Mac Format For Usb



NO.1 USB drive formatting software for Mac – DoYourData Super Eraser. DoYourData Super Eraser. The macOS installer file is large with approximate size of 6 to 10GB depending upon the.

Many users are looking for tools like 'HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for Mac', 'Sandisk USB Format Tool Mac', 'Kingston USB Format Tool Mac', 'Lexar usb format tool mac', 'sd card format tool mac' or 'usb disk storage format tool mac' hoping that there are this kind of tools that could be used on Mac for formatting their hard drive or usb flash drive on MAC OS X, or sometimes you are searching for a bootable format tool on mac just as what HP Format Tool could perform the trick.

Some users may also want to erase the privacy files on their device by getting it formatted, is formatting true erasing on MAC? Could formatted files be retrieved? We will explain all this in this content.

Note: before any formatting or erasing the disk/pen drive, we would recommend you backup your data on your media that you want to format onto another device to avoid unintentionally data loss. We would not expect this happen that you accidentally reformatted your disk/usb stick and then later found out you had just lost some important files.

Also read: 5 best free backup software, or how to repair damaged usb drive on MAC

Table of Content

  1. HOT FAQs

8 MAC Formatters for USB/SD/HDD

Here is a list of disk or usb formatting tools for mac or ways of formatting disk/usb flash on MAC to get it done.

Tool 1 - Disk Utility provided by Mac OS, the best free tool to format device

Disk Utility - the best free mac format and erase tool that is provided by Apple Inc. for users to manage digital devices not only the internal media but also external drives like hard disk, usb flash and more.

Note: Erasing and formatting with Disk Utility would delete files on devices, the deleted files could be no longer accessible without some professional data recovery tools, which usually cost around $60-100.

How to format/erase usb disk or memory card on MAC using Disk Utility

Here are the steps that you may follow to get your device formatted/erased.

  • Get your device connected to MAC, and backup your data to somewhere else at first as the preparetion.
  • Open Disk Utility, which can be found in Applications -> Utility
  • View -> Show all devices
  • Select the one you want to erase/format, and then click the Erase button. (The same function that is to perform the function of 'Format')
    Open Disk Utility
  • Select a file system for it (if you want to format it fat32, select FAT. Exfat would be recommended since it is more powerful that fat32, later the difference would be explained)
    Choose a file system to format
  • Confirm Erase
    Confirm erase to get it formatted/erased

See the video guide here.

Pros: - More than just a format tool on MAC

  1. It is able to format a disk or usb flash to be hfs+, fat, EXFAT and more. (FAT VS FAT32 VS NTFS will be explained in the following parts)
  2. It provides repairing functions to repair your storage device if it became damaged - that stars itself among the rest tools.
  3. It is free of charge

Cons

  1. It does not provide NTFS file system while formatting.
  2. It is not truely data erasing since formatted/erased files could still be restored by other paid mac data recovery tools

File System Difference HFS+ VS FAT VS VS FAT32 VS EXFAT VS NTFS (Which one to use?)

File SystemCompatible with macOS?Compatible with Windows?Max. file sizeMax. partition size
HFS+YesNoNo limitNo limit
FAT32YesYes4GB8GB
exFATYesYesNo limitNo limit
NTFSPartially(Not provided by Disk Utility in Mac when formatting)YesNo limit
td>No limit

Note: NTFS file system is not provided in Mac erasing/formatting inside of Disk Utility. If you want your device to be NTFS, you need to try other format tools or a Windows PC to get it formatted. Only by formatting could its file system be changed.

Which file system would you suggest for my device while formatting/erasing?->> EXFAT, which both works on MAC and Windows 10 compatible with no limit in file size and file storage size, volume size and you don't have to download other tools to get it formatted but just with the power of Disk Utility.

What if I want to use NTFS as my device file system, which tool shall I use to get it changed? Try some other mac format tools instead of Disk Utility. (We would tell you later in another article.)

How to tell which file system does my digital device apply?

Mac machines: right click your device in Mac -> Get Info -> General -> Format, and see what it shows, if it says 'MS-DOS FAT32', it means your drive is in fat32 file system, which is compatible with both Mac and Windows.

Windows PCs: You may get your device connected to Windows, and then right click it -> Property ->General, and you will see a photo that shows the information on file system.

File system is FAT32

Note: if your device is damaged and shows RAW FILESYSTEM, you may follow this guide to get it repaired: How to repair drive raw file system

Damaged media raw file system

You may also want to read: how to change raw file system to ntfs; how to convert raw file system to fat32

Tool 2 - WD Drive Utilities, formerly WD Quick Formatter by Western Digital Corporation (Freeware)

WD Quick Formatter is able to reformat any hard drive (not limited to WD Hard drives) to hfs+ or exfat file system and data on the drive would also be erased while changing its file system. No chance for a recovery unless with some special data recovery utility.

WD Drive Utilities formerly WD Quick Formatter

WD Drive Utilities software allows you to configure, manage, and diagnose your WD drive. With WD Drive Utilities, you can

  • Run drive diagnostics
  • Manage RAID configuration (For RAID supported models)
  • Erase and format drive
  • Set drive sleep timer (on supported drives)
  • Register drive

(Information provided by WD)

Best Format For Usb Mac Windows

You may download it here https://downloads.wdc.com/wdapp/WD_Utilities_Standalone_Installer_Mac_2_1_1_119.zip

If the above link expired, go to this page and get a download. https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en

Tool 3 - Freecome Hard Drive Formatter or also called FHD Formatter for MAC by Freecome Technologies (Freeware)

This freeware is able to format digital device to be hfs+, fat32 as options while choosing a file system to format/erase.

It is called Freecom Mobile Drive CLS FHD Formatter Utility 1.15 or FHDFormatter for Mac.

Download sites: we checked the websites and only found the download is available on softpedia and softinformer. See the download link here

Bottomline: we would recommend you stay with the first two freeware Disk Utility or WD Disk Utility.

Tool 4 - SD Memory Card Formatter for Mac - free

SD Memory Card Formatter for Mac is introduced by SDCard.org as a external device storage formatter that is able to format usb flash, memory card on MAC for free. See details and download url at this page

Download url: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/eula_mac/index.html

Tool 5 - BitRaser, formerly named Stellar Disk Wipe by Stellar Information Technology(30 days free trial, Paid utility)

This one is useful that could erase confidential information on your devices. It has both Mac edition and Windows edition. And admin console, network erasure is still available as enterprise solution offered by Stellar. Highly recommended paid tool.

BitRaser

File eraser and Drive Eraser for different users need. Mobile eraser available too.

Tool 6 - AweEraser by Magoshare (Paid utility)

Tool 7 - Super Eraser by DoYourData (Paid utility)

Tool for erasing data on digital device on MAC. The erased/formatted files could not be restored. It needs a pay.

Free alternative of DOYOURDATA Super Eraser Mac - Mac Disk Utility

Tool 8 - MacClean360 by DoYourData (Paid utility)

It is a Mac cleaning tool that could clean files on Mac for digital devices. You may use the first Tool 1 Mac Disk Utility or WD Disk Utility as free alternative instead of this paid tool.

Verdict

Mac Disk Utility and WD Disk Utility is highly recommended for no matter formatting a device or erasing a device, or repairing device errors.

If you want to erase files or erase drive permanently without any chance of recovery, try the Tool 3 - BitRaser provided by Stellar Information on Mac, if you don't mind erasing the device on Windows, freeware IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free could erase files/drive permanently.

Also read: 4 free tools to delete files or erase drive permanently on Windows

How to format usb flash or disk fat32 on Mac

Since Mac Disk Utility provides the formatting file system fat, exfat, you may want to know what's the difference between fat and fat32, or exfat?

See this is a photo that shows what's available when formatting the media in Disk Utility.

Choose a file system to format

More mac fat32 format tools? See how to format sd/usb fat32 on mac

  1. Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
  2. Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)
  3. Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
  4. Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
  5. MS-DOS(FAT) ----This is fat32, what you need
  6. ExFat - recommended since it both works on Mac and Windows OS and it has no limit in file size and partition size.

Mac Disk Utility already provides an option when choosing a file system - MS-DOS(fat), WHICH IS FAT32 WHAT YOU WANT.

Note: Mac OS (FAT) is compatible with both Windows PC and Mac platforms, however, there's a limit to trasnferring files over 4GB.

The Answer - choose MS-DOS(FAT) ----This is fat32, what you need. However we would suggest you use EXFAT.

Formatting VS Erasing (Is formatting or erasing permanent data deleting?)

Formatting, is to make a media a new place for data storage that you may change its file system while you format it. Formatted drive data would be marked as available for new data to take its space.

There are three levels of formatting

  1. quick format (no disk error checking and repairing)
  2. full format (includes repairing bad blocks)
  3. low-level format (it could only be performed by professional low level format tool, which is usually shorten the life of device)

Erasing, is to remove information on your device, which is more simplier than formatting, however it is not true wiping out all the information since erased files could be restored with help of free data recovery software.

Well, the truth is data could also be destoryed if you continue using your device after the formatting or the erasing and saved a huge number of files. If no data was saved to formatted/erased media, data could still be restored with professional tools.

How to erase data permanently on mac with freeware

Since erased files or erased media could still be recovered in Mac Disk Utilities and WD Disk Utlities, you may want to query how to erase data permanently on Mac? Is there any freeware that could do the permanent deleting?

The answer: BitRaser is a 30 days free program for erasing files permanently on Mac, we failed to find other free tools for the permanent erasing at this time.

Option: Erase data permanently with freeware on Windows OS using freeware IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free that provides 'Wipe Partition' to get everything truely deleted and removed without a chance of recovery.

Also read: 4 free tools to delete files or erase drive permanently on Windows

HP USB DISK Storage Format Tool for Mac Download

Is there HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Mac available? Can I use HP USB Format Tool on Mac?

So far as we know that the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, also called HP USB Format Uility by users is only for Windows OS for example Windows 10/8.1/7/Vista/XP and there was no news coming from the developer that a MAC edition would be released.

HP USB Disk Format Tool is provided by HP for disk formatting and making a bootable usb, however this program only provides Windows editions which is compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, and XP.

The Answer: There is no mac edition of HP USB Format Tool, however here are some free solutions if you want to use it on MAC.

Formatting in HP USB Disk Format Tool, could be replaced by Disk Utility in Mac that you may save downloading HP USB Format Tool for Mac.

Creating bootable usb in HP USB Disk Format Tool, could be replaced by a bootable MacOS high sierra usb install drive, see the following video

Another option: see how to create a bootable installer for MacOS on https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Also read: HP USB Format Tool Review and Error Fixing

Last updated on June 17, 2020

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File Recovery Free > Format Recovery Utility > Howto >How to format usb flash on Mac with free mac disk formatter

By Adela D. Louie, Last updated: August 27, 2019

One of the most useful devices that we have nowadays is a USB drive. It is because of its wonderful usage of us allowing to store more data in it. By the use of a USB device, you will be able to load up your files or you can also make use of it as a backup method.

Another use of a USB device is that, you can also make use of it and load your songs and as well as your movies and have it shared with your friends. However, there are instances that time will come that you will be needing the methods of how to format USB on Mac device.

You may need:

Part 1: Things to Know When Formatting USB on Mac

  1. You should know that flash drive is by default formatted for those Windows PC. And because of that, you will be needing to format your USB device using a Mac OS file for you to be able to have your USB device compatible.
  2. Your USB drive comes with limited space and with that, getting it formatted will allow you to get more space.
  3. Any USB device can become corrupted or can be infected by a virus. And with that, the only way for you to remove that virus is for you to format it.

Part 2: How Can I Format USB Flash Drive on A Mac

Formatting your USB drive on Mac is actually very easy to do. All you have to do is to follow on the steps that we have included below.

Step 1: Go ahead and connect your USB device to your Mac. Make sure that your USB device is connected properly on your Mac.

Step 2: After that, go ahead and open Applications and then choose Utilities.

Step 3: Then in Utilities, go ahead and choose Disk Utility. You will then be taken to the Disk Utility page.

Step 4: From there, on the left side of your screen, you will be able to see a menu wherein you can find the name of your USB drive. So just go ahead and select it.

Step 5: Once that you have chosen your USB device name, go ahead and start with the process. Just go ahead and choose the Erase tab from the right side of your screen.

Step 6: Then, go ahead and click on the drop-down menu next to format. This will then show you some options for the formatting process. From there, you will be able to choose any format that you like. However, if you would want it to become fully compatible with your Mac, then go ahead and choose the option “Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Step 7: Then after that, you can now choose to set the name for your USB drive before you fully format your device. All you have to do is to click on the option next to Name and then type in any name that you want.

Step 8: Once that you have set everything, then you can go ahead and start with the formatting process. All you need to do is to click on the Erase button located at the lower right corner of your screen.

Step 9: Then, a pop-up box will then appear on your screen. From there, all you have to do is to click on the Erase button for you to confirm on the formatting process. And once that the process is complete, then you will be able to use your USB device on your Mac and to any other PC that you have.

Part 3: Formatting USB Drive to FAT32 Using A Mac

The very main reason as to why you will be needing to format your USB drive to FAT32 is so that you will be able to use the device on both your Windows and Mac device. The FAT32 has the ability to read from and write to whether you are using a Mac or a Windows PC. Now, if you would want to know how you can do this, here is a step by step guide that you can follow.

Step 1: Go ahead and have your USB drive connected to your Mac.

Step 2: Once that your USB is properly connected, then go ahead and go to the Disk Utility page.

Step 3: From there, go ahead and choose your USB drive.

Step 4: Once chosen, go ahead and click on the Erase option.

Step 5: From there, you will be able to type in the formatted disk name and then choose MS-DOS (FAT32) or you can also choose the ExFAT from the menu.

Step 6: Then, go ahead and click on Erase and the process will then start. This may take some time though depending on the size of your USB drive. And once that the process is complete, then you can go ahead and use your USB drive on your Mac or on a Windows computer.

Part 4: Removing Files from Mac – Unrecoverable

Now, in case that you have some files on your Mac that you think is not needed anymore but at the same time, they also contain important details, then deleting them in the way that no one will be able to recover it will be a great way. This way, they will be able to remain safe even if someone tries to access your Mac.

And with that, you will be needing a powerful tool to do this. And what we can recommend to you is by using the FoneDog PowerMyMac Toolkit.

The FoneDog PowerMyMac Toolkit is considered to be a virtual toolbox that you can use. By using this tool, you will be able to manage the files that you have on your Mac. And under the FoneDog PowerMyMac Toolkit are eight features that you can use. And one of which is called the File Manager.

The File Manager under the FoneDog PowerMyMac Toolkit has the ability to let you view all of the information that you have on a certain file. Then it can also help you in removing these files completely from your Mac without being recovered by anyone else, even you.

And because of that, you will be able to keep that certain file safe from anyone who would want to get it or recover it from your Mac. This is similar to the File Shredder. And in order for you to know how this feature works, here is a step by step method that you can follow.

Step 1: Get the FoneDog PowerMyMac

The first thing that you will be needing to do is to download the FoneDog PowerMyMac from www.fonedog.com. And once done, go ahead and install it over to your Mac.

Step 2: Open Up the Program

After getting the FoneDog PowerMyMac, go ahead and have it open on your Mac. Now, on the main page of the software, you will be to check out the status of your Mac. You will be able to check out your Disk, Memory, and your RAM usage.

Step 3: Select Toolkit from Above

Also on the same page of the FoneDog PowerMyMac, you will also be able to see modules at the upper portion of your screen. As you can see, there is the Cleaner, Status, and the Toolkit. So, with that, just go ahead and simply select the Toolkit module.

Step 4: Select the File Manager Feature

Once that to you are under the Toolkit module, the FoneDog PowerMyMac will then show you a list of features. You can be able to see Uninstaller, Maintenance, Privacy, NTFS, File Manager, Hide, Unarchive, Wi-Fi.

From that number of features, just go ahead and choose the File Manager for you to start managing the files that you have on your Mac.

Step 5: Select An Option

Then, once that you are in File Manager, the FoneDog PowerMyMac will also show you two different options. One is the View Files option, and the other one is the Crush File option. Now from those two, just go ahead and choose the View Files option first.

Step 6: Put in The File to View

Then, the FoneDog PowerMyMac will then ask you to drag the file into the folder icon that you see on your screen. And once you have put in the file, you will be able to see the details of it. The on the left side of the interface you will be able to see the details of the file such as the name of the file, the path, the size of the file and as well as the time and the data it was last modified.

NOTE: In this page, you also have the power to drag one file after another for you to be able to see your file’s details without having to go back to the recent page of the FoneDog PowerMyMac.

Step 7: Select Another Option

Then once that you were able to see the details of all the files that you would want to remove from your Mac, then you can go ahead and hit on the arrow back icon found at the bottom left side of the interface. You will then be taken to the home page of the File Manager feature.

Mac

Then from the main page, you can now go ahead and choose another option which is the Crush File option.

Step 8: Select the File to Crush

Then, on the next page, this is actually wherein you can put all of the files that you would want to completely remove from your Mac. So the next thing that you need is for you to drag those files over to the left part of the interface where you can see a folder icon.

NOTE: Here, you have to double check if that is the file that you would want to remove. Because once that you have removed it, then you will no longer have the file recovered in any way.

Step 9: Crush Your File

Once that you have confirmed on the file that you would want to remove from your Mac, then you can go now and start to click on the Crush button. And then have it confirmed by hitting on the Confirm button from the pop-up box that will show on your screen. Then go ahead and click on the OK button once that the shredding of files is completely done.

So as you can see, once that you were able to shred those files using the FoneDog PowerMyMac, then those files will complete be gone from your Mac. And at the same time, you can no longer have it recovered in any way. This only means that those files that you have shred using the FoneDog PowerMyMac will be kept secret and safe forever.

As you were able to figure out, formatting USB on Mac is actually not a difficult thing to do. All you need is to have the proper idea on how you can do and the things that you should know before you go and format your USB device.

Mac Format For Usb Drive

And by formatting it on a Mac, you will be able to have it used on any PC – whether you are using a Mac or a Windows computer – you will still be able to use your USB device with no hassle at all.

Format Mac Usb For Windows

And if you would want to keep the files that you have on your Mac safe by deleting them, then the FoneDog PowerMyMac is the best tool that you can actually have. This way, you will be able to remove those files completely out of your Mac without getting to worry about someone recovering it – because they won’t be able to do that.

And also, the FoneDog PowerMyMac will also be able to help you in cleaning up your Mac the fastest way possible, yet very efficient. This way, you will be able to free up more of your space and get your Mac to perform at its very best.

>Tricks >A Quick Guide on How to Format A USB on Mac

Sandisk Usb Format Tool

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