- Format in FAT32 using Verbatim SmartDisk FAT32 Utility There is a free utility called Verbatim FAT32 Tool which will allow you to convert your hard drive to FAT32 in seconds. I use to recommend a program called SwissKnife, which I mention below, but it’s no longer free and no one really needs to spend $10 to convert a hard drive from NTFS to.
- The resulting FAT32 file system will be compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, and Windows including Windows 10 back to 95. This is one of the most widely recognized file system formats. This is one of the most widely recognized file system formats.
- The USB Disk Storage Format Tool is a freeware program that allows you to format a USB drive using FAT, FAT32, NTFS, and EXFat file systems.
Format in FAT32 using Drive-Specific Tools
Format External Hard Drive in FAT32 using DOS
format /FS:FAT32 X:
There seems to also be an issue when using the command line besides the size limit problem. Namely, it can take forever to format the hard drive for some users. Not sure why, but I’ve seen it enough times and it can be very frustrating to wait 5 hours and then have the whole format fail. If the format is taking longer than an hour, just cancel it and try one of the methods below first.
Format in FAT32 using Verbatim SmartDisk FAT32 Utility
Format in FAT32 using FAT32Format
Format in FAT32 using FAT32Formatter
Format in FAT32 using SwissKnife
With SwissKnife, you may run into an issue where after the conversion to FAT32, you are left with only a small percentage of the original disk size. For example, if you format a 1TB drive, you might perform the conversion and end up with only 500 MB of space. This can be fixed by first reformatting the drive in NTFS format by performing a quick format.
Once you format the entire drive using NTFS, make sure to view the available space in Explorer and that it matches the size of the hard drive. Once you do that, go ahead and use SwissKnife to perform the conversion to FAT32.
![Fat32 Fat32](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126895178/307915857.png)
How To Format A USB Drive On A Mac?
- To format pendrive on Mac, Connect USB drive into the given socket. The latest MacBook Pro or another MacBook has only USB-C type connectors, so if you have the recent Mac’s, you will require an adaptor to convert from USB-C to USB-A.
- Click the fresh Finder window. Then select the drive.
- Next navigate to Applications and select Utilities, then select Disk Utility by double-clicking on it.
- From the sidebar menu, select USB drive. Now select Erase from toolbar that is situated at top of window.
- Next a window will drop down; here type a specific name for formatted drive.
- Next from the drop-down menu, select the type of format you want.
- If the USB flash drive, has some sensitive data, click on Security tab. This will let you choose how securely you want the files to be deleted.
- Just move the slider to right, the further it moves, the more passes the erase feature will make meaning that the files will be removed discreetly. But keep in mind this step will increase the time of the format.
Note: – Formatting will wipe the entire data, so make sure the drive contains no important data on it. Copy any crucial data on your Mac. - Finally, click on OK and then select Erase.
Fat32 Formatting Tool
While Reformatting A USB Drive, Which File Format Should Be Used?
- If you have a Mac that runs the operating system (macOS) older than High Sierra, then it is crucial to format a thumb drive using the Mac OS Extended format. The reason behind this is that a reformatted disk in the APFS file format, will not load in the Mac.
- If you are planning to format a flash drive on a Mac, select the APFS format as they are SSD (solid state drive) optimized. Even if you consider reformatting a hard drive, APFS is a better option as it is fast and reliable.
- If you are going to utilize USB drive for Time Machine backups, then go for Mac OS Extended. This is because APFS disk doesn’t support Time Machine backup and even if you use this file format, it will give the option to reformat USB drive with Mac OS Extended.
- However, any APFS formatted drive can be backed up to a Mac OS extended Time Machine drive.
Steps To Format A USB Drive To Fat32 On Mac:
- FAT32 format can be read and written to on both the operating system- Mac and Windows.
- There are many people who like to use the drive on both Mac and Windows, and others use it as a device for storage for TV shows and thus reformatting to FAT32 is necessary.
- The only limitation with FAT32 is that the individual files should have a 4GB size and not more which poses a problem when USB drive has bigger size files.
- However, in such cases, exFAT can be used as it no such limitation and can run on OS.
Here Are The Steps You Should Follow To Format USB Drive On Mac : –
- Into your Mac, plug in the USB drive
- Next, select Applications>Utilities and then launch Disk Utility
- From the disk utility sidebar, select the USB drive
- From the disk utility toolbar, chose Erase
- Give the formatted disk a name and select either MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFat from the format menu.6
- Finally, select erase. Now your disk/drive will be reformatted to either FAT32 or ExFAT depending upon your selection
Fat32 Format Program
![Free Fat32 Format Tool For Mac Free Fat32 Format Tool For Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126895178/920388679.png)