This wikihow teaches you how to remove all of the files from a flash drive in windows and macos. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for windows compatibility. Encrypt your flash drive to ensure your peace of mind. Thankfully, exfat a strict upgrade over fat32, is a file system optimized for usb flash drives.
Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac. How to password protect usb flash drive for mac and windows usage. 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. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Aug, 2019 if that doesnt happen, or you experience any of the following issues while using windows on your mac, follow the steps in this article. Mac free usb flash drive recovery helps you easily recover all lost missing files and folders from your usb media due to wrong deletion, format, power failure, virus infection or usb damaged, etc.
The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. Format usb for mac and pc on windows quickly and securely. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. The easiest way to do that is hit cmd and the spacebar at the same time and type in disk utility to find the program. Well show you everything you need to know about the.
Download minitool partition wizard free edition by clicking the following button. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat. You can format a hard drive or usb flash disk specifically so that it will be compatible with both mac os x and windows pc computers. 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. Sep 10, 2018 select the version of windows that is closes to the version of windows installed on the mac windows 8, windows 10. You can use mac drive to try and repair it and access the data right on your pc. Yes, but what you arent realizing is that this isnt an issue for the mac support forums. Using repair, you can connect a mac drive to your windows pc and fix it so that the data can be accessed. If your laptop has no cd drive or the cd drive is not functioning, you may want to know the process of installing with a flash disk.
Create a windows 10 bootable usb flash drive on a mac. Under the external tab, highlight your flash drive. Jul 22, 2019 how to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. For instance, windows 7 using the prefix removable disk, and windows 10 using usb drive as the default name.
How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. Formatting a disk or volume erases all the files on it. Rightclick your flash drive and then select format. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. The file allocation table 32 fat32 was the standard windows file system before ntfs. May 14, 2015 macs can easily read pcformatted hard disk drives. Managing one on windows 10 is very easy thanks to the simple windows 10 interface. Easy methods to fix flash drive not recognized problem in windows. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Feb 17, 2020 creating a windows 10 boot drive is easy peasy. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. Although it is possible to create multiple partitions on a flash drive via thirdparty tools, windows will only read and show the firstprimary partition.
In this tutorial, im going to show you the easiest way to rename a usb flash drive both windows pc and mac. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os. Once the drive is formatted it will be compatible to be read and written to on both a mac and pc, and the resulting fat file system is compatible with all versions of mac os x, windows 95, 98, windows xp, vista, 7, windows 8, even windows 10, its one of the most widely recognized. By carrying the windows 10 operating system on a portable usb stick, you can use your own personalized operating system anywhere on a business trip, at office or at home. Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. How to transfer data from a flash drive to a computer.
Go to the applications folder on your mac s hard drive, then go to the utilities folder, and launch disk utility. How to clear a flash drive on pc or mac with pictures. How to download and install windows 10 from a usb flash drive how to download and install windows 10 from a flash drive has been a question for many people. First, you need to connect the usb drive to your windows pc. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7. Have you ever ran into a problem where youre trying to use a flash drive on both windows and mac. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility in macos. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Jan 23, 2020 once, your data from flash drive is securely stored, you can now proceed with the troubleshooting methods. Like i said, if you want to use the device for both. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. It does not matter what edition of windows is used since windows is not going to be installed. The best way to fix flash drive not recognized on windows and mac.
Now that the flash drive not recognized problem is solved on your windows or mac computer, make sure you had backup all important document in the flash drive. In the file system list box, choose exfat, type in a volume label if you want, and then click start. 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. Then you can follow the steps as below to format usb drive for mac and windows on a windows pc. Transferring photos from mac to usb drive in 5 steps. Feb 04, 2020 how to transfer data from a flash drive to a computer. No problem, weve got you covered with this quick how to for accessing your thumb drive for windows and mac. To do this, you can take the assistance of disk utility, which is a dedicated system component in mac. After our windows encryption showdown, reader jerod passed along this tip to make sure your. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the chances of file corruption, so make sure you have backups of. This is an issue with windows 7 and your flash drive. Sep 23, 2019 easeus todo backup enables you to transfer windows 10 to a usb flash drive in minutes. But maybe you need a little help opening your thumb drive. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write.
But, none of them designed for copying photos directly to a usb drive. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows. Loading and running windows 10 from a usb drive is a handy option when youre using a computer saddled with an older version of windows. Sep 26, 2018 need to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. She lives far away and i dont have access to a mac right now.
With windows 10, i have to go through five steps to even find the drive. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows. With vista, i opened my computer clicked on my flash drive and voila. If you have an old flash drive or one that was formatted to work with windows or another operating system, you can still format your flash drive to work on a mac.
Format encrypted drives as exfat to make them play nice on windows and mac. If you want the windows to read a certain partition of the flash drive, then you will need a thirdparty tool to set that partition as. How to view mac files on a windows pc online tech tips. If youre in the market for a reliable thumb drive with enough storage for large projects and fast transfer speeds, the sandisk extreme go cz800. Mar 29, 2019 how to clear a flash drive on pc or mac. How to format a usb drive for mac and pc compatibility youtube. You dont hear audio from the builtin speakers of your mac in windows. This is a great tool if you are a pc technician and someone brings you a mac formatted hard drive that is corrupt or unreadable by os x. Using a flash drive on windows 10 is super easy, all you need to do is plug your drive into the usb port and your good to go. Feb 05, 2020 how to run windows 10 from a usb drive. How to format and create a usb drive or pen drive that is compatible with windows 10, 8, 7 or mac or linux. Oct 25, 2015 how to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive with windows 10 7. On windows 10, the ability to format a usb flash drive can come in handy in a number of scenarios.
Now that youve got your thumb drive full of old photo gems and home videos, its time for the real fun viewing and sharing them. It can help you manage system partitions, erase an external unit like a thumb drive, and even repair your disk. Jul 16, 2017 heres how to format a new flash drive thumb driveusb stick on a mac for both pc and mac. Use microsofts media creation tool to ensure you have a windows 10 boot drive handy should you ever run into issues with your current pc. Dec 29, 2015 how to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Flash drives dont require any additional drivers and work great with all operating systems. The quickest way is to search on spotlight and click the result under top hit. To share a usb drive between a mac and a windows pc, there are two disk formats to choose from. How to format pen drive on mac just like windows, mac also allows a seamless solution to do pen drive format. 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. How to create mac os x bootable usb pen drive on windows 10. I use the exfat format so you can go between the two of them.
New mac users generally have a little confuses with a new interface and how to use it. This is to ensure that you will be able to access the files stored in the flash drive should it happens again. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Aug 16, 2019 how to format a usb flash drive on windows 10. To do in windows, we already shared a very specific instruction from here. The latest trend with computers is not including a cddvd drive.
Mac free usb flash drive recovery for mac free download. Naztech xtra mini usb flash drive lightning memory stick with hispeed memory expansion for apple ios, micro sd card up to 16gb to 256gb including iphone, mac, pc. Flash drive works on mac but not pc apple community. My cousin saved pictures in jpeg format on my thumb drive using her macbook. Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7 by jack scicluna photography, llc guest writer. Lots of work is done on a flash drive and this process slows things down. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. How to create a windows 10 installer usb drive from a mac. How to format a flash drive for mac and pc compatibility. Click the file menu and select load file system from device.
How to download and install windows 10 from a usb flash drive. In disk utility on your mac, you can format an external disk for a windows computer. Click ok to the format warning and wait until the process is complete. Nov 01, 2011 choosing the best format to work between macs and pcs with a flash drive. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows central. So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both windows and mac, you need to format it to a filesystem that is compatible with windows pc and mac. As said earlier, both windows and mac will have different methods. If youre using such a drive and youd like to write new data. This wikihow teaches you how to move files and folders from a flash drive onto your windows or mac computer. How to encrypt a flash drive mac windows linux ubuntu. Download and install windows support software on your mac. Feb 01, 2016 well show you to create a bootable usb flash drive with the windows 10 installer from a mac.
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