A Mac can only read the NTFS formatted hard drive but can not write any data on to it until you install a third party apps like NTFS for Mac or NTFS-3G to enable write access to NTFS partition under Mac OS X. So, If you wish to use the hard drive for Mac, you need to format the external media in Mac OS X native file system called “Mac OS. How do I format a flash drive to NTFS on a Mac? MacOS supports NTFS, but read-only. In order to write or format NTFS, you need a third party app. Paragon & Tuxera have solutions to do this. The overwhelming majority of USB flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats: FAT32 or NTFS. The first format, FAT32, is fully compatible with Mac OS X, though with some drawbacks.
- I needed to perform an offline system update for Xbox One S but I only have Macs. Installed the Paragon NTFS for Mac using 10 day trial. That allowed me to format a USB drive as NTFS with full read-write access and then write the system update files to the USB drive. Offline Xbox update worked like a charm via USB stick. – Brian D Dec 2 '19.
- Write to NTFS Drives on Mac with Paragon NTFS for Mac. Since your Mac does not have an official option to write data to NTFS drives, you are forced to use a third-party app to get the job done. If you do a quick Google search, you would come across many software claiming to help you with the Mac OS NTFS write task.
Most of the time formatting a flash drive is a very simple decision. There are only two situations where you should take consideration on what format to use. Here are the details:
Note: This article is focused towards Windows and Mac operating systems.
The file formats available for a flash drive are:
- FAT (also called FAT16)
- FAT32
- exFAT
- NTFS
- HFS (Mac only)
Flash drive manufacturers format a drive as either FAT or FAT32. Any device of 2GBs or smaller will be formatted as FAT and any USB over 2GBs will be formatted as FAT32.
These two formats are the best file system for removable drives like flash drives because they support the quick disconnect function and chances are very slim you will destroy the device or files if you unplug the USB without using the Eject function (in Windows) or Un-mount function (in Mac).
The one huge limitation with FAT and FAT32 is the single file size limitation. If a single file is larger than 2GBs you need to have the device as FAT32. If you have a single file bigger than 4GBs then you must use NTFS or exFAT. Typically these large files are either video files or restore image files (for restoring a computer operating system from a single image file).
So what if you have a file bigger than 4GBs? Well, you have to decide what is the lesser of two evils.
Here is the problem. If you format as NTFS it works great on all Windows machines, but Macs can only read from the device, they cannot write to it. There are some plugins to help the Mac deal with NTFS but our experience proves those add-ins to be unstable.
If you format it as exFAT all computers (Windows and Macs) will see the drive except for Windows XP.
So you must decide to accommodate the Windows XP users or accommodate the Mac users.
Given that Mac computers are on the rise, your best option is to format the drive as exFAT. If there is a Windows XP user out there, they can download the plugin from Microsoft to allow an XP operating system to see the exFAT device without wanting to format it. Also keep in mind that XP is a 15 year old operating system (at the time of this post) and Microsoft no longer supports the OS.
As a closing note, the NTFS file system is not ideal for flash drives because it’s a dynamic file system. Meaning information can be writing to the flash drive at times in which you think the USB is idle. So in a situation where you disconnect the USB while there is a write change taking place to the file system, there is a good chance you will corrupt the data. Not good.
If you have more questions about formatting USB devices, please Contact Us.
Windows update for XP users to read exFAT USB devices HERE
Tags: exfat, usb
Matt LeBoff
by Shirly Chen, updated on 2019-11-17 to Mac Data Wipe
“Hi, I have a 128 GB USB flash drive, but it can’t be used on my Mac because the file system sis NTFS file system. Is there any way to format the NTFS USB flash drive for Mac?” - Kenny
NTFS file system is not compatible with macOS. Any NTFS device will become read-only when it is connected to your Mac. If you want to format a NTFS USB flash drive for Mac or you want to permanently wipe all data on the NTFS USB flash drive under Mac OS, just follow this guide. We will show you an easy way to format and wipe NTFS USB flash drive on your Mac.
First of all, let’s introduce the best Mac disk formatting software - DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac. It can help you securely and easily format any hard disk drive, storage device on Mac. We strongly recommend it to you when you are going to format/wipe a NTFS USB flash drive on Mac. Click the download button below to download DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac.
Format Flash Drive Mac To Ntfs Fat32
Easy steps to format/wipe NTFS USB flash drive on Mac
DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac can help you: format NTFS USB flash drive, permanently erase data from NTFS USB flash drive. Just follow the steps below to format/wipe a NTFS USB flash drive on Mac.
Step 1: Connect the NTFS USB flash drive to your Mac.
Format Usb Ntfs On Mac
Connect the NTFS USB flash drive to your Mac so that DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac can recognize it.
Step 2: Format the NTFS USB flash drive for Mac.
Choose tool “Disk Manager”, then you will see the NTFS USB flash drive. Just format the NTFS USB flash drive for Mac by click on “Format” button.
Step 2: Permanently wipe data on NTFS USB flash drive.
Please note that, after formatting the NTFS USB flash drive, the data on the NTFS USB flash drive still can be recovered by data recovery software. So, if you want to erase the data forever, just wipe the NTFS USB flash drive.
Choose mode “Wipe Hard Drive”, you will see the USB flash drive, choose it and wipe it by clicking on “Wipe Now” button.
DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac offers certified data erasure algorithm to help you securely and permanently wipe all data information on the NTFS USB flash drive. Once the process gets finished, all data is gone forever, can’t be recovered by any data recovery software.
Format Flash Drive Mac To Ntfs File
Before you sell, donate or recycle a NTFS USB flash drive, you can follow the steps above to permanently erase a NTFS USB flash drive on Mac (it even can help you format/erase damaged, corrupted NTFS USB flash drive on Mac). And after erasure, you will get a brand-new USB flash drive for your Mac. DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac also can help you format/eras SSD, HDD, memory card, digital camera, portable hard disk drive, etc. Just free download this software here:
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