In the modern world, everyone knows what a flash drive is, and uses it, if not every day, then very often. Sometimes flash drives have to be formatted in order to get a completely clean media and do it quickly, without deleting files and folders one by one.
To get a clean flash card in Windows, just click the "Format" item in the context menu and wait for the process to finish, but on Mac OS this item is not in the context menu. As a result, new users of Apple's operating system often have a question - how to format a USB flash drive on a Mac?
It is not much more difficult to do this than on Windows, and this instruction will convince you of this.
To get a formatted USB flash drive, you do not need to install any additional programs and perform complex actions - everything is much simpler. The algorithm of actions is as follows.
1. Connect the USB flash drive to a computer running Mac OS
2. Find and open the program "Disk Utility"... This program is installed by default on all Mac OS computers. To do this, press the keyboard shortcut ctrl + space and in the Spotlight popup start typing the title "Disk Utility" or just open this program via Finder -> Programs -> Utilities -> Disk Utility.
3. In the opened window of the "Disk Utility" program on the left, find your USB flash drive. On the right side, open the tab "Erase", select the file system format and the name of the flash drive and click the button below "Erase".
4. Confirm your intention to format the flash drive in the pop-up message.
That's all. As a result of these actions, your flash drive is completely formatted and ready to work again.
If you have to work on both Mac and Windows, then you have probably come across a situation where the files written to the USB flash drive of one of the computers cannot be read on the other. What is the matter and how to solve this problem - read below.
If the files on the flash drive cannot be read, do not rush to blame the flash drive itself for everything. The thing is, Mac and Windows use different default file systems by default. If the flash drive is written on a Windows computer, then it is formatted in NTFS or FAT32, on a Mac - in NFS +. It is because of this difference in formats that problems arise.
Let's look at a common case when you need to work on a Mac with a USB flash drive recorded on a Windows computer.
Most likely, the flash drive is formatted in NTFS (FAT32 is found mainly on older computers). By default, a Mac can work with this file system only in read mode, that is, you will not be able to write data to a USB flash drive. Here special software can help out - namely, a program from the famous company Paragon. The program is not free, it costs $ 19.95, but it has a trial period during which you can decide whether to buy the application or not. After installing the program, the Mac will fully work with flash drives formatted in NTFS.
If the flash drive is formatted in FAT32, then everything is much easier here, since the Mac supports this file system. True, there is still one limitation, but it is not connected with Mac or Windows, but with the FAT32 standard. The fact is that this file system was developed quite a long time ago, and did not imply the exchange of large data. Therefore, it will not be possible to write a file larger than 4 GB to a USB flash drive formatted in FAT32.
To eliminate this disadvantage and maintain compatibility with Mac, a new format was developed - ExFAT, which can be considered ideal for removable drives, which are often used interchangeably on Mac and Windows. Both operating systems work with it without problems, the only thing is that very old computers do not recognize this file system - with OS X 10.6.5 and below and Windows with versions below XP with SP2. To format a USB flash drive in ExFAT on a Mac, just open Disk Utility, select the flash drive you need, then select erase and specify the ExFAT file system in the Format section. Likewise, you can format a USB flash drive in any other format.
For Windows users who are faced with the need to work with flash drives created on a Mac in the NFS + format (Mac OS Extended), you will need a program. It is also not free, and even very expensive - $ 49.99, but there is also a trial period, however, only for 5 days.
For a long time, disks and floppy disks have been replaced by flash media, which allow you to store and transfer information. We will tell you how to open a USB flash drive on a computer on various operating systems and devices.
Step-by-step instruction
Insert the USB stick into the USB port. It is usually found next to the microphone and headphone jacks. After that, click the "Start" button and go to "My Computer". It can also be done from the desktop. Among all the other discs, you will see that there is a new one, for example, "KINGSTON (F)". It may be called differently depending on how the flash drive is renamed. Left-click on the image of the removable disk, after which its contents will open in front of you. This opens a USB flash drive on the Windows operating system.
How to open a USB flash drive on Linux OS?
Removable media on almost all operating systems open the same way. However, if you are using a Linux system, it can be tricky.
The flash drive can be opened from autorun, or go to computer: //, where you need to select a device to open. If removable media is not detected, download and install drivers that will support the operation of such devices. After installation, the computer needs to be rebooted, and the USB flash drive must be opened in some file manager.
How to open a USB flash drive on Android and MacBook?
The instruction is relevant for those who use a tablet or phone on an android. The first step is to install a file manager. This can be the X-plore File Manager application or the ES File Explorer program. With their help, you can go to the USB flash drive.
Do you own a MacBook? Then you will open the removable disk as follows: connect the USB flash drive to any USB port, after a few seconds it will be reflected on the desktop screen as an icon. Click on it twice, and the contents of the files recorded on this disc will be displayed in front of you.
If you are interested in how to open a hidden USB flash drive, then remember the sequence of actions: open a removable disk, select the "Tools" section on the toolbar, then "Folder Options", "View", "Additional Options". Find the line "Hide protected system files" and uncheck the box, and in the line "Show hidden files and folders", on the contrary, you need to check it. Save your changes.
The OS X operating system is always ready to offer its users several ways to accomplish the same task at once. As a result, everyone can choose the one that they like best. This greatly improves the usability of the system.
As you know, in OS X it is extremely undesirable to simply pull out a USB flash drive (as well as any other external drive - a hard drive or memory card) after you finish working with it. This can lead to undesirable consequences such as data loss. Before providing you with access to the contents of the drive, the system first mounts its image. And this image must first be disabled before pulling out the drive from the USB connector. If it is removed incorrectly, the system will display a corresponding message.
And even such an ordinary operation as the correct removal of a USB flash drive in OS X can be done in several ways at once. And to be more precise, there are six such methods at once. In fact, there are even more of them, but these six are the most convenient for everyday use.
Drag & Drop
Probably one of the easiest and most convenient ways. Just take the drive icon on your desktop and "throw" it into the trash can. By the way, the latter in this case changes its appearance to an eject icon. After the icon is removed, the drive can be safely removed from the USB connector.
Shortcut keys
Everything is quite simple here. Select the icon of the drive you want to remove and press the key combination Command + E. Lovers of shortcuts will especially like this method.
Finder window
All connected drives are always displayed in Finder windows, in the side menu. And next to them there is always an eject button (eject icon). Just click on it.
Context menu
Right-click on the drive icon and select "Eject" in the context menu that appears. The context menu can also be called up in the window displaying the contents of the drive.
Main menu
This method is similar to the previous one. Only the context menu is not used, but the main one (located at the top of the screen). Select the drive icon or go to the window with its contents and use the "File" - "Extract" menu.
Disk utility
The most inconvenient way, we give it rather “for quantity”. For it, you need to use the disk utility, which is available in the "Programs" - "Utilities" folder. It is part of the standard set of OS X programs and is designed to manage the storage devices used on the computer.
Launch the utility, find the desired drive in the side menu, right-click on it and select "Eject".
Another way
In fact, there is one more, seventh way. But it is only suitable for owners of desktop Macs and outdated laptop models. You need to use the Eject button on the keyboard for ejecting optical discs. In the case of flash drives, the Option + Eject key combination is pressed. Modern laptop models without optical drives do not have this button, respectively.
There are also some other techniques. For example, to eject a drive, you can give the appropriate command in the "Terminal". But all this is not very convenient, and it is not necessary for a simple user.
If not retrieved
In some cases, the drive may refuse to disconnect. This usually happens due to the fact that an application is using it. Close it and try removing the drive again. As a last resort, when you still cannot find the application you need, you can try to reboot the system.
Another reason why the drive may not want to be removed is that other images were mounted from it. Disconnect them first (using any of the above methods), and then take care of the drive itself.
Whatever cloud technologies you use, sometimes you still need the most ordinary flash drive, with which you can transfer data from one computer to another and vice versa.
With the MacBook Pro 2016+ (MacBook 2015+), this is quite difficult to do, because Apple engineers replaced the usual USB-A with Type-C in it. But you can't buy a regular "C" flash drive due to backward compatibility issues with other devices. Problem.
I found easy way out, which turned out to be as inexpensive and convenient as possible.
Branded USB-C - USB-A flash drives are quite expensive
Of course, the most obvious way out in this case is to purchase a proprietary universal flash drive for USB-C and USB-A. And top manufacturers offer plenty of similar solutions.
One of the smartest options I considered was the Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3C flash drive. But its cost starts from 1 thousand rubles, which seemed to me enough expensive purchase.
But the most offensive thing is that, like many of you, I already have dozens of various flash drives that I bought, received as a gift, and even just accidentally found earlier.
Do you really have to just take them all and throw them away? As you can see from the photo, no! ...
Convert a regular USB-A flash drive to USB-C for cheap
To make a universal flash drive for the new MacBook, I took the smallest SanDisk drive that used to stick out in my old car's radio tape recorder.
In addition to him, I needed the simplest USB-A to USB-C adapter in the same compact format. My colleague Yuri Andreev is in detail about a good option.
There are plenty of options on AliExpress. I bought an adapter for 100 rubles, Yure got a similar one for 70. Look, I advise you only to pay attention to the support of the USB 3.0 standard.
And do not take the ones outlined with the left logos, they look dumb.
Non-obvious benefits if you don't look at the price
As a result, I got a compact universal flash drive, which is always lying around in my backpack - just in case of fire. As I said above, sometimes you still need it.
But, unlike a proprietary solution like the Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3C, this has an obvious advantage - in addition to a flash drive, you have always with you adapter.
By and large, most of the rest of the bulky adapters (like this one) can now not be carried with you at all. To connect anything to a new MacBook via USB-A, even such a solution is enough.
Nevertheless, my "incredible invention" still has some drawbacks.
Disadvantages of the solution that came out to me after all
The adapter I'm using is USB-A does not fit completely... It turned out to be smaller than necessary, so not only the top of the flash drive but also a part of the "pin" sticks out of it a little. Weird.
And the flash drive in the adapter does not hold 100% tightly. In a backpack, "dad" does not fly out of "mom", but in the hands it seems that the design is not reliable enough.
And the last thing - if someone needs to reset something to you from their USB-A, it is better to give him a USB flash drive without an adapter. And she is very small and can easily get lost.
But in total, I was more than satisfied, and I recommend a similar solution to you. Try it.
