You can also opt for Mac OS Extended (Encrypted) to password-protect the data on the drive – a great security feature for those dealing with sensitive data and/or travelling with an external drive. It’ll play nicely with your Mac, but like the above APFS, Mac OS Extended isn’t compatible with Windows or Linux PCs.

It is also widely supported by memory storage technology companies and third-party operating systems like OS X and Linux.If you’re running macOS Sierra or an earlier version of macOS/Mac OS X, Mac OS Extended is the default file format. Microsoft introduced exFAT in 2006 it’s an optimized version of FAT, providing better performance advantages over FAT32. Now you’ll be able to save and copy files to your thumb drive on both Windows and OS X. In the Format list box, select ExFAT, enter a Volume Label if you want, then click Erase. Select your thumb drive in the Disk Utility window, then click the Erase tab.

Launch Disk Utility press Command+Space then type: disk utility. If you only use a Mac computer, you can format your thumb drive to work on Windows systems.Ĭonnect the thumb drive to your Mac. In the File System list box, choose exFAT, type in a Volume Label if you want, and then click Start.Ĭlick OK to the format warning and wait until the process is complete. Right-click your flash drive and then select Format. Prepare a Thumb Drive for Both Windows and OS X or macOS Before you start, though, make sure your thumb drive is formatted so it can work on both Windows and macOS. If you’re working in a mixed environment, where you might need to work on files between both systems, a handy solution is to use a thumb drive. This makes it difficult to move data between the two unless you have them networked together. MacOS uses the HFS+ file system, while Windows uses the NTFS file system that shares little in common.

Format a drive for mac on linux