How To Clean Usb Drive On Mac

Have you always tried to use a USB drive on your Mac only to realize you couldn't write whatever files to it?

Information technology's because most computers run on Windows and most thumb drives ship with formats that favor a Windows surround. Unless it'due south specifically designed to piece of work on a macOS, y'all'll need to reformat the flash drive.

Permit'due south look at how to format your thumb bulldoze for a Mac.

Different File System Formats Available in Disk Utility

ExFAT

If you plan on using your USB on both Windows and macOS devices, the preferred format is ExFAT. This file format is compatible with multiple devices, like PCs and gaming consoles. This is the ideal cross-platform format.

MS-DOS (Fatty)

This file format is highly compatible but somewhat limiting. For case, you tin can merely store files that are less than 4GB on the device. Unless a organisation specifically calls for FAT32 devices, avoid this format at all costs.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

This is the recommended file organization for devices that are used with Macbooks. It uses the Mac format to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system.

Mac Os Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)

This is like to the Journaled format except for the fact that all folder names are case-sensitive.

For instance, the file format differentiates a folder named "MYFOLDER" from a folder named "myfolder". Unless this is specifically required, we recommend the "Journaled" format

2 Easy Ways to Reformat a USB drive

There are 2 ways you can approach reformatting a thumb bulldoze:

Using the Disk Utility tool
Using the Last

Earlier formatting the USB Bulldoze, check the current Format of your drive.

Navigate to the Finder directory and look for your device on the left side carte du jour. Correct-click on the device name and click on "Get Info".

Navigate to the Finder directory

Once you click on "Get Info," y'all'll be presented with information on the device. Under "Format," y'all can see the format of your device.

The information about your flash drive

Formatting a Wink Drive Disk Utility on your Mac

1. Open up the Deejay Utility Tool.

Push the "Control" button and the "Space" button together on your keyboard to bring upward "Spotlight Search" or whatever search app your have installed. Nosotros love Alfred.
Click on the magnifying glass icon and type "Disk Utility".
Click on the starting time proffer to open the "Disk Utility" tool.

Mac Disk Utility tool

If yous aren't able to bring upwards "Spotlight Search" for some reason, navigate to the "Finder" directory and click on "Applications".

In the "Applications" binder, observe the folder named "Utilities," and navigate to it. You can find the "Disk Utility" tool inside the "Utilities" folder.

Inside the Utilities tool

ii. Reformat the USB Drive.

When yous open up the "Disk Utility," the tool volition look like below:

Inside the Disk Utility tool window

Select the preferred USB Drive from the carte on the left side of the screen.

Select the preferred USB drive

Click on "Erase" on the top toolbar. You lot'll exist prompted to select a name for your drive and the desired format. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the preferred format, merely depending on your requirements, select the best choice for you lot from the drop-downwards carte du jour.

Click on Erase on the top toolbar

If you've stored whatsoever sensitive data on your USB drive, it is wise to pay attention to the "Security Options" button before yous format. You'll exist prompted to select an option as to how yous would like to delete the data in your bulldoze.

Security Options window

As you might know, if you erase the data using the fastest manner possible, certain disk recovery programs could recover what you lot erased easily. We like Disk Drill.

If y'all don't want your information recovered, choose the "Most Secure" selection. Go along in heed, that depending on how secure your erase is, the time information technology takes to format your drive could increase significantly.

Once all the options are set, go ahead and click on "Erase".

Click on Erase button

That's it! You've successfully reformatted your USB drive.

Smaller devices with a few files will reformat quickly. If yous have a large number of files or depending on how secure your erase was, information technology might take longer to format.

How to Format a USB on a Mac using the Concluding

Almost everything yous practice with the GUI tin be performed in the Terminal. Information technology'southward a not-flashy way of navigating your Mac'due south surround and performing sure tasks.

Here's how you format your USB drive using the Final:

Note: Final requires precise syntax, and thus this method is only recommended for advanced Mac users.

1. Push button the "Command" and "Space" buttons together to bring upwardly "Spotlight Search." Click on the magnifying glass and type "Terminal". The below window will pop-up.

Mac Terminal window

As mentioned before, if you can't open "Spotlight Search," navigate to the "Finder" directory and get to the "Utilities" binder where you'll detect the "Terminal."

ii. Type the following command and hitting enter to list all the mounted devices available in your system:

diskutil listing

Mounted devices available in your system

iii. From this list, become ahead and select the device that you lot want to format and apply the Last to format it.

Use the following syntax to format the drive:

diskutil erasedisk FILE_SYSTEM DISK_NAME DISK_IDENTIFIER

4. For the Disk name, you lot can enter whatever name yous want to give your device.

To find your Disk identifier, refer to the list you plant after typing the command diskutil listing.

Under the IDENTIFIER cavalcade, you'll find your identifier.

The file system option depends on your preference. The syntax is:.

Formatting to MacOS Extended Journaled(JHFS+) - JHFS+
Formatting to MacOS Extended (HFS+) - HFS+
Formatting to MS-DOS Fat - FAT32
Formatting to ExFAT - ExFAT

For example, if you want to format your bulldoze to macOS Extended Journaled and rename information technology to "MyDisk," you can enter the concluding command as below:

diskutil erasedisk JHFS+ MyDisk disk2

Decision

Using USB drives on MacBooks aren't so dissimilar from using them on other operating systems except for the fact that macOS supports only a specific number of formats.

You can at present format the USB drive from the Disk Utility tool or the Terminal. Player's choice!

Written pastShanika Wickramasinghe.

Shanika is a software engineer by profession and a Graduate in Information Applied science. Her fortes are Web and Mobile Evolution. Shanika is a macOS enthusiast and loves writing as it helps to share her knowledge. She also enjoys sharing tips and tricks about macOS. You tin connect with her at LinkedIn.