How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows

Hello, gaminhk!

If you’re both Mac users, swell; with Mac and Windows in the mix, you might be tempted to pick FAT32 when formatting that thumb drive. But FAT32 is distinctly out of date.

  1. How to Format USB Flash Drive for Mac & PC Compatibility March 3, 2020 March 3, 2020 It’s no surprise that PCs and Macs do not work well with each other, due to differences between the two operating systems (Windows vs.
  2. How to format a usb flash drive on a windows 10 pc for mac os x & windows pc compatibility If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between macs and wi.
  3. To begin to format USB for Mac and PC on a Windows 10 computer, insert the USB drive into an open port and then launch the Windows Disk Management Utility. To find it, type 'disk management' or 'format disk' in Windows Search and select ' Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions.' Step 2: Select the Drive to Format.


Thank you for reaching out and using the Apple Support Communities. We see from your post that your seeking a way to make your MP4 videos viewable on both Mac and Windows PCs. Having that shared compatibility between both operating systems is very important, especially when you want to share to them with others.

Mac


In this situation, the best way to ensure that both a Mac and a Windows PC can access the videos from the same external device is to make sure the device is in the correct disk format. This article explains how to format a device or disk (e.g. USB flash drive, external hard drive) into the proper format that is accessible by both Mac and Windows computers: Disk Utility 12.x: Format a disk for Windows computers


In regards to your second question, check out this article: If QuickTime Player can‘t open an audio or video file


Please let us know if this resolves your issues.


Kindest Regards.

How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows

Sep 1, 2016 10:19 AM

Since the PC and Mac are two different operating systems, they use different file systems. By default, Macs use HFS, while PCs use NTFS, which are not compatible with each other. If you plan on using an external drive with both Macs and PCs, you should format the disk with the exFAT file system instead.


How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows

You can format the drive on your Mac or Windows computer.


How to format a USB drive as exFAT on Mac

So how do you know if your USB drive is in the correct format? You do not need to do anything special on the 'Disk Utility' - simply insert the USB drive and open Finder. Right-click the drive icon in the Finder sidebar (or on the desktop) and select Get Info. You will see the drive's file system shown on the right “Format”.

Formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. To format a drive on a Mac, you'll need the built-in Disk Utility application.

Go to Open Disk Utility, which is located under Applications in the Finder menu. If you have a USB flash drive inserted in your Mac, you can see it under the External in the Disk Utility. Select your flash drive from the list. Go to the Erase tab. You will be asked to provide the disk name and then select the file system as exFAT.

Then select the default GUID Partition Map (GPT) scheme. Click the Erase button when you are done and the Disk Utility will format your disk with the settings you specified. This will erase all the files on the drive.

You're now done. Be sure to eject the disk before you remove it from your Mac.

How to format a USB flash drive as exFAT on Windows PC

There are several ways to format drive in Windows PC, you can do that in This PC or in Disk Management.

Note: If you have important data on your USB flash drive, you should backup your drive before formatting it.

Option 1: Format a USB drive as EexFAT in This PC.

How To Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Windows 8

Press Windows logo key + E to open File Explorer. Right-click on the drive you want to format, click on Format. Under File system box, select exFAT for this drive. Then click Start button to go on.

Option 2: Format a USB drive as EexFAT in Disk Management.

Format Mac Hard Drive On Windows 10

Press Win+X, then hit K key to open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).

Drive

Right-click on the drive you want to format, select Format to see the list of configurations including file system. Select exFAT for this drive. Then click OK button to go on.

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