How to Format a USB Drive on Mac

All modern USB drives can be used out of the box no matter if they are connected to a Windows or Mac computer. Mac users, however, may still want to format their USB drives to use a macOS preferred file system such as HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) or APFS. While USB drives formatted as Fat32, one of the Windows file systems will still work with Mac devices, the performance will not be optimal and it may result in write/read issues.

To start the process, plug the drive into a suitable socket. Open a new Finder window, locate the drive, and click on it. If there are files on it that you wish to preserve, copy and then paste them in an easy-to-remember location on the Mac.

Now, start the Disk Utility application. You can find it by going to your Utilities folder under Applications. In the Disk Utility window, click on the USB drive from the sidebar, and then choose 'Erase' from the toolbar. Select a name for the drive that is going to be formatted. Choose an appropriate format from the dropdown menu. Users have an option to choose how securely any information previously stored on the drive will be deleted. To do so, click on the Security tab, and then adjust the security level slider according to your needs. Keep in mind that the more 'passes' the erase tool makes to securely delete the data, the longer it will take for the formatting process to be completed. All that is left is to click on 'Ok' followed by 'Erase.'