2021 Top 3 USB Format Tools For Mac Are Here to Help

Looking for a reliable format tool to format and change the file system of your USB flash drive or external USB drive so it's detectable on Mac computers?

To set up your USB flash drive for use on a Mac, follow these steps: First, connect your USB flash drive to your Mac. Then, open Disk Utility, which can be found in the Applications/Utilities folder, and select your USB drive from the list on the left.

PAGE CONTENT:

#1. Pick The Best USB Format Tool for Mac
#2. Set a Suitable File System for USB or External USB Drive on Mac
#3. Format USB Drive for Mac on Mac/Windows Computers

This guide can also be used to format external hard drives, SD cards, hard drives, and other devices to be recognized on Mac computers, in addition to formatting your iPhone or iPad.

#1. Pick The Best USB Format Tool for Mac - 3 Top Tools

You can use a tool like Rufus or Disk Management to format the USB flash drive or external USB drive. Rufus is a free and open-source tool that can format a USB drive to FAT32, NTFS, or exFAT, while Disk Management is a built-in tool in Windows that can also format a USB drive.

Here are the top recommended USB format tools that can help you fully format and reset the file system of your device to be usable on Mac:

USB Format Tool for Mac	Pros	Format Process
Disk Utility for Mac	Free Mac built-in format utility	6 steps to format USB on Mac
Terminal Command for Mac	Free Mac built-in format utility	5 steps to format USB on Mac
Format Software for Windows	Windows advanced format tool Designed for Windows beginners	4 steps for format USB for Mac

To select a suitable tool to format your USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac, follow these quick tips. You can use the built-in Disk Utility app on your Mac, which allows you to format the drive as APFS, Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or ExFAT. Alternatively, you can use third-party tools like Etcher or Rufus, which offer more flexibility and customization options.

1. When formatting a USB flash drive on a Mac, it's generally recommended to use Disk Utility, as it's a more user-friendly option compared to using the terminal, which can be complex for beginners.

2. To prepare a USB flash drive for use on a Mac on a Windows computer, you can use third-party software like Disk Utility on a Mac or a third-party format software on a Windows computer. This software can reformat the USB drive to the correct file system, such as HFS+, that a Mac can read.

You can now move on to the next guide to decide which format to set for your USB flash drive or external hard drive after choosing the right USB format tool.

#2. Set a Suitable File System for USB or External USB Drive on Mac

Windows uses NTFS, but Mac computers can only read NTFS-formatted volumes, not write to them.

Here is a list of macOS supported file systems:

Apple File System - APFS: Used by macOS 10.13 or later.
Mac OS Extended: Used by macOS 10.12 or earlier.
FAT32 and ExFAT: Compatible with both Windows and macOS.

Both APFS and Mac OS Extended file systems are commonly used on Mac hard drives, while FAT/FAT32 and exFAT are more frequently used on external storage devices.

To set a suitable format for your USB flash drive or external USB drive, consider the following suggestions: ensure the drive is properly connected and recognized by your computer, choose the correct file system format (such as FAT32, NTFS, or exFAT) based on your device's compatibility and intended use, and select the desired cluster size and allocation unit size to optimize performance and storage capacity.

If the USB drive is less than 64GB, set it as FAT32. Otherwise, set it as exFAT.
If you use your external drive as a Time Machine backup disk, format it as Mac OS Extended Journaled. This will ensure that your backups are properly formatted and can be easily restored if needed.

#3. Format USB Drive for Mac on Mac/Windows Computers

So how do I format a USB stick on a Mac computer? Here, we'll show you how to format your USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac usage.

Important Note:

If you want to directly format the USB on your Mac computer, you can follow either Method 1 or Method 2, both of which provide a straightforward way to achieve this.
If you want to format a USB drive on your Windows computer and make it usable on a Mac, try Method 3.

Method 1. Format USB or External Hard Drive for Mac using Mac Disk utility

The Disk Utility tool on Mac allows users to manage their disk partitions, offering features to create, delete, resize, merge, and format partitions. To format a USB or external hard drive for Mac using Disk Utility, follow these steps.

Step 1. Connect the USB or external hard drive to your Mac computer.

Step 2. On the Apple menu, click "Go" and select "Applications".

Step 3. Double-click "Utilities" in the Applications window.

Step 4. Double-click to open Disk Utility in the Utilities window to open it.

Step 5. Select your USB or external drive, click "Erase", then click the Format column and select a format for your USB.

For example, Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or MS-DOS (FAT).

Step 6. Reset the drive name and click "Erase" to confirm the operation on the next pop-up window.

Wait for the process to complete, then you'll have a Mac-compatible file system on your external drive, making it detectable and workable on a Mac.

Method 2. Format USB Drive for Mac using Terminal Command

Terminal command lines work the same as Disk Utility, but are more complex for beginners. If you prefer to use this method, make sure to follow the steps carefully.

Step 1. Connect the USB flash drive or external hard drive to your Mac computer.

Step 2. Press cmd + space to run Spotlight, type: terminal, and hit Enter.

Step 3. Type: "diskutil list" and find out which disk is your USB drive.

Step 4. Type: "sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 MBRFormat /dev/disk2" and press Return.

sudo gives you user right.
Diskutil calls disk utility program.
eraseDisk commands to format.
FAT32 The code should be modified to use the `os.path.join()` function to join the path components together, and the `os.path.
MBRFormat tells disk utility to format with a Master Boot Record.
/dev/disk2 is the location of the USB drive.

Step 5. Wait for the process to complete and then close Terminal.

After installing the necessary software, you can use your USB drive on a Mac in a detectable and readable format.

Method 3. Format USB or External Hard Drive for Mac on a Windows PC

If you need to format a USB or external hard drive to FAT32 on a Windows computer so that it works on a Mac, you can use a third-party format tool for assistance.

Qiling partition software is a tool for managing disk partitions, allowing users to format, extend, and resolve low disk space issues.

Free Download

Format a USB or external hard drive on your Windows PC in just 4 easy steps.

Step 1. Open Qiling Partition Master. Connect the hard drive or SSD to PC.

Step 2. Select the target HDD or SSD in the "Disk management" page and click "Create" or "Initialize to GPT" accordingly.

Step 3. Tick "MBR" or "GPT" for disk type accordingly. Click "Proceed".

After formatting the external hard drive or USB drive, you can connect it to your Mac computer and use it to save data.

Pick a Right USB Format Tool and Format Your USB Drive for Mac Now

If you need to format a USB flash drive or external hard drive to make it usable on a Mac, you can use one of the three reliable USB format tools presented on this page, which work on both Mac and Windows computers.

For Mac beginners, Disk Utility is a good tool to try, while Windows users who need to format a USB drive for Mac can consider using Qiling's Partition Master software, which is a reliable option.

Free Download

After choosing the right tool, you can proceed with the corresponding tutorial to format your drive and make it usable for a Mac computer.