Not every USB drive can be used on Mac out of the box -- you need to format the drive to make sure it's compatible with the MacOS extended file system. And here in this article, we'll offer you a full guide on how to format a USB Drive on Mac. Besides, in case you lose important data due to formatting, we have a professional data recovery tool to help you recover data from a formatted USB drive on Mac.
Bonus: How to Recover Lost Data After Formatting USB Drive
- Erase the USB disk using exFAT. ExFAT is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6.5 or newer, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. To erase the disk, open Disk Utility (Applications Utilities folder), select the USB drive in the sidebar, go to Erase tab and select exFAT on Format.
- The blog highlighted the need for recovery drive, steps to create a bootable USB flash drive, and usage of the drive for installing the new macOS Mojave 10.14 in one or multiple computers. The drive acts as an external recovery drive in case your Mac fails to boot.
Part 1. What You Should Do First Before Formatting USB Drive on Mac
Step 1 Connect the external hard drive you want to format to your Mac, then start the Disk Utility app that you can find under Applications - Utilities. Step 2 On the left side of the Utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it.
Make sure that уоu know clearly whаt уоu are doing whеn you begin the whole formatting process, which will еrаѕе your еntirе hаrd drivе.
To avoid formatting the wrong disk, firstly remove the USB drive from Mac, check the title of other storage disks, then insert the USB disk again and note the name of the disk. Next, drag the USB data to a safe location for backup/recovery measures before formatting it. Then you are set to get it done!
Part 2. What Is the Best Format for USB Drive on Mac?
Format Flash Drive Mac Mojave Dmg
You'll be given several format options when you try to format a USB drive on Mac, including Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted), Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted), MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT. If you are using macOS 10.13 or later, you'll also see an option named APFS, which is the default file system of macOS 10.13 and later.
1APFS (Apple File System)
APFS is a new file system for macOS. It's the most appropriate format for SSD. However, you need the latest macOS to write to this file system. If you're sure that you don't need to use it on a Mac running old version in the future, then you can format your USB drive to APFS.
2Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) & Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
Mac OS X Extended, aka HFS+, is the default file system before APFS for macOS 10.12 and earlier. It doesn't put a limit on the size of files you can save on the drive, which is the greatest advantage. Windows-running computers can read the files formatted to Mac OS X Extended but can't write to them. And this file system is necessary if you plan on using the drive for Time Machine backups.
The biggest difference between Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) is the latter one is case-sensitive to folder names. For example, 'file' is different from 'File'. Therefore, if you do not have special needs, just ignore this option.
3Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) & Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
These two are basically the same with the previous two but with encryption, which means you have to provide the password whenever you connect the drive to your Mac.
4MS-DOS (FAT)
This is Disk Utility's name for FAT32 file system. As the most widely compatible file system, it suits both Windows operating system and macOS. Therefore one can easily transfer data between PC and Mac using a USB drive formatted this way. However, a USB drive formatted to FAT32 doesn't support long file names and an individual file cannot be larger than 4GB.
5ExFAT
ExFAT is the improved version of the older FAT32, which offers larger storage space and supports files larger than 4GB. Of course it also supports transferring files between PC and Mac as a cross-platform file system.
Format Flash Drive Mac Mojave Drive
To arrive at a conclusion, if you need to transfer smaller files between operating systems, choose MS-DOS (FAT) or FAT32. And with no doubt, ExFAT will be the best format for USB drive on Mac for larger files.
Part 3. How to Format USB to FAT32/ExFAT on Mac
As earlier stated, you need to first back up your USB drive before formatting it as the formatting operation will wipe all the data. Now, you can follow the steps highlighted below to get the USB successfully formatted.
Method 1: Format a USB Drive on Mac OS with Disk Utility
Step 1: Insert the USB waiting to be formatted to a Mac computer.
Step 2: Navigate to Applications > Utilities, and click it twice to open it.
Step 3: Select the drive you want to format and click on Erase.
Step 4: Rename the USB drive (optional), and choose one file system from the options.
Step 5: Then select Master Boot Record for scheme, hit Erase.
Step 6: Once the process is done, you are ready to use the drive with new file system to store data again.
Method 2: Convert/Format USB Drive to FAT32/ExFAT
Step 1: Connect the USB drive to your Mac computer.
Step 2: Click on cmd + space to run Spotlight, input terminal then tap Enter key.
Step 3: Type diskutil list to find the location of your USB drive (eg: dev/disk2 is the USB drive in the below picture).
Step 4: Type sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 MBRFormat /dev/disk2.
sudo gives you user right.
Diskutil calls disk utility program.
eraseDisk commands the formatting.
FAT32 sets the file system.
MBRFormat tells disk utility to format with a Master Boot Record.
/dev/disk2 is the location of the USB drive.
Note: You can replace FAT32 with ExFAT in the command, and your USB drive will be formatted in that way.
After the process completes, type diskutil list in command once more to check if the USB drive has been formatted successfully.
Bonus: How to Recover Lost Data After Formatting USB Drive
Formatting a USB drive is never an easy task and problems tend to arise from time to time, among which data loss is perhaps the most common one. Users format a USB drive by mistake or directly format it without doing any backup job and both mistakes will cause data loss disaster. This issue will worry us even more when there are important files we cannot offord to lose. If this is the case, you'll need a professional data recovery software to help you get back lost files, and AnyRecover is what you need exactly. With this software, anyone can recover all kinds of data from formatted USB drive on Mac with only 3 simple steps.
As a comprehensive Mac data recovery solution, it handles all data loss scenarios, including formatting USB drive, hard drive failure, and Mac crash.
All-round and deep scan ensures high recovery rate, and sophisticated algorithms contribute to quick scanning speed.
Supports data recovery on all types of USB drives in various file formats like NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, and ExFAT.
Brings back the lost photos, videos, documents, compressed files, etc. - numerous kinds of data from formatted USB drive easily.
Provides preview before recovery and enables selective recovery.
NoteAnyRecover offers free trial for every user, with which one can scan, preview and recover 3 files for free. Just download and have a try! The more time for hesitation, the less possibility for your lost data to get back!
Follow the simple steps below to recover data after formatting USB drive on mac:
Step 1: Make sure you have connected your USB drive to your Mac successfully. Download, install and launch AnyRecover. Then select the formatted USB drive you are trying to recover data from as the location to find data. Press the 'Start' button to initiate the scanning.
Step 2: The software will immediately begin the scanning process. You can pause the process at any time and resume from that point later.
Step 3: Immediately after the scanning process is complete, all the files will be listed in their respective file formats and folders. Freely preview and choose what to recover by clicking on 'Recover' button.
Final Words
Formatting is a complicated process indeed but by clearing your mind and then follow the steps as listed out in the article, you can successfully format a USB drive on Mac without much difficulty or errors. Loss of data may come as a nightmare but AnyRecover is powerful enough to help you out. In fact, not just after you format a USB drive, it can work wonders whenever you lose data. Try it and you won't be disappointed.
IntroductionMac Os Mojave was just released in 24th September 2018. This is the major release by an Apple because the UI of Mojave is completely dark. You can install this OS in any laptop running Intel processor and assuming you've at least 8 GB of RAM. 4 GB RAM can also install it but may be little slow and laggy while working with heavy programs. Below are the necessary requirements for this guide :
- Intel based processor laptop/desktop
[*]USB stick 8 GB or higher
[*]A working mac or hackintosh
[*]Internet Connection
Download macOS Mojave
Description:
To get a working Mojave installer onto a USB flash drive it must first be formatted into a scheme that allows for an EFI Partition. Afterwards the the Mojave Installer is ready to be placed on the USB drive using is Terminal.
Step 1: Formatting the USB Drive.
You can format the usb flash drive using two way:
- Disk Utility
- Terminal
**Insert Flash Drive
**Open Disk Utility
**Select the Flash Drive on the left column
**Click Erase
Set the following settings:
- Name: Your Choice
- Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
- Scheme: GUID Partition Map
**Click Done upon finish.
2.Terminal
**Insert Flash Drive
Mojave Mac Os
**Open TerminalAnd Type Following Command
Then...
Note:- In my case,my sub flash drive is /dev/disk1, You can check for available drive using command diskutil list.
Step 2: Transferring the Mojave Installer to usb flash drive via terminal.
If you using Disk Utility method to Formatting the USB Drive,then using this command.
In Terminal....
First edit and replace Your USB Drive Name.
**If you using
Terminal method to Formatting the USB Drive,then using this command.In Terminal....
After finishing the process.In Terminal
Step 3: Mount EFI Partition
Step 4: Download Clover EFI Bootloader<<<<<
Step 5: Install Clover EFI Bootloader to usb flash drive.
- Change Install Location and select your usb flash drive
- select 'Customize'
- Check 'Install for UEFI booting only', 'Install Clover in the ESP' will automatically select
- Check Themes
- Select Drivers64UEFI
- Check ApfsDriverLoader-64.efi
- AptioMemoryFix-64.efi
- DataHubDxe-64.efi
- FSInject-64.efi
- SMCHelper-64.efi
- Use HFSPlus.efi
- install rc scripts on target volume
- Check Clover preference pane
Step 6:
Download Laptop config Clover.
Here
**Then choose your config and paste or replace it here
/EFI/EFI/Clover **Go to
/EFI/EFI/Clover/Kexts/Other/ then paste this following kextFakeSMC.kext:
VoodooPS2Controller.kext:
USBInjectAll.kext:
Lilu.kext:
WhateverGreen.kext:
**Go to
/EFI/EFI/Clover/Acpi/Pached and paste it hereSSDT-DiscreteSpoof.aml
Note:If your laptop build in dedicated GPU then need this.
**Go to
/EFI/Clover/drivers64UEFI then past itHFSPlus.efi:
Now you ready to boot and install macOS Mojave.
About APFS:
You can not stop avoiding APFS conversation when installing Mojave. Because APFS is forced on Mojave.After you install Mojave, you'll be using APFS.
Example:Here is my HDD System osX disk partition.