format flash drive to work on mac and pc

Mac OS X’s native file system is HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended), and it’s the only one that works with Time Machine. In fact, there are four ways you can format an external or USB flash drive to achieve varying degrees of compatibility between Macs and PCs. Since Mac OS X and Windows use totally different file systems, the way a drive is formatted can determine what type of computer it will work with. Need to access or transfer files between Mac and PC? As simple as this task sounds, it’s not very straightforward for inexperienced users. Learn a few ways to make your drive Mac and PC friendly. WARNING: Formatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting.If you have an external hard drive or USB flash drive that you’d like to use on both Macs and Windows PCs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing. Check step 2 to confirm Disk Utility is Showing All Devices NOTE: If you don’t see Scheme, then make sure that all devices are showing and the non-indented entry is selected. Select the non-indented entry, you will see Media in the nameĬlick the button labelled Erase in the menu which will bring up this window.Click View in the upper left and select Show All Devices.To open Disk Utility - Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility Note: If you would prefer a video tutorial of these steps instead, please click the thumbnail below. IMPORTANT: Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Click here to see other formatting options for your operating system.Looking for a different formatting option?

When using between macOS and Windows, drives should always be formatted on macOS because not all Windows allocation unit sizes (cluster sizes) are supported by macOS which will prevent the drive from mounting.ExFAT drives must be safely ejected to prevent corruption because ExFAT is not a journaled file system.

Starting with Big Sur, APFS is now the default for Time Machine.

ExFAT is not compatible with Time Machine.

It is important to keep the following in mind when formatting to ExFAT:

Not seeing your version of macOS? Click here to see other versions of macOS and different formatting options.

Not sure which version you are using? Click here to determine your version of macOS.

IMPORTANT: This article applies to the following macOS version:

Format flash drive to work on mac and pc