How to Properly Format a USB Drive for Mac OS X

Formatting a USB drive involves the process of erasing all existing data on the device and configuring it with a new file system. This procedure essentially resets the USB drive and creates a file system that allows the operating system to read and write data on the disk. Formatting a USB can be useful for various reasons such as removing viruses or malware that may have infected the drive, repairing corrupted or damaged sectors that may cause errors or data loss, changing the file system to make the drive compatible with different operating systems or devices, creating partitions to organize the data or install multiple operating systems on the same disk, and increasing the performance or reliability of the disk by optimizing the allocation of space and resources.

Steps to Format a USB Drive on Mac

Here are the steps to format a USB drive on Mac:

Insert a USB drive into a USB port.

Open the Finder.

Click on This PC from the left pane.

Under the Disk Utility, use the sidebar to find your USB drive.

In the main area, click on the Erase button in the toolbar.

Give the drive a name if you'd like, such as 'backup.' If you want native Mac compatibility, choose “MAC OS Extended (Journaled)” as the file system type. Then click on Erase.

Let Disk Utility erase the drive. Depending on the type of disk, this may either be very quick or take some time. Be patient until it finishes.

When finished, click on Done.

Once formatting is complete, the USB flash drive will be prepared to store documents, pictures, videos, and other files on the removable drive.

Choosing the Right File System for Your USB Drive

If you’re planning to use your pen drive only on Apple computers, the native format Mac OS Extended (officially called HFS since Mac edition 8.1) is a suitable choice. However, if the drive is formatted on a Mac and needs to be used on Windows, FAT is the better choice. Note that formatting a USB stick on a Mac is the same on all systems. If there are still files on the flash drive, they will be deleted during the formatting process. You should therefore save any files you may need somewhere else first.

Understanding Disk Utility

MacOS has a built-in tool for managing external storage media like USB sticks: the Disk Utility program. Follow the below steps to format the pen drive on Mac:

First, connect the pen drive to the Mac.

Open Disk Utility on the Mac from /Applications/Utilities/ or with Spotlight.

Select the pen drive you want to format from the left sidebar.

Click the Erase button in the toolbar.