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. You can use a Mac to format a USB flash drive with the NTFS file system. NTFS is a format for the Windows NT File System. As of early 2011, Macs do not have a native ability to format.
You may get the error 'The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer' when plug in a USB flash drive to your Mac. You can fix the unreadable USB flash drive by formatting, which will erase all your data. It's better recover the unreadable flash drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac before you fix or format it.
Problem Description - USB flash drives not readable on Mac
As we all know, USB flash drives are widely used for storing and transferring data from an iMac, MacBook or Mac Mini, though newer MacBook Pro and Air uses no USB 3.0 port.
'I have a 32 GB USB which has suddenly come up with a message stating the USB flash drive is not readable by this computer (Apple MacBook Pro). I do not want to initialize it as this will result in loss of my data. How can I fix the unreadable USB on Mac and recover lost data?'
Generally, when you insert in the USB pen drive, it will be mounted in Disk Utility and on Desktop for data access. However, a very distressing situation, just as the user above, is that the USB flash drive may not be readable, recognized, working, or not showing up on Mac.
How to fix unreadable USB flash drive on Mac?
Here are 6 methods to fix your unreadable USB thumb drive and make it working on your Apple Mac again.
Solution 1: Check the USB port or cable
Check that USB port on your Mac. Plug into a different USB port or plug another device in and see if that works OK.
If you use a USB hub bacause your MacBook has no USB 3.0 port, also make sure the hub is not faulty. Try using a different USB cable with the USB drive to see if that fixes the non-readable problem.
Solution 2: Update or reinstall the driver
When your USB flash drive is not readable by your Mac, especially after a recent macOS Big Sur update or you haven't updated the macOS for years, you should check if any updates are available please do the following:
- 1. Click on the Apple in the upper left corner of the screen.
- 2. Select 'Software Update...'
- 3. Any updates available will be listed and able to be downloaded or you will be told your software is up to date.
If not, check the official website of the USB manufacturer for any update.
Solution 3: Check the file system format
If the files system is NTFS format, it's not hard to understand why the USB flash drive is unreadable on Mac. To make sure, you can go to Disk Utility and check its file system. To fix the incompatible issue, you can download and install an NTFS driver to read and write NTFS drives on Mac.
Solution 4: Repair the unreadable USB flash drive with First Aid
You don't have seek for online USB flash drive repair. Instead, Disk Utility's First Aid on your Mac is capable of repairing minor errors of disks.
Here is how to repair USB flash drive when it's not readable, not recognized, not working, or even not showing up on your Mac.
- 1. Launch Disk Utility from Utilities.
- 2. Select the unreadable USB drive from the sidebar.
- 3. Click First Aid at the top of the window, and then wait until the reparation process finishes.
Solution 5: Recover and reformat the unreadable USB drive
IfFirst Aid failed to fix the unreadable drive, it indicates that the USB drive might have severe errors beyond its capability. Then the best solution is to reformat the unreadable USB drive and make it readable or usable again.
But keep in mind that formatting USB flash drive on Mac will wipe all data stored on it. So, please make sure you have a backup copy out of the USB drive.
If you are unable to do so because you can't open it for backup already, follow the steps to recover lost data from the unreadable USB drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is afree USB drive data recovery tool that supports recovering deleted videos, documents, photos, music and much more files from unreadable USB flash drives from Samsung, SanDisk, Toshiba, Lexar, PNY, etc.
Besides, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac also recovers deleted files from flash drives, recover lost data from formatted, inaccessible, unmounted, corrupted drives
Steps to recover lost data and fix the unreadable USB drive on Mac
Now, download iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on your macOS Big Sur 11/Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13 and older to recover unreadable flash drive.
- 1. Connect the unreadable USB drive to Mac.
- 2.Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
- 3. Select the unreadable USB and click the Next button. The program will start to scan for lost files.
- 4. Preview the scanning results and choose files you want to recover, and then click Recover button to get those files back.
- 5. Launch Disk Utility and format the USB flash drive on your Mac.
Hopefully, the USB drive will be readable now.
Solution 6: Send the unreadable USB drive to a local technician
Sometimes, you cannot format the unreadable USB drive when it's bricked. In this case, this USB flash drive is probably damaged physically, and you have to ask a local repair technician for help.
Bonus tips: How to maintain an USB flash drive for usage
Firstly, make sure that your USB flash drives don't become unreadable/corrupted in the future by always properly unmounting the disk properly after using it.
Secondly, download install an anti-virus program and check your computer and USB drive for virus or malware regularly.
Moreover, keep the driver and the Mac computer updated. The last and most important thing is to remember backing up important files as it is the golden rules to avoid data loss.
If unfortunately, you have lost data on your Mac computer or any other storage media, you can rely on iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Just download this program and get all lost data back.
Why is USB flash drive is not readable on Mac?
Actually, USB drives are susceptible to such kind of corruptions, as these drives are usually plugged in and out.
Here are some of the common reasons behind this issue:
- USB flash drive is virus infected
- A virus or a Trojan may delete critical system elements, thus disabling the OS and making the drive unrecognized.
- USB flash drive file system corruption
- The USB flash drive was removed improperly from the computer for reasons like sudden power surge, abrupt removal, and unintentional touch, which leads to file system corruption.
- Faulty USB port or cable
- If the USB port or cable of the computer is not working properly, your Mac computer won't recognize or read the flash drive.
- File system incompatibility
- The issues between the USB drive file system and macOS, for example, Windows NTFS file system is not completely compatible with macOS.
- Sometimes, you can't even read files or folders on NTFS USB drives through an Apple M1 Mac.
- Out-of-date drivers
- If drivers are out of date, the Mac operating system and your applications on the computer will fail to interact with all hardware devices. So the USB flash drive becomes unreadable.
- A dead/bricked USB drive after physical damage
- If your USB drive is seriously broken by hitting, dropping, shaking, etc., there is no USB repair tool or USB flash recovery software for Mac can help you.
Conclusion
Wish you have fixed the unreadable USB flash drive and now it's working perfectly on your Mac. These effective solutions also can be used when USB not recognized, working, showing up on Mac.
Which solution really helps you out? Do you have any other great solution to fix this issue? Please don't be hesitate to share them with us.
Nowadays, when you buy a USB drive, you can use it right out of the box with your Mac. However, unless it’s been designed for use with a Mac, it won’t be formatted using macOS’ preferred file system (either Mac OS Extended or APFS, depending on which version of macOS you’re running).
That’s because most of the computers in the world run Windows, and Windows uses a different file system, usually one known as Fat32. Drives formatted as Fat32 can be read from and written to by macOS, but it’s not optimal and you’re more likely to run into problems than if you use macOS’ native format. So, if you’ve bought a USB drive that’s formatted as Fat32, or any other format other than Mac OS Extended (also known as HFS+) or APFS, here’s how to format a USB drive on Mac. It’s exactly the same procedure if you need to reformat a flash drive on a Mac.
How to format a USB drive on a Mac
1. Plug the drive into a USB socket (if you have a recent MacBook or MacBook Pro that only has USB-C connectors, you’ll need a USB-C to USB-A adaptor).
2. Open a new Finder window and click on the drive. Make sure it has no files on it that you need. The process of reformatting it will wipe all the data from it.
3. Once you’ve copied any files you need from the USB drive to your Mac, go to Applications>Utilities and double-click on Disk Utility.
4. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar and then choose Erase from the toolbar at the top of the window.
5. In the window that drops down type a name for the formatted drive in the box next to Name.
6. Choose a format from the dropdown menu.
7. If you have previously stored sensitive data on the drive, click the Security tab.
8. Choose a security level using the slider. The further to the right you move the slider, the more ‘passes’ the erase tool will make and the more securely files will be deleted. However, it also increases the time it takes to format the drive quite considerably.
9. Click Ok then click Erase.
Tip: You don’t need to erase a whole drive to delete files securely. If you have confidential files or sensitive data you need to remove from your Mac completely, you should use CleanMyMac’s File Shredder. It’s specifically designed to securely delete sensitive data and will render it unrecoverable. You can download CleanMyMac X for free here.
Which format to choose?
If your Mac is running macOS High Sierra or later, you have two options for file formats: APFS and Mac OS Extended. Which should you choose? The key point is that disks formatted as APFS won’t be recognized by Macs running versions of macOS older than High Sierra. So if you think you might need to plug the USB drive into a Mac running an older version of macOS, format it as Mac OS Extended.
APFS is optimized for SSD (solid state drive) such as flash drives, so if you reformat a flash drive on a Mac, you should definitely choose APFS (unless you plan to use it with a pre-High Sierra Mac, of course). Even on hard drives, however, APFS is faster and more reliable than Mac OS Extended.
Finally, if you plan to use the USB drive as a destination for Time Machine backups, choose Mac OS Extended. Time Machine can’t currently back up to an APFS disk and if you select one for use with Time Machine, it will offer to reformat it as Mac OS Extended. You can, however, backup an APFS formatted disk to a Mac OS Extended Time Machine drive.
How to format a USB drive to FAT32 on a Mac
The main reason for formatting a USB drive as Fat32 on a Mac is that you want to be able to use the drive on a Windows PC, as well as a Mac — perhaps to transfer files between the two machines. You may also be preparing the drive for use as, say, a storage device for a media player or to record TV programmes on a TV with a USB port.
The fact that Fat32 can be read from and written to on both Mac and Windows makes it very versatile. However, there is a significant limitation — individual files have a maximum size of 4GB. So, if you’re using the USB drive to store large video files, you may run into trouble. There is a solution, however, exFAT. Unlike FAT32, exFAT doesn’t have a maximum file limit. Better still, it can be read from and written to on any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later and on Windows.
To format a USB drive in FAT32 or exFAT:
1. Plug the USB drive into your Mac.
2. Go to Applications>Utilities and launch Disk Utility.
3. Click on the USB drive in the sidebar in Disk Utility.
4. Click Erase in the Disk Utility toolbar.
5. Type in a name for the formatted disk.
6. Click on the Format menu and choose either MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFAT.
Format Usb Flash Drive Ntfs
7. Click Erase.
Your USB drive will now be erased and re-formatted as either FAT32 or ExFAT, depending on the format you chose in step 6.
How to manage your drives easily
Format Usb Flash Drive For Mac
If you look for a quick and easy way to manage your drives, try using CleanMyDrive 2. With its help, you can drag-and-drop files directly to any drive, clean hidden junk from external drives, and check disk stats. It works for all drives, including USB drives, SSD, SD cards, external hard drives. All the drives will be at hand in the menu bar, so you can get to see types of drives you have and manage them easily. CleanMyDrive is absolutely free to use, so download it on the Mac App Store and enjoy!
It’s very easy to format a USB drive on a Mac using Disk Utility. There are a couple of things you should keep in mind, however. The first is that when you format and disk, you will erase all the data currently on it. So if you need that data, make sure you copy it onto another disk before you start. Secondly, there are several formats to choose from, each with advantages and disadvantage. Use the guide above to help you decide which is right for you.