How to reformat a disk to FAT32 on a Mac.Technical notes: Formatting a disk using Windows maxes out the partition at 32GB, but not if the formatting is done.
- Step 2: Format the FAT32 Partition to HFS+ Partition on Mac. Please go to Utilities → Disk Utility to get the window below: Then, select the external hard drive and click 'Partition' tab on the top. Now, find the FAT32 partition and format it to OS X Extended (Journaled), which is the desired HFS+.
- FAT32format GUI, otherwise known as GUIFormat, is the interface version of FAT32format, a tool designed to help you format disks featuring FAT32 file system. The fact that you can perform this.
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
Format Fat32 Larger Than 32gb
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.
Fat32 Formatter For Mac
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.
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
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.
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Nov 13, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
But why?
Let us go in detail to find the answer.
Suppose you are using a vehicle but don't go for routine service. What will happen? After some time, it starts giving problems. So what is the solution?
Obviously, we need to take it to a professional mechanic.
The same thing is with your SD card, Now how to Format the SD card to FAT32 on MAC?
Well! Find out the solution yourself in this resolute dossier.
How to format the SD card to FAT32 on Mac?
Are you tired of applying several older techniques that are not able to format your SD card to fat32 on MAC? No worries anymore, we are here for you, just follow these simple steps and get what you want.
Before that, you are advised to take a backup of data on your Mac device, before the beginning of the process. There are two ways to format USB flash drive to FAT32, including Disk Utility and Terminal command line, but here we discuss the former one.
Once SD or micro SD card has been backed up, you will be ready to format the storage device. Here are the steps to make it happen:
- Insert the SD card into the slot on your Mac.
- Navigate to Finder > Applications > Utilities.
- Open Disk Utility.
- In the sidebar, select the SD card that you are trying to format.
- At the top of Disk Utility, press Erase.
That's it! Your task is completed successfully.
Reasons for the Formatting SD card to FAT32
The Default memory card file systems:
A file system is a way of organizing a drive efficiently to access files with ease, later on. It defines the stored data on your drive. There are many types of file systems among which some common and more usable are:
- Choose FAT32(File Allocation Table 32) if SD card is <=32GB
- Choose exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) if SD card is >=64GB
- NTFS (NT File System)
- APFS (Apple File System)
What's the FAT32 system on Mac?
The configuration of hard drives in MAC is different From Windows. Mac basically uses HFS+ but also supports FAT32. This FAT32 system on MAC is used for storage media, such as memory cards, flash drives, and also external hard drives. One simple technique to convert FAT32 to HFS+ is by using disk utility feature that comes with OS X. If this technique doesn't work for you, No worries! Here we provide you step by step solutions in an easy way with the help of images.
- Reasons for changing the SD card format on MAC:
It is always beneficial to go for a little spring cleaning in your room, in order to keep your room clean from dust, as well from certain mites. But if, under certain circumstances, this process is not carried out then what will happen?
Obviously, you can't live there properly. The same thing is with your SD card.
- If proper cleaning is not carried out at regular intervals of time, the performance of your SD card will degrade.
- One of the main reasons to format SD cards on MAC to FAT32 is to generate a bootable startup disk, that exactly contains the same Operating System version, that's with your MAC. This further helps to deal with troubleshooting problems and restoring files later.
- Another reason is to change from one format to another, in order to increase the speed of writing data in the SD card.
Steps to format SD card to FAT32 MAC
Formatting is essential for your SD card to run properly. When the size of your SD card is 64 GB or above the best way is, to go with FAT32 format. This will help you to experience the feel of using a new card.
Note: It is advisable to backup your data from the SD card, it is very important to protect for any loss of crucial information, which on later stages will be hard to recover.
How to format 64 GB SD card to FAT32 on Mac
There are basically two general techniques to Format SD card to FAT 32 in Mac:
Formatting an SD card to FAT32 on Mac is an easy process to go with. It is due to the presence of a built-in utility application named 'disk utility'. It erases all the data from your SD card. Not only this after the process of formatting, but new directories and file systems are also generated, which further helps to increase the speed and functioning of the SD card. This can be done by following some of the basic steps as mentioned below:
1. Using Disk utility:
If you are using operating system X, a simple method to Format SD card is by using Disk utility.
Step 1: Open 'Disk Utility', by typing in the search box, available at the top right corner of the screen, and then click on it.
Step 2: Now look for an SD card on the left side of the window. It will be shown by the name of 'NO NAME' or 'UNTITLED'. Select it.
Step 3: Now click on the 'Erase' tab available in the window.
Step 4: Now click on the 'format' dropdown menu. This provides you with the available formats, from there select 'FAT32' option.
Step 5: A message will appear on your screen asking your permission for erasing partition. Give permission by clicking on the 'Erase' option. This will start the process of formatting for your SD card.
2. Using MAC command line:
In some of the cases, the above-mentioned process is not able to perform well. There may be certain reasons behind this among which some common are compatibility issues, errors, and viruses. Then under these circumstances, the use of the MAC command line is beneficial. Although this technique requires a bit of attention and hard work but here you are provided with step by step guide that makes the task to format sd card on mac to fat32 easy for you. One of the advantages of using this technique is it provides accurate results in most of the cases.
Step 1: Hit cmd + space for launching spotlight, a box will appear with an option of typing, type terminal in this box and press 'Enter' to open.
Step 2: Now insert your SD card.
There are also other cards or disk storages, so the next step will help you with this.
Step 3: For Identification of card Type 'diskutil list'
Now all the available storage will be presented to you in the form of a list
Step 4: Select your SD card.
Step 5: Now to format the SD card to FAT32 on MAC you need to type the command' sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT 32 SDCARD MBRFormat /dev/disk2'
Note: In this case, the name of a card is 'SDCARD' and'/dev/disk2' is the location of the card.
- Here sudo provides you with superuser rights.
- diskutil will call the disk utility program.
- EraseDisk is the command given for formatting the card.
- FAT32 is used to set the file system.
- MBRFormat gives the information to the disk utility program for formatting a card with the Master Boot Record.
- After this process, your password (depends) will be demanded. Filling it right, will start the process of formatting.
Fix 'can't Format SD card on Mac'
Causes of Failing to change SD card to FAT32 on MAC: There are several reasons for an SD card, for not been formatted with the methods and techniques, that previously done the task for you. The common reason for this problem is an unsafe ejection, a virus attack that leads to corrupt the files, and in some uneven circumstances power failure.
Some of the other reasons behind this problem are:
- SD card is protected by rights, which don't allow you to make any changes..
- SD card is corrupted due to the introduction of bad sectors.
- SD card is corrupted due to file system error.
Steps to fix 'Can't format SD card to fat32 MAC':
There are several techniques to fix this problem. The most common and safe technique is to take the help of utility software available with OS X.
Step 1: The first step in this is to connect your SD card with your MAC. Some MACs are available with an option of a built-in SD slot. If you are using one among those, well for you and if not. No need to worry, we are having an alternate solution for you, in which you can use an external SD card cartridge. Still, if you can't able to make it then you can go with a USB SD card reader.
Step 2: Now open utility disk app which is inbuilt in the MAC OS X. For this go for Applications, then click on the utilities and there you will find the Disk utility option. You can directly open it from the top right side of your screen, in search option by typing 'Disk Utility'
Step 3: Now identify your SD card from the list of available drives on the left side of the Disk Utility screen. Then click on it, this will show you the available storage in your device. With this, you can also match the storage of your inserted card to the chosen one, for confirming that you had chosen the right card option. Generally, the name will be NO NAME or Untitled as shown in the image.
Step 4: Now choose Erase function from the functions list at the top.
Step 5: Now enter the name of your SD card that you want to assign from the name field option. This is an optional step.
Step 6: Now choose ExFAT, as a file system format from the Format drop-down menu as shown below.
Step 7: Now hit erase and the process of erasing data begins as shown below.
Step 8: Once the above process you will get a message of completion as shown below. Now your card is ready to use.
Recover Accidentally Formatted SD Card Files.
Sometimes there arise certain situations when you accidentally formatted your card and lose all of your data. Then you probably wonder what to do now? Or there arise certain circumstances when someone formats your SD card mistakenly?
Many times you tried a lot of software, but of no use at all. Also, you tried several techniques but still not able to recover your crucial information. What happens is, you lose hope and give it up.
If this is the situation, with you, don't worry we have a guaranteed solution for you with a detailed structure.
First of all, you need to know is, the data from your SD card is not gone permanently. It is just a temporary process that takes place and can be reversed easily. If a proper technique or software or a combination of both is used.
What you need to do is to simply install Recoverit for MAC that is available for download on Wondershare.com on your single click, and follow some of the easy steps as given below. Make sure these steps should be followed in the same order, as mentioned.
Talking about 'Recoverit', It is one of the best data recovery tools, that provides you the facility to recover your data from systems like systems and even crashed systems. Not only this Recoverit Data Recovery Ultimate provides you a facility to recover even fragmented videos and is also capable of fixing and repairing damaged or corrupt videos for you.
Launch 'Recoverit' on MAC: The first step you need to follow is to install 'Recoverit' on your MAC. After the successful installation of this software on your MAC, Double click on 'Recoverit icon' that is shown up. If you can't find it, then go for a finder, and then select applications, there you will find Recoverit easily. Now double click it to open.
Now you have to follow three simple steps to recover your crucial information from your SD card, as mentioned below:
- Initially, you need to select a target location
- Then you have to Scan the location
- Finally, go for a Preview and recover data
Got it!
If not, no worries. Let us discuss each step in detail that makes up easy for you.
- Select the SD card you want to format: For this, go for data scanning and searching option and then choose your SD card as a target location. You will find a dialogue box that appears before you as shown below.
- Scan the removable media: It is an All-round scan that usually takes a few minutes. During this process, you are provided with an option of the filter and locate files of your choice as shown below.
- Preview and recover files: After the above process, you are provided with a preview function in which a lot of files will be there that includes Pictures, videos, movies, images, audio, documents, and so on.
Here you need to select the files you want o recover. For this just click and select the required files and just simply click on 'Restore'. You can also opt for all files of if particular files are selected then these selected files will be restored. Finally, you get your data back.
Conclusion
Today we live in a digital world, where data is stored digitally. Digital data occupies less space, can be stored on cloud storage and, can be encrypted. But at the same time, it carries a lot of problems and one among them is the problem of erased data or accidental formatting. For these cases, precision is required, especially for your SD card. Here you are provided with a resolute dossier on how to format SD card to FAT32 on Mac that makes your task easy.
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