On the warning message, click the yes button to format the drive. If you are a mac user, here is an overview of different file system systems and how to choose the format to use for the usb drive to ensure compatibility with other operating systems. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. How to format usb drive on windows 10 using command prompt. Choose this format if the size of the disk is over 32 gb. The easiest way to format a disk in mac os x is using disk utility. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmaclinux. Click the scheme popup menu, then choose master boot record. Click the format popup menu, then choose one of the following.
How to create a windows 10 installer usb drive from a mac. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. How to create bootable usb for mac with win32 diskimager and step by step guide to create bootable usb with unibeast and finally how to create bootable usb with diskmaker x 6. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to choose from. How to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive on windows 10. However, if you find yourself on a scenario where your device imac, macbook pro, air, mac pro or mini is not responding and you happen to have a windows device, then you can still be able to make a usb bootable installation media for your mac os x to reinstall the operating system using the recovery assistant.
Apr 30, 2016 now, lets take a look at some ways you can format your usb drive on windows 10. After you install the windows software, your mac automatically restarts using windows. Oct 25, 2015 how to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive with windows 10 7. Install windows on your older mac using boot camp apple support. How to create bootable usb for mac on windows 10 with 4 ways. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can. Learn how to format usb flash drive using cmd in windows 10, 8 and 7. Better still, it can be read from and written to on any mac running mac os x snow leopard or later and on windows.
Follow the onscreen instructions to set up windows. How to create macos high sierra bootable usb on windows. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with windows computers. You can also partition a disk using the master boot record partition layout, which is compatible with windows. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac and. To open windows explorer, simply type computer from the windows 8 start screen. Similar to mac, you can also format the external drive in windows to exfat format. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Your exfatformatted drive or partition can now be used for both windows and mac. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. Use exfat for excellent compatibility with windows without fat32s. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. The process for formatting a drive is different depending on the system youre using. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. The good news is that formatting usb on mac is also as easy as on windows 10. The methods which i am using are, how to create bootable usb for mac with transmac. Unlike fat32, exfat doesnt have a maximum file limit. How to quickly make a mac os x bootable usb on windows. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click. How to quickly create a macos bootable usb on windows 10.
To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Jun 14, 2018 format usb drive for both mac and pc use. Select your thumb drive in the disk utility window then click the erase tab. How to format usb drives on windows 10 make tech easier. Aug 16, 2019 in this guide, we show you virtually every method to format a usb flash drive and quickly erase its contents or fix data corruption and other issues using windows 10s builtin tools. So, ive come up with my own solution that worked fine with any dmg ive tested. So, apple could fix this problem by changing to boot camp assistant to format the usb flash drive as exfat instead of fat32. You want to do this before creating the bootable media because there is a good chance that the drive was formatted using a windows device. Ive tried many tutorials on how to create a mac bootable usb drive from windows but none of them worked. How to use same external usb or hard disk with mac and. To format usb drive in windows operating system, it is recommended to use the free usb formatter minitool partition wizard free edition. Creating windows 10 bootable usb on mac is a common task for people who have multiple computers at home. 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.
How to format usb to fat32ntfsexfat on windows and mac. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. Macs dont have an integrated way to format partitions with ntfs, either. If you want to have a clean installation of macos high sierra whether on mac, windows, or any other virtualization software then this is the best way to create macos high sierra bootable usb on windows without mac. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. By using the command prompt, you can format any usb flash drive, pen drive or memory stick that is write protected, corrupted, damaged, unreadable, unrecognized by pc and mobile. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. If the drive comes formatted in ntfs, which is the default file system for windows, youre going to want to reformat the drive because mac os x. To format a usb flash drive, simply plug the drive into your mac, and choose it from disk utilitys sidebar menu.
As ntfs is proprietary, apple would need a special license to use it. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. 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. In here just follow my steps to create a bootable usb installer for your mac. Windows uses ntfs and mac os uses hfs and theyre incompatible with each other. Sep 23, 2019 if youre still using a mac os x the time will come when your computer wont boot, or a problem may arise where you cant take control of the device, and booting from an os x installation media will be required. 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. How to create bootable usb for mac on windows 10 in 4 ways. Step 3 right click computer and select manage step 4 select disk management step 5 locate the sandisk device in the lower right portion of the disk management window step 6 right click the removable disk and select format step 7 the following warning. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. May 29, 2018 if you want to make your drive compatible with mac and windows, you need to format it with a common file system for mac and windows. How make a windows 10 usb using your mac build a bootable. However, you can format the drive to work with both windows and mac by using the exfat filesystem.
Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32 gb or less. If you want to use a different file system on your usb drive, youll need to format it. Most external hard drives and usb drives are compatible for use on mac computers as long as you format the devices for use with mac os x. How do i create a mac bootable usb drive using windows.
Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Enter a name for the drive, such as macos bootable usb and click the ok button. Nov 01, 2011 format a flash drive for both mac os x and windows cult of mac. This is why its recommended that you make a mac os x bootable usb when your mac is in working conditions. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows.
Nov 17, 2019 bootable macos catalina usb on windows 10. Use your usb drive rightclick on it and select format disk format this will format the usb drive so that it can be used to store the mac os operating system. One thing you need took care of that the usb drive needs in gpt partition in order to work on a mac computer otherwise it wont boot. Jun 09, 2017 the reason is that i was only using unetbootin to create the bootable usb, i will leave guide as a second method since it still working, and i will explain to you how you can create the bootable windows usb without extra software. Mac computers running high sierra or mojave may be able to boot from usb flash drives that are exfat formatted. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Formatting a device using disk management in windows 8. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. Fat32 and exfat can be compatible with mac and windows and you can choose one after realizing their respective merits and defects based on your demands. Lets see how to format usb drive on a windows pc first. Due to the smallest userbased percentage worldwide, mac os x users are the ones who might run into these file format problems.
Format usb for mac and pc on windows quickly and securely. For now, you can use the following steps to create a usb windows 10 flash drive installer. 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. The first step for both methods requires to format your usb device to exfat. This format was created for microsoft and allows users to quickly plug their drives into windows machines and work with files. Therefore, you can create bootable usb for your mac using transmac on windows 10788. How to format a usb drive for mac and pc compatibility youtube. You have to format the drive to exfat or fat32 if the burning process failed due to the wrong partition scheme. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, ssd, usb drive, or just about any.
Mar 30, 2020 altogether, three sd card formatting approaches are given here to help format sd memory card effortlessly, including format sd card using cmd command prompt, windows utility and thirdparty sd card formatting tool in windows 10, 8. Jan 15, 2019 so, if youre using the usb drive to store large video files, you may run into trouble. Instruction to do in windows, we already shared a very specific instruction from here. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. Dont worry, the following part will show you the solution for windows and mac os users. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive.