How to Format USB for Mac and PC on Windows 10

Need to use USB on both Mac and PC

 

I have a USB drive and want to use it on both Mac and PC. If the USB drive is formatted as an HFS+ file system, Windows computer will not support it. But if it is formatted as NTFS, it will not be fully supported in the Mac operating system. How do I format USB drives for Mac and PC on Windows? In other words, how to make an external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC?”

 

exFAT and FAT32 can be supported by Mac and PC

By default, Mac use HFS+, while PC usually use NTFS. If you have a USB drive and plan to use it on Mac and PC, then you need to find a file system supported by both Mac and PC, otherwise it will not be recognized.

Fortunately, there are two file systems supported by Mac and PC. In other words, you can use USB with one of the file systems to easily access Windows and Mac and transfer data. You need to format the USB as exFAT or FAT32, both of which are supported by Mac and PC. But what are the specific differences between exFAT and FAT32? Please refer to the table below:

Major File System Comparison

So, if someone asks does exFAT work on Mac and PC? The answer is absolutely yes. exFAT is the file system available for all versions of Windows and macOS（Requires Mac OS X version 10.6.6 and above）and does not have any maximum file size or partition size restrictions, especially when you need to save files larger than 4 GB, exFAT is the most suitable.

Now, you already know that exFAT is the ideal file system. But do you know how to format USB to exFAT? Below I will introduce you two methods to format the USB, one is to use the third-party program AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, and the other is to use Windows built-in utility Diskpart.

Two simple ways to format USB for both Mac and PC on Windows

Before starting, please connect the USB to Windows to make sure that the USB can be detected. Please note that this operation will erase all data on the USB, if you have important data, please back it up in advance.

│Format USB drive via AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard（Support Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP) is a free and professional disk management software. It offers a variety of formatting options, allowing the use of FAT32 and exFAT formatted USBs, and allowing inter-conversion between the two options. It breaks through the limitations of Windows built-in tools and formats 32GB drives with ease.

It does not carry any bundled software, but with a friendly interface, any user can use it easily. You can free download the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard to see how it works.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click the partition you want to format, and select Format Partition. 

Step 2. Choose the exFAT file systemon this page（If you want to format to FAT32 file system, then please choose FAT32.） You are allowed to edit the partition labels and select cluster size at the same time. Click OK.

Step 3. Preview the result. Click Apply and then proceed after your confirmation. The process will be completed in a short while.

In addition to formatting, it also has many practical functions, such as: Merge Partition, Disk Clone, Migrate OS from MBR disk to MBR SSD or HDD. If you want to Recover Lost Partition, Convert FAT32 to NTFS without Data Loss, please upgrade to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

│Format USB drive with Diskpart

In addition to using AOMEI Partition Assistant to format the USB, Diskpart is also a good choice. But you need to note that Diskpart does not support formatting USB drives larger than 32G to FAT32. Please make sure that each parameter is correct when entering command parameters to avoid irreparable data loss. If you need to format a heavy rain 32GB USB drive using a simple and fast method, please choose method 1.

Step 1. Press “Windows” + “R” to open the Run dialogue. Type “diskpart” in the Run dialogue, and hit Enter.

Step 2. In the Diskpart window, input the following commands and hit Enter after each command.

● list disk
● select disk X,  X is the disk number of the USB drive.
● list partition
● select partition Y, Y is the number of partition going to be formatted.
● format fs=exFAT quick

Tips: If you need to format it to FAT32, replace the last command with “format fs=fat32”.

Step 3. Type “exit” to close this window.

Format USB on Mac for Windows  - Disk Utility

If you want to format USBs on your Mac that can be used for both Windows and Mac, try Disk Utility. This is a tool for macOS that can format drives, repair damaged discs, and verify disc integrity.

Step 1. Access Disk Utility on your Mac computer: Click on the "Spotlight" icon on the menu bar.

Step 2. Type "Disk Utility" in the search bar. Double-click and open Disk Utility - Utilities.

Step 3. Select the USB drive to format and delete all data from the USB device.

Step 4. Name and select the exFAT or FAT32 formatting option.

Step 5. Click Erase and start formatting USB on Mac for Windows.

Conclusion

You can use Diskpart and AOMEI Partition Assistant to format USB for Mac and PC on Windows. Obviously, using AOMEI Partition Assistant has fewer restrictions on formatting USB drives. When formatting the USB to FAT32, you don't need to worry about the 32 GB partition size limit of AOMEI products.