Disk drill, a premium data recovery solution for mac os x with support for all popular file formats and common storage devices, is here to help you recover deleted files from usb flash drive. Power off your mac from the menu or by holding the power button. Lion diskmaker creates mac os x lion install dvds and thumb drives automatically. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os.
With mac os x lion and a new piece of free software. Disk utility has always been able to create clones, although the app refers to the process as restore, as in restoring data from a source drive to a target drive. My hard drive crashed on my imac took it to computer repair they installed new hard drive, tried to recover data but could not, when we presented the imac to the apple store they told me i would have to buy back my old hd from them um hello no way, so thats why we went to another place that works on macs, so apple said i had lion on the mac, i. Hard drive format software for mac mac disk format software. Dec 19, 2017 the reasons for wanting to format your mac storage drive may vary depending on immediate need. As is known to all, windows format tools have a drawback in formatting large partition to fat32. Fortunately, there are some mac hard drive format software or smart disk formatting applications can help you securely and easily format, reformat, or erase hard drive under mac os. Usb drives can be formatted on your mac using the disk utility application. Best usb format tools pen drive stick formatters for. How to format a startup drive for a mac if you want to format a drive that will be used as your macs startup disk, the procedure is a little different from formatting it for use as a secondary. That means my lexar disk is currently with the fat32 file system. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility. How to make an os x lion usb thumb drive macintosh how to. How to create a bootable mac os x flash drive pcworld.
Even so, its still easy to create a usb installation disk for os x lion if you want to install lion on a freshly formatted hard drive, if youre in an emergency booting situation, or if you need to repair your mac s hard drive. Windows to boot successfully from the usb flash drive and the hardware on that mac. Use of thirdparty software or web sites there are various free thirdparty windows applications that can be used to format sandisk usb flash drives in the fat32 file system for use in devices that do not support the exfat file system. Format usb or external hard drive for mac using mac disk utility format usb or external hard drive for mac on windows pc using thirdparty usb format tool.
How to create a bootable installer for macos apple support. When you see the utilities window, youve started up from macos recovery. Apr 22, 2012 to format a hard drive for compatibility of both mac and windows you can use fat32 format which has both readwrite capability on winmac respectively. So fast and simple, it still has some issues on formatting different usb flash drives. How to encrypt external drives in os x lion informationweek. In the new dialogue, pay attention to general format, where it says msdos fat32. 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. How to format a flash drive on macos erase usb macmetric. How to repairfix unreadable usb flash drives on mac. Connect the bootable usb installer to your target mac.
Select install macos or install os x from the utilities window, then click. The disk manager tool is able to list all hard drives and external devices on your mac. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. Go to applications utilities, and open disk utility. Sep 20, 2016 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. First, make sure your usb drive is formatted for use with a mac, then download the os x lion installer from the app store and copy it to your flash drive. Though you can install lion directly from your macs hard drive. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. The first format, fat32, is fully compatible with mac os x, though with some drawbacks. Best usb formatter to format 64gb flash drive to fat32 in.
I was never able to write a mac installer image to my flash drive and have it bootable, unless i did it on a mac. This format will allow you to use your flash drive on mac without any limitations. Dec 17, 2018 mac os extended journaled this format is considered as default file system format of the mac os x drives. I have tried many different software programs to erase data on my usb flash drive, and eventally found what i need. Hi, a relative gave me their sandisk cruzer glide 16gb usb drive. 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. Select your usb drive from the left side of disk utility, then click on the erase tab. Format your thumbdrive using a guid partition table, and mac os extended journaled, then you can run the lion installer and install lion. For example, i downloaded lion from the app store and burnt it o.
In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which comes with all recent versions of the mac os x operating system and how you. How to format a usb flash drive on mac wondershare. How to format usb drive external hard drive on macos catalina. Mar 30, 2020 starting with os x lion, apple did away with dvds and other media as a method of installing software and switched to a download model instead. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows. Format usb or flash drive software by sobolsoft is a piece of software that allows you to format your usb flash drive.
Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. Know how remo recover works actually, when you format your drive of your mac machines, your files will not be erased off from your hard drive, they will still reside on your mac drives. Finally, use your bootable flash drive to install lion on your mac.
Format external hard drive or usb drive for mac easeus. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. If you are plugging your external hard disk directly into a linux or windows machine, they will need some probably additional software to provide access to the nonnative macos extended format drive. Create a bootable lion install drive for newer macs macworld. How to make a bootable lion install disc or drive macworld. However, for this you need to follow the next steps. Sep 19, 2011 the overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats.
Some flash drives have to be formatted first before you can store files on them. Install os x mountain lion from usb flash drive appducate. Even though format usb or flash drive software for mac is not available for download, there are plenty of alternative apps to format a flash drive on mac. Go to this pc, under devices and drives, highlight the disk that represents your usb flash drive, rightclick and select properties. Usb drives have limited space and it becomes essential to format it for getting free space. The usb drive needs to be formatted as mac os extended. How to install mac os x lion from usb flash drive youtube. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows 7 by jack scicluna photography, llc guest writer. Apple advises against booting from external storage containing a version of mac os x earlier than the one your mac shipped with. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Jan 04, 2012 how to format an external drive for mac compatibility. If you have an external hard drive or usb flash drive that youd like to use on both macs and windows pcs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing.
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. The good news is the disk utility built into the os x comes in handy, like a visual assistant making the process easier. But, if you plan on using an external drive with both macs and pcs. By default, they format disks with the maconly os x extended file system. A bootable mac os x thumb drive comes in handy when you need to troubleshoot os issues for yourself, your family, or your friends. Usb flash drive format tool free download and software. The software lies within system utilities, more precisely hdd management. I would like to use it on both mac and windows machines.
In our testing, the official os x lion usb thumb drive doesnt work with. How do i reformat my hard drive in os x mountain lion. It is required to format the usb drive to mac os file system to make it fully compatible with the platform. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. Formatting cruzer glide for windows and mac sandisk forums. 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. Format usb flash drives to work with both mac and windows. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Unlike previous versions of mac os x, lion os x 10. Formatting sandisk usb flash drives in fat32 format using.
File system formats available in disk utility on mac. To format usb on mac, the macos builtin disk utility application can help. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. How to start up your mac from a bootable cddvd, usb thumb. Volume format most manufacturers use the fat 32 or msdos fat volume format.
If the files system is ntfs format, its not hard to understand why the usb flash drive is unreadable on mac. For example, you can use the mac system builtin disk utility to format a usb flash drive. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. How to format a usb flash drive on windows 10 windows.
Skapa en startbar installerare for macos applesupport. In this article, we are taking a closer look at the disk utility, which comes with all recent versions of the mac os x operating system and how you can use it to format usb drive on mac. 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. Usb drives and external hard drives on macos catalina are used for storing and backing up important data such as photos, videos, audios, images, notes, messages, music. If you only use a mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on windows systems. How do i create a mac bootable usb drive using windows. Starting with os x lion, apple did away with dvds and other media as a method of installing software and switched to a download model instead. Here are two outstanding mac hard drive format software tools you can rely on. Click the erase tab, select your hard drive, and then erase the disk. Below are three main common troubles one may encounter. Hi there, i have a usb flash drive which was formatted for a mac. If you have a usb flash drive inserted in your mac, you can see it under the external in the disk utility. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats.
The 4 disk formatting software for mac above can help you easily format hard drive, usb flash drive, memory card, and other storage media under mac os. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Would it be possible to format it in a way that they. Anslut usbflashenheten eller en annan volym som du vill anvanda som. The hp usb format tool allows you to format the usb flash drive in the mac os x. Format usb drive, external hard drive on macos catalina.
How to mount os x lion to a flash drivehard drive and. Quit disk utility and continue with a reinstall of os x mountain lion. How to mount os x lion to a flash drive hard drive and clean install mac os x lion. Then you will see a list of available drives on the left. Use disk utility to restore this dmg file to a thumb drive to make a lion installation usb drive like you buy from the apple store. Then you can choose one of the hard drive and format it by click on format button. How to format a usb drive for mac and pc compatibility. How to format flash drive for pcmac with large file sizes.
Turn your macbook airs restore drive into a regular flash drive. This software is an intellectual property of sobolsoft. Choose mac os extended journaled as the format, and. Some people may want to format a storage because they want to clean hard drive mac and others might want to install fresh os x. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc.
However what you download from the app store and what is available on the thumb drive are considered full versions. To readwrite format ntfs from mac os x, here are some alternatives. The drive must be formatted as mac os extended journaled, and. The other limitation is the total size of the partition.
Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. How to format flash drive on win7 when it was formatted on. Insert an 8gb or larger flash drive into a usb port on the mac. Bootable optical media cd or dvd on macs equipped with apples super drive or a usb thumb drive formatted with a guid partition type and containing an os x installer or a usable operating system. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 on mac os xmacos. Jan 15, 2020 macos recovery makes it easy to reinstall the mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. Boot camp assistant in the utilities folder, and download the current windows support software from the action menu. Weve shown you how to manually create a bootable mac os x lion dvd or thumb drive, but now an app. Legally, yes, according to the os x lion software license agreement part below you need to have snow leopard license to purchase lion, this is why it is cheaper. Usb flash drive format tool erases my usb flash drive for more than 10 passes. To fix the incompatible issue, you can download and install an ntfs driver to read and write ntfs drives on mac. How to install macos or os x on a new hard drive for your mac. Select the usb drive that is to be formatted, then select the erase tab. How to format usb flash drive on mac stepbystep tutorial.
Inside the application folder on your mac, doubleclick on utilities. Press y to confirm you want to erase the usb flash drive. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Release the keys when you see the apple logo, a spinning globe, or a prompt for a firmware password. How do i use a bootable usb installer to install macos or os x. Create a windows 10 bootable usb flash drive on a mac. Apr 03, 2020 you no need to worry about your data any more. To make sure, you can go to disk utility and check its file system. We all make mistakes, and you wouldnt be the first person in the world to accidentally format a usb flash drive. Now you can share files between a mac and windows computer. Mac free usb flash drive recovery free software, apps. Creating a bootable flash drive with os x lion lifewire. Follow steps 1 through 4 in this slideshow to properly format the drive.
By the way, if you formatted a usb flash drive without data backup and you want to recover the important data, no worry, recoverit can help you to. Usb drive format tool is a tiny freeware utility designed for formatting any usb storage devices usb flash drive, usb stick, usb pen drive, usb portable drive, and sdcard in fat, fat32, exfat, and ntfs file systems. How to reformat mac os x without a recovery disc or drive. On this page, we will just introduce a thirdparty software ts datawiper for mac to format usb flash drive on mac. Although we know its limitation of 4gb file size only. However, i was disappointed to find that the stock filesystem, msdos fat, does not support transferring large files. Or you can choose a thirdparty tool to accomplish the task.
The information in this article pertains only to mac os x 10. Go to open disk utility, which is located under applications in the finder menu. Many computer users who use a removable flash drive have the demand for formatting it to the fat32 file system. Mar 15, 2018 most mac users will be better off formatting external drives with exfat, ensuring they work well on both windows and mac os x without any extra work. Heres how to encrypt your external media via os x 10. I found instructions on how to format the drive on mac, and it appears that it worked ok, mac says that it has approx 16gb space and is formatted with exfat. Here is a list of alternatives to format usb or flash drive software for. Do you still need to upgrade to snow leopard before upgrading. Connect the usb flash drive or other volume that youre using for the. Format usb or flash drive software free version download. If you format your fat32 drive in windows, the drive partition cannot be larger than 32gb. Format usb or flash drive software was developed to work on windows xp, windows vista, windows 7, windows 8 or windows 10 and can function on 32bit systems. The overwhelming majority of usb flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats. It recognizes the drive, installs the drivers, yet never shows up as an active.
If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wifi menu in the menu bar. Hp format utility, kingston tool for pen drives sticks. It will work with just about any storage device that you can mount to your mac, including disk images, hard drives, ssds, and usb flash drives. How to format flash drive for pc mac with large file sizes. Whether you want to format a flash drive on your mac or convert a. With mac os extended journaled format, you can setup os x startup drive. Jul 06, 2011 itll format and encrypt any media the disk utility supports. Compare with the other commonly used ntfs file system on a flash drive, fat32 has a compatibility advantage across many operating systems. The latest trend with computers is not including a cddvd drive. Terminal shows its progress as it erases and installs macos or os x on your usb flash drive. Install the macos that came with your mac, or the closest version still available. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. In this example we are encrypting a usb thumb drive so we click on it inside of disk utility. I put it in my win 7 pro machine to format it for win7.