont click the format disk button or windows will erase the contents of the driveclick cancel. And if you format it to ntfs, it will not be fully supported in mac operating system. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Rightclick the usb drive and select format at the menu. Im here to use a windows 10 based hp laptop to format my lexar drive. And they will continue to be handy for bringing files to and from work, sharing between friends, and for bringing files along with you away from your mac. Type the select disk command followed the number assigned for the usb flash drive e.
To do this, you can take the assistance of disk utility, which is a dedicated system component in mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. In this article, we will introduce 5 disk formatting tools for windows and mac to help you securely format hard driveusb flash drive or memory card on a pc or a mac. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Type the list disk command to view a listing of drives connected to your computer and press enter. Aug 16, 2019 on windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios. The above command will format the usb drive in the fat32 format which is ideal for usb drives. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. Yes, connecting an external hard drive or usb flash key to a mac will generally read and work fine as is because the mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a windows and mac machine, formatting it to be entirely mac compatible. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer.
How to format a usb drive for mac and pc compatibility youtube. You can use it to format disk including internal or external hard drive. If this is the case, chances are that its using a mbr partition, and the usb drive needs a gpt partition to work on a mac. Next format your usb drive to windows fat32 format.
Then do a right click with your mouse to pull up a menu. Fortunately, theres a great tool that you can use for free to create bootable macos media on a usb drive in a windows 10 environment. However, os x and windows both can read and write to a format called fat32, which used to be used for windows all the way back into the msdos days. How to format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt. How to format and create a usb drive or pen drive that is compatible with windows 10, 8, 7 or mac or linux. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac.
May 29, 2018 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. For example, in windows xp my computer is equivalent to this pc on windows 10. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. As ntfs is proprietary, apple would need a special license to use it.
This format was created for microsoft and allows users to quickly plug their drives into windows machines and work with files. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. In our example, we have fat32 file system which is compatible on windows. If you want to use the drive between a windows and mac machine, you can format it to fat32. Fat32 works with all versions of windows, mac os, linux, game consoles, etc. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. How to format a write protected usb on pc or mac with. You can use fsntfs instead to format the drive as ntfs which will then only work on a windows pc. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. The easy method is to use a small and cheap usb flash drive to copy files from your pc to your mac. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x.
Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7. You can make this your client name or your company name. In the new dialogue, pay attention to general format, where it says msdos fat32. The good news is that formatting usb on mac is also as easy as on windows 10. Creating windows 10 bootable usb on mac is a common task for people who have multiple computers at home. The system is commonly used for shared hard drives that is plugged into computer most of the time. So, if it needs to be formatted at all, you need to format it.
You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. On windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios. It can help you manage system partitions, erase an external unit like a thumb drive, and even repair your disk. How to format usb to fat32ntfsexfat on windows and mac. Use the file system dropdown menu and select the ntfs option.
Now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. 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. As long as we format the external hard drive to one of these 2 file systems, it can be shared between mac and windows. Windows cannot read a macformatted disk, but macs can read a windowsformatted one. Launch the file explorer and from it find the usb drive.
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. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Use unetbootin on mac unetbootin is free to use and allows you to make a bootable usb drive for windows 10 using your mac. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. If you want to format a hard drive or usb flash drive on your computer, disk formatting tool is the best choice. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. Both fat32 and exfat have advantages and disadvantages. Its below the file system heading near the top of the page. How to make a windows 10 usb using your mac build a. You will see output like this note your macs terminal may be black text on a white background if you havent customized it. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Learn how to format your usb flash drive or usb external drive so you can use it on both mac os x and windows computers. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to choose from. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with windows computers. For example, you might want to reformat a new or used removable storage device to make sure it. Jan 04, 2012 yes, connecting an external hard drive or usb flash key to a mac will generally read and work fine as is because the mac can easily read other filesystem formats, including windows msdos, fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs formats, but unless you intend on using the drive between a windows and mac machine, formatting it to be entirely mac compatible. On the warning message, click the yes button to format the drive. Apr 30, 2016 now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. How to format a write protected usb on pc or mac with pictures. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. External data storage devices such as usb flash drives, external hard disk drives hdds, and solid state drives ssds provide one of the easiest ways to transfer files between separate computers without accessing the internet. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos.
Sep 25, 2019 you will see output like this note your mac s terminal may be black text on a white background if you havent customized it. How to format internal andor external drive to work properly on mac and windows computers. Apr 26, 2016 if you still need the universal support, but will exchange files bigger than 4 gb, you might want to use exfat file system. It can take about 20 minutes to format and set up the usb installer on the mac. Sometimes, you cant access certain bad sectors on the drive making it difficult to read the entire stored content.
Click the scheme popup menu, then choose master boot. Enter a name for the drive, such as macos bootable usb and click the ok button. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. Format usb for mac and pc on windows quickly and securely. You need to erase and format the usb to be compatible with your mac. The former option can help ensure that the usb drive is made fully compatible with your mac, since most usb drives are preformatted for windows computers by default. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your mac, you should erase your entire disk. This article shows you how to download a macos dmg file, format a usb drive using a guid partition table, burn. Nov 01, 2011 format a flash drive for both mac os x and windows.
Under the devices and drivers section, rightclick the flash drive and select the format option. May 01, 2020 how to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. If you are on an earlier operating system like windows 7, xp, etc. Jun 14, 2018 format usb drive for both mac and pc use. If you wish to boot the drive on a pc or use it with older versions of windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to master boot record mbr for full windows compatibility. You can view the current file system of the usb drive. You have to format the drive to exfat or fat32 if the burning process failed due to the wrong partition scheme. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. In this article at onehowto well explain how a usb pendrive is useful for storing text documents on any. Oct 15, 2019 select mac os extended journaled, or your preferred format type. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive.
Open command prompt with administrative permissions. Jan 18, 2020 a common and easy way to format a usb drive to fat32 is to make use of the file explorer. That means my lexar disk is currently with the fat32 file system. When you cannot format usb drive in windows explorer, or the usb drive not shows in my computer or windows explorer, you can go to the windows disk management to format usb drive.
Click format in the dropdown menu to open the format window. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. Mac os x users often need to use a usb pendrive thats compatible with other computers. However, if you want to use part of the drive for os xs time machine backups, you should do this from the mac, since theres an extra step to make the drive compatible for time machine. Click the security options button if you dont want to use a fast format. Select mac os extended journaled, or your preferred format type. Connect the usb drive or the desired external hard drive to the windows 10 computer. Use the restore disk image to drive dialog box to browse for the dmg file with the installation files for mac os x yosemite in this case, and click the ok button to create a bootable usb of the operating system. Have you ever ran into a problem where youre trying to use a flash drive on both windows and mac. Moving from windows to mac transferring your documents. Again, like the first method, you will need a usb drive with a capacity of 16gb as a minimum recommendation and you will also need to download the. Disk drill, a premium data recovery solution for mac os x with support for all popular file formats and common storage devices, is here to help you recover deleted files from usb flash drive. Save any files you need to another volume before formatting. How to create a windows 10 installer usb drive from a mac.
Sep 23, 2019 use the restore disk image to drive dialog box to browse for the dmg file with the installation files for mac os x yosemite in this case, and click the ok button to create a bootable usb of the operating system. Macs and pcs use different file systems, which can make it tricky to put data from your mac on a flash or hard drive and give it to a windows. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. The other formats microsofts ntfs and apples mac os extended dont work well on the other operating system. A file system is a method and structure of data used by an operating system, called windows, linux or mac os, for reading media files such as disks, removable drives, etc. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with. However, single files on a fat32 drive cant be larger than 4gb. This format works on windows, linux with fuse, and mac os x. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Dec 16, 2018 whether you use mac or windows based pc, there are lots of possibilities that a portable usb device may get damaged. How to format a usb flash drive using file explorer. This article shows you how to download a macos dmg file, format a usb drive using a guid partition table, burn the dmg to the drive and boot your mac from the usb. When you have a flash drive, the first thing you may need to do is format it in such a way so it can be read by both mac and windows machines.
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. Yet when you connect a macformatted drive to windows, youll be informed that you need to format the disk in drive x. In the disk utility app on your mac, choose view show all devices. To use the usb drive on an old computer, select fat32. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. Whether you use mac or windows based pc, there are lots of possibilities that a portable usb device may get damaged.
How to create a bootable usb drive for macos sierra. This is the easiest way and simply requires you to plug in your usb drive, open the windows file explorer and right click your drive to view a number of actions that you can perform. Jul 22, 2019 if you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows central.
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