1. To do it on the Mac, plug in the flash drive, and open Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder). The drive should appear in the list on the left of the DU window. Select the drive, then click the Erase tab. On that tab, select MS-DOS (FAT) as the volume format, choose a disk name if you want to, then click Erase, and wait.
2. Insert the flash drive or hard drive you want to format for Windows compatibility. Go to the Applications folder on your Mac’s hard drive, then go to the Utilities folder, and launch Disk Utility. Select the drive you want to format. Warning: the following steps will delete any info you currently have on the drive.

If you are merely freeing up space or getting rid of viruses in your flash drive, simply select the previous format. Now, have you decided which format would best suit you and your Mac? If you have, refer to our step-by-step guide on how to format a flash drive on Mac. Step 1: Plug the flash drive into the USB port.

You can format the external hard drive or USB drive to make it compatible with both Mac and Windows machines. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesn’t worry it’s not complex.

If you are tech savvy and use Windows and Mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between Mac and PC. Windows and macOS filesystems are different and you might need to format the drive every time to use on both platforms. You don’t need to format the hard drive every time you can choose a filesystem while formatting the drive so the hard drive or USB drive work on both Mac and PC

So to get rid of these situations we bring here a guide that will help you to format your drive which works on both platforms and you don’t need to format and backup data every time. After cross-compatible formatting, simply unplug the drive from one machine and then plug it into another. Sounds good to you right? So let’s started, how this works.

Understand file systems for Mac and Windows

There are three common file system types to format an external USB or hard drive, SSD drive, SD card and etc. FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT let’s have a look what’s the difference between these formats.

FAT 32 Format

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This format is pretty old but supported and it’s not efficient as compared to NTFS. It doesn’t support big features but offers great compatibility which means it’s compatible with all versions of Windows. It can only support 4GB file size and up to 8TB hard drivers. It’s not capable to store files larger than 4GB.

NTFS Format

NTFS is a modern format system and Windows also uses this format for itself and for other non-removable drives by default. This format is also compatible with all versions of Windows but limited to none Windows OS as FAT32.

exFAT Format

exFAT drives are faster at reading and writing as compared to FAT32. This format can store large files and it’s also lightweight. It’s compatible with all versions of Windows and the best thing it’s along with Windows it’s also compatible with macOS, Linux, and Android, etc.

• If your drive is formatted as Windows default format NTFS then it’s only readable to macOS. You can’t do more than that or you have to install a separate app on Mac to read write the drive.
• Drive with macOS format HFS+ cant readable to Windows.
• FAT32 format works on both Windows and Mac but the problem is you can only work with files with a maximum size of 4GB.

Learn more: Copy data on NTFS drive in macOS

FAT32 is much better than NTFS and HFS+ becuase it works on both operating systems. You can also install drivers on each OS to make work your drive. So exFAT is much better than all of these formats and a simple option but this will not work on Leopard.

Format a USB Drive on Mac

Time needed: 5 minutes.

First, let’s see how to format an external hard drive or USB drive in macOS which works with both Mac and PC platforms, first plug-in your drive into a macOS machine.

1. Disk Utility

   Open Disk Utility on your macOS, press cmd + spacebar keys, and type Disk Utility in the spotlight search. Open Disk Utility from the search results.

2. Erase Drive

   On the Disk Utility interface, select an external drive click on the Erase button from the top of the window (make sure and backup your drive before erasing it).

3. Drive format

   Now enter the name for the external drive which will be used after formatting and also select the exFAT for Format option and click on the Erase. This will format the drive as exFAT format and your drive is now compatible with both platforms.

Format USB Drive in Windows

The below steps for formatting external drive is for Windows 10 and also works the same with an old version of Windows. To format your external drive hard drive in Windows to use on Mac and PC platforms, first plug-in your drive with a Windows machine.

Open the Disk Management tool by right-clicking on the start menu icon and then select Disk Management. Now right click on the external drive and click on the format option (double-check the drive name and capacity to make sure you are going to format the right drive.)

Now enter the Volume label as you need and change the File system for exFat and click OK. Now you are done.

Share your experience, how do you use an external hard drive on both Mac and PC. Did you format the drive as exFAT ? or use any utility that helps the system to read another type of file system. Please leave a comment below.

USB flash drives are often used for the same purposes for which floppy disks or CDs were once used, i.e., for storage, data back-up and transfer of computer files. They are smaller, faster, have thousands of times more capacity, and are more durable and reliable because they have no moving parts. Some camcorder lovers want to copy MTS or M2TS video files to USB sticks. But USB does not accept MTS/M2TS video files. Luckily, you can get the solution from this guide.

How to Copy MTS/M2TS to USB sticks(USB Flash Drive)

Now is a digital life. With advanced tecnoloy, Pavtube Video Converter can copy your MTS/M2TS to USB sticks (USB Flash Drive) by converting MTS/M2TS from various camcorders to USB sticks (USB Flash Drive) supported video file like MP4 format.

Besides, this program also can convert other videos like MKV, MOV, XAVC, MXF, H.265, MP4 etc and FLAC, AAC, AC3, DTS etc to USB supported video and audio. What’s more, the program also beneficially offer fully optimized presets format settings for mainstream devices or apps such as iPhone, iPad, Android/Samsung phone and tablet, TV, game consoles, VR, editors, online websites, etc. so it's extremely easy for you to recognize the one to fit your requirement. There is no need for you to know which parameters are suitable, even if you’re a complete newbie for technical parameters towards media formats.

Mac user can get Pavtube Video Converter for Mac to copy MTS/M2TS to USB on Mac.

Free download this MTS/M2TS video converter for USB (Windows)

• Convert MTS/M2TS to USB supported video file
• Convert MTS/M2TS to Windows Movie Maker, Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas Pro, Avid MC, Resolve, GoPro Studio etc supported video
• Convert MTS/M2TS to MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, FLV, WMV, H.265 and more.
• Edit MTS/M2TS with editing functions: split, merge, trim, crop, add watermark, adjust video effect, edit audio and insert subtitles.
• Converts videos faster than any other video convert software programs.
• Convers any video files without the risk of losing its original quality.
• Compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP

Start converting MTS/M2TS to USB sticks(USB Flash Drive) format with Pavtube Video Converter

Step 1: Launch Pavtube Video Converter

The very first step is to install Pavtube Video Converter on computer. Then double click on installation file to launch it.

Step 2: Add mts/m2ts video files to be converted

Now, it is time to add your MTS/M2TS video files you want to convert. You can simple drag and drop video files into the interface or click 'Add File' button located on the top, it will open a file explorer from where you can choose the video file for conversion.

Step 3: Choose MP4 video as output format

After imported source video to Pavtube Video Converter, open 'Format' drop-down list to choose MP4 from 'Common Video' or 'HD Video' category under 'Format'.

Tips: By clicking 'Settings' button, you can adjust the output video/audio resolution, frame rate, bit rate, etc. to customize the output files to get the best quality you want.

Step 4: Specify output folder

After all the settings is completed, define an output folder on your computer to save the generated files.

Step 5: Start conversion process

Click 'Convert' button to start MTS/M2TS to USB video conversion process. It will take a few minutes (depending on file size) for the conversion to complete. Once the conversion is completed, click on 'Open' or 'Open Output Folder' button to view the generated video file.

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Free download this MTS/M2TS video converter for USB (Mac)

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