Thus, Mac OS Extended is the most suitable file system to be used for formatting backup drives. So, if you have a drive that is to be used with Macs running on earlier versions of Mac OS than macOS High Sierra, then you should only format it using Mac OS Extended. Moreover, all mechanical drives should be formatted using Mac OS Extended too.
Not every USB drive can be used on Mac out of the box -- you need to format the drive to make sure it's compatible with the MacOS extended file system. And here in this article, we'll offer you a full guide on how to format a USB Drive on Mac. Besides, in case you lose important data due to formatting, we have a professional data recovery tool to help you recover data from a formatted USB drive on Mac.
Bonus: How to Recover Lost Data After Formatting USB Drive
Part 1. What You Should Do First Before Formatting USB Drive on Mac
Make sure that уоu know clearly whаt уоu are doing whеn you begin the whole formatting process, which will еrаѕе your еntirе hаrd drivе.
1a) Mac OS Extended(Journaled) is also HFS+, but it has an extra mechanism that avoids corruption of the file system when something bad happens, such as loss of power. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or HFS Plus is a file system developed by Apple Inc. With the release of the Mac OS X 10.2.2 update on November 11, 2002, Apple added optional journaling features to HFS Plus for improved data reliability. The formatting decides the way the files are stored on your hard disk. The disk drive in the system is formatted with a file system other than Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or it is formatted as Case-sensitive. AutoCAD installation on Case-sensitive volumes is not supported. Starting with Mac OS 10.5, the default file system is HFS+ or Mac OS Extended. Mac OS Extended – Journaled. This HFS+ has an extra feature that helps your drive avoid file system corruption during unfortunate circumstances. Mac OS Extended – Case-sensitive, Journaled, & Encrypted. This format has all three features of the file systems above.
To avoid formatting the wrong disk, firstly remove the USB drive from Mac, check the title of other storage disks, then insert the USB disk again and note the name of the disk. Next, drag the USB data to a safe location for backup/recovery measures before formatting it. Then you are set to get it done!
Part 2. What Is the Best Format for USB Drive on Mac?
You'll be given several format options when you try to format a USB drive on Mac, including Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled), Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted), Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted), MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT. If you are using macOS 10.13 or later, you'll also see an option named APFS, which is the default file system of macOS 10.13 and later.
1APFS (Apple File System)
APFS is a new file system for macOS. It's the most appropriate format for SSD. However, you need the latest macOS to write to this file system. If you're sure that you don't need to use it on a Mac running old version in the future, then you can format your USB drive to APFS.
2Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) & Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
Mac OS X Extended, aka HFS+, is the default file system before APFS for macOS 10.12 and earlier. It doesn't put a limit on the size of files you can save on the drive, which is the greatest advantage. Windows-running computers can read the files formatted to Mac OS X Extended but can't write to them. And this file system is necessary if you plan on using the drive for Time Machine backups.
The biggest difference between Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled) is the latter one is case-sensitive to folder names. For example, 'file' is different from 'File'. Therefore, if you do not have special needs, just ignore this option.
3Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) & Mac OS X Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
These two are basically the same with the previous two but with encryption, which means you have to provide the password whenever you connect the drive to your Mac.
4MS-DOS (FAT)
This is Disk Utility's name for FAT32 file system. As the most widely compatible file system, it suits both Windows operating system and macOS. Therefore one can easily transfer data between PC and Mac using a USB drive formatted this way. However, a USB drive formatted to FAT32 doesn't support long file names and an individual file cannot be larger than 4GB.
5ExFAT
ExFAT is the improved version of the older FAT32, which offers larger storage space and supports files larger than 4GB. Of course it also supports transferring files between PC and Mac as a cross-platform file system.
To arrive at a conclusion, if you need to transfer smaller files between operating systems, choose MS-DOS (FAT) or FAT32. And with no doubt, ExFAT will be the best format for USB drive on Mac for larger files.
Part 3. How to Format USB to FAT32/ExFAT on Mac
As earlier stated, you need to first back up your USB drive before formatting it as the formatting operation will wipe all the data. Now, you can follow the steps highlighted below to get the USB successfully formatted.
Method 1: Format a USB Drive on Mac OS with Disk Utility
Step 1: Insert the USB waiting to be formatted to a Mac computer.
Step 2: Navigate to Applications > Utilities, and click it twice to open it.
Step 3: Select the drive you want to format and click on Erase.
Step 4: Rename the USB drive (optional), and choose one file system from the options.
Step 5: Then select Master Boot Record for scheme, hit Erase.
Step 6: Once the process is done, you are ready to use the drive with new file system to store data again.
Method 2: Convert/Format USB Drive to FAT32/ExFAT
Step 1: Connect the USB drive to your Mac computer.
Step 2: Click on cmd + space to run Spotlight, input terminal then tap Enter key.
Step 3: Type diskutil list to find the location of your USB drive (eg: dev/disk2 is the USB drive in the below picture).
Step 4: Type sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 MBRFormat /dev/disk2.
sudo gives you user right.
Diskutil calls disk utility program.
eraseDisk commands the formatting.
FAT32 sets the file system.
MBRFormat tells disk utility to format with a Master Boot Record.
/dev/disk2 is the location of the USB drive.
Note: You can replace FAT32 with ExFAT in the command, and your USB drive will be formatted in that way.
After the process completes, type diskutil list in command once more to check if the USB drive has been formatted successfully.
Bonus: How to Recover Lost Data After Formatting USB Drive
Formatting a USB drive is never an easy task and problems tend to arise from time to time, among which data loss is perhaps the most common one. Users format a USB drive by mistake or directly format it without doing any backup job and both mistakes will cause data loss disaster. This issue will worry us even more when there are important files we cannot offord to lose. If this is the case, you'll need a professional data recovery software to help you get back lost files, and AnyRecover is what you need exactly. With this software, anyone can recover all kinds of data from formatted USB drive on Mac with only 3 simple steps.
As a comprehensive Mac data recovery solution, it handles all data loss scenarios, including formatting USB drive, hard drive failure, and Mac crash.
Mac Os Journaled Windows 10
All-round and deep scan ensures high recovery rate, and sophisticated algorithms contribute to quick scanning speed.
Supports data recovery on all types of USB drives in various file formats like NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, and ExFAT.
Apfs Vs Mac Os Journaled
Brings back the lost photos, videos, documents, compressed files, etc. - numerous kinds of data from formatted USB drive easily.
Provides preview before recovery and enables selective recovery.
NoteAnyRecover offers free trial for every user, with which one can scan, preview and recover 3 files for free. Just download and have a try! The more time for hesitation, the less possibility for your lost data to get back!
Follow the simple steps below to recover data after formatting USB drive on mac:
Step 1: Make sure you have connected your USB drive to your Mac successfully. Download, install and launch AnyRecover. Then select the formatted USB drive you are trying to recover data from as the location to find data. Press the 'Start' button to initiate the scanning.
Step 2: The software will immediately begin the scanning process. You can pause the process at any time and resume from that point later.
Step 3: Immediately after the scanning process is complete, all the files will be listed in their respective file formats and folders. Freely preview and choose what to recover by clicking on 'Recover' button.
Final Words
Formatting is a complicated process indeed but by clearing your mind and then follow the steps as listed out in the article, you can successfully format a USB drive on Mac without much difficulty or errors. Loss of data may come as a nightmare but AnyRecover is powerful enough to help you out. In fact, not just after you format a USB drive, it can work wonders whenever you lose data. Try it and you won't be disappointed.
Are you having trouble creating Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and APFS partitions using Disk Utility? If so, you can create a Mac OS Extended partition using GParted, then convert to APFS using Disk Utility.Disk Utility
Disk Utility is a disk utility on macOS operating system. It supports creating, splitting, merging, resizing, deleting and formatting partitions on the hard disk. Disk Utility only supports partition creation and formatting for Mac OS Extended (Journaled), exFAT, MS-DOS (FAT) and since MacOS High Sierra (10.13), it supports APFS.
If you are a Linux user or operating systems other than macOS, you probably use another tool. In another case, if you are using a Seagate, WD My Passport or any other hard drive that you previously partitioned with another tool. Disk Utility will report MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation. This error occurs because the partitions created do not comply with Apple’s partition policy. In this case, you can use other tools instead of Disk Utility.
In this article, I will guide you to create a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition with GParted. If you want to install macOS High Sierra or later versions, just use the Convert to APFS feature on Disk Utility.
GParted
GParted is a well known disk partitioning program. It supports many partition formats such as FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, Ext4 and of course supports Mac OS Extended. We can use GParted to create Mac OS Extended partitions in just a few simple steps.
GParted comes pre-installed on many Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint… If you already have GParted installed, just use it. If not, you can download GParted or 4MParted ISO files then integrate into AIO Boot. You should use these two operating systems, as they have pre-installed programs that support the format. If you use GParted on Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian, you need to install hfsprogs.
The format of Mac OS Extended is HFS+. There are some commercial softwares that support creating HFS + partitions on Windows, but GParted is free. Now we will create the HFS+ partition with GParted.
- Run GParted and select the hard disk in the dropdown list at the top right. My hard disk is /dev/sda.
- You can only create new partitions if your hard disk has unallocated space. Right-click on the unallocated space and select New. You can also format existing partitions to HFS+. Right-click the existing partition, select Format to, and then select hfs+. Or delete the existing partition to recreate it.
- Select hfs+ in the File system. Then select and enter some information for the other items you want.
- Click Add, then click Apply to apply the changes.
The Mac OS Extended partition created by GParted will not be journaled. However, we can use Disk Utility to Enable Journaling. Or use the following command to format Mac OS Extended to Mac OS Extended (Journaled):
/dev/sdaX is the partition you want to format.
Convert to APFS
From the MacOS High Sierra version, Apple announced a new file system called APFS. By default, macOS High Sierra can only be installed on an APFS partition. You can use Disk Utility to convert Mac OS Extended partitions to APFS without losing data.
If the Mac OS Extended partition is not Journaled, please journaled it first. Run Disk Utility, select the Mac OS Extended partition in the left column, then select File and select Enable Journaling.
Now you can convert Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partitions to APFS without losing data. Just select Edit and select Convert to APFS…
By using GParted with the simple steps above, we can easily create Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partitions and many other formats that Disk Utility does not support. If you need to create macOS High Sierra bootable USB from Windows, you can try Clover Boot Disk. Good luck!