On the left side panel, you will see the USB drive name. The maximum length for the volume name is 11 characters. ExFAT: Choose this format if the size of the disk is over 32GB. If the Security Options button is not available, Disk Utility cannot perform a secure erase on the storage device. With Disk Utility: Connect the USB drive to Mac and launch Disk Utility from Application. Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose one of the following: MS-DOS (FAT): Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32GB or less.

Secure erase options are available only for some types of storage devices. (Optional) If available, click Security Options, use the slider to choose how many times to write over the erased data, then click OK. If the Scheme pop-up menu isn’t available, make sure you selected the storage device you want to erase-it’s at the top of the hierarchy.Ĭlick the Format pop-up menu, then choose a file system format. Ĭlick the Scheme pop-up menu, then choose GUID Partition Map. In the sidebar, select the storage device you want to erase, then click the Erase button. If you want to erase any other type of storage device: Double-click Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Step 1: Open the Windows Command Prompt and key in 'diskpart' and click enter. Method 1: Format USB Drive using Disk Utility Step 1: Launch Spotlight Search (Command + Space). Without the USB drive plugged in, run the lsblk command: lsblk Plug the USB drive into the computer and wait a moment for Linux to recognize and mount it. However, the file system is not supported by many older systems.Note: If you want to get your Mac ready to trade in, sell, or give away, and your computer is a Mac with Apple silicon or an Intel-based Mac with an Apple T2 Security Chip, use Erase Assistant. Formatting on the Command Line The first step is to positively identify the USB drive. In theory, data capacity of up to 2 TB is possible, but Microsoft has limited the partition size in newer systems to 32 GB in order to promote the modern NFTS format.ĮxFAT is a further development of FAT that in principle offers unattainable storage and data capacity. The maximum data size is limited to 4 GB in the latest version FAT32. It is not supported by many applications.įAT is a file system developed by Microsoft that is also supported by Linux and macOS. If Disk Utility isn’t open, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Disk Utility in the Search field, then click the Disk Utility icon. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with the addition that the file system can differentiate between upper and lower case (e.g. In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices. HFS+ or Mac OS Extended (case-sensitive and journaled) Windows/Linux devices are only able to read but not write on USB sticks in this format. A file system developed by Apple that is particularly suited to data media with large memory capacity.

Format pendrive in mac