Formatting Flash Drive for Mac and PC

Windows and macOS are two different operating systems and due to these differences, you can use a flash drive or USB drive on both PC and Mac. Luckily, you can format a hard drive or USB flash drive specifically so that it will be compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows PC computers. In this guide, you will learn formatting flash drive for Mac and PC.

While this excellent cross-platform compatible functionality is unknown to many users, it is not a complicated operation, and if you often use both Mac and Windows PCs, you will find it especially useful because any data, media, or files stored on the drive will still be accessible from any operating system. It only takes a few minutes to get started and it’s incredibly fast, and I am going to get you through the entire process of formatting flash drive for PC and Mac compatibility.

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Flash Drive for Mac & PC Compatibility 

If you have a USB or flash drive, and you’re trying to use it on both a Mac and a Windows PC, you’ll probably face some issues. If your disc was originally formatted to NTFS on a PC (or HFS+ on a Mac), you are more likely to encounter restrictions, such as that the data on your drive can not be read or written on either of your computers.

Luckily, there is a file system (exFAT) that allows you to format your flash drive to be completely Mac and PC compatible.

Meanwhile, exFAT is the only file system that works for both Windows and macOS versions and has no overall file space or partition space restrictions. It is therefore perfect for a USB flash drive or external disc, particularly when files need to be saved in size greater than 4 GB. You can go ahead and format your storage drive with exFAT instead of FAT32, as long as all devices that you choose to use exFAT allow for the drive.

How to Check a USB Drive’s File System?

Plug your flash drive into your computer’s USB port, first of all. Make sure your device is recognizable and can be detected.

On Windows PC:

Step 1. Go to This PC or File Explorer, find your flash drive under Devices and drivers. Right-click on it and select Properties.

Step 2. When the Properties window opens, select the General tab and you’ll see what type of file system your flash drive is currently with next to the File system.

Check a USB Drive’s File System on PC

On Mac:

Step 1. Once the flash drive shows up on the desktop, right-click on the drive icon and click Get Info.

Step 2. Now, in the dialog box, you’ll notice your USB Drive’s file system next to the Format option. In my case, it’s showing MS-DOS (FAT32).

Check a USB Drive’s File System on Mac

Formatting Flash Drive for Mac and PC Compatibility (exFAT)

Remember, formatting a drive erases all data contained on it so back up important files before proceeding. However, ExFAT is not compatible with computers older than Windows Vista or Mac OS X 10.6.5.

Meanwhile, as I don’t know whether you’re on PC or Mac to format a flash drive for Mac and PC compatibility, I’ve decided to show you both ways. So, here’s the process for Formatting Flash Drive for Mac and PC.

Formatting Flash Drive On Mac

Step 1. Open Disk Utility. You can either launch it from Dock or search Disk Utility on Spotlight.

Step 2. Find your USB drive under the External tab. Right below your device name, it also displays drive information, e.g. size, file system, etc.

Step 3. Click Erase at the top.

Step 4. In the new pop-up window, click the drop-down menu next to Format and select ExFAT. You can also change your USB Drive’s name.

Formatting Flash Drive for Mac and PC

Step 5. At last, click Erase and Wait until the erasing process to complete. When finished, click Done.

As you can see in the screenshot below that flash drive is successfully formatted to ExFAT format and now it’s completely compatible with both Mac and Windows PC.

Formatting Flash Drive On Windows PC

Step 1. Go to This PC.

Step 2. Locate your USB drive under Devices and drivers and then right-click on it and select the Format option.

Step 3. Now, click the drop-down menu next to the File system and select exFAT. You can also rename the name next to the Volume label. At last click Start.

Formatting Flash Drive for Mac and PC

Step 4. Upon clicking the Start button, you’ll see a warning message “Formatting will erase ALL data on this disk…” Click OK if you’ve backed up all important data stored in the drive.

As you can see in the screenshot below that flash drive is successfully formatted to ExFAT format and now it’s completely compatible with both Mac and Windows PC.

Wrapping Up 

That’s it. This guide was all about formatting flash drive for Mac and PC compatibility. Thanks to the ExFAT format that allows you to transfer files between Mac and Windows PC with ease. if you want to use a USB or flash drive for both a PC and a Mac, then you must format it to exFAT.

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