The "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" option will have the highest degree of support for Mac OS X features, and there's no limit to the size of files you can put on the drive.ĭisadvantages: Windows-running PCs can read files from drives formatted this way, but they can't write to them (at least not without the same amount of work it takes to get OS X to write to NTFS-formatted drives). You can even set up an OS X startup drive if you have the right files, the know-how, and a big enough flash drive, which will allow you to boot your Mac off an external disk if something goes wrong with your built-in drive. It also includes support for features from OS X Lion, such as Versions.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - This is the default file system format for Mac OS X drives.Īdvantages: Formatting your USB flash drive this way will give you full interoperability with Macs. I'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the other three formats below.
Unless you have extraordinary needs, you can safely ignore two of them: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) and Free Space. There are several possible file system formats you can use for a USB flash drive, and changing them in Disk Utility is as easy as selecting the number of partitions you want on the drive (usually just one), picking the format you want for the drive, and clicking "Apply." Note that this will erase all information on the drive, so make absolutely sure you've got copies of everything before moving forward.ĭisk Utility gives you five different choices for drive formats in OS X Lion. If the drive is listed as NTFS-formatted, you're going to need to format it to something else if you want full compatibility with Mac OS X. If the drive's format comes up as MS-DOS (FAT) or, less likely, ExFAT, you may be able to simply leave the drive as-is and not bother reformatting it. Your new drive should appear in the left-hand column, and clicking the "Partition" tab will bring up info on the drive which includes its current format. How do you tell which format your brand-new USB drive has? Hook it up to your Mac and launch the Disk Utility app, located in your Utilities folder (which is in Applications). If the drive comes formatted in NTFS, which is the default file system for Windows, you're going to want to re-format the drive because Mac OS X can't write files to NTFS-formatted volumes (at least not without a bunch of extra work that's beyond the scope of this article).
The first format, FAT32, is fully compatible with Mac OS X, though with some drawbacks that we'll discuss later. I don't think it's complicated using that format tool script.The overwhelming majority of USB flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats: FAT32 or NTFS. You'll need to type 10 or 11 or 12 and so on to format you disk. DMG()Ĭhoose your option (press any other key to exit) UNMOUNT DISK (2) (You need to EJECT the DISK2 before to FORMAT) DMG FILE AT /Volumes/SSD_1TB/_syncFolders/_bash/mac_format_tool (Select this file if you're going to use a. IMG FILE AT /Volumes/SSD_1TB/_syncFolders/_bash/mac_format_tool (Select this file if you're going to use a.
ISO FILE AT /Volumes/SSD_1TB/_syncFolders/_bash/mac_format_tool (Select this file if you're going to use a. LIST DISKS AND SELECT THE DISK(2) TO BE FORMATTED DMG file will be used to format the DISK(2)) IMG file will be used to format the DISK(2)) ISO file will be used to format the DISK(2)) SELECTED DISK: /DEV/DISK(2) (This disk will be formatted with the. # OSX FORMAT TOOL # DISK SELECTED: /DEV/DISK2 # You'll need to clone that repository and follow the procedures below using command line in Terminal: # Cloning the repo: I had to make a script in order to format my USB and SD cards properly. Most of the time, the mac "Disk Utility" doesn't do the job. This does not properly reformat the disk since the partition table isn’t modified. Others may suggest just to click the erase tab.OS X’s Disk Utility does not offer this as an option. An NTFS filesystem is read only in an OS X environment.
Additionally, in a windows environment, the FAT32 filesystem is subject to more fragmentation.
It supports files of up to 16 exabytes in size.
Or just type in “Disk Utility" in Spotlight. It’s located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Note that reformatting the thumb drive will erase all it’s contents.