Since the PC and Mac are two different operating systems, they use different file systems. By default, Macs use HFS, while PCs use NTFS, which are not compatible with each other. If you plan on using an external drive with both Macs and PCs, you should format the disk with the exFAT file system instead.
You can format the drive on your Mac or Windows computer.
How to format a USB drive as exFAT on Mac
How to Format a Write Protected USB on PC or Mac. This wikiHow teaches you how to remove write protection from a USB drive so you can format it in Windows or macOS. Check if the drive has a write-protect switch. If it does, just switch it.
So how do you know if your USB drive is in the correct format? You do not need to do anything special on the 'Disk Utility' - simply insert the USB drive and open Finder. Right-click the drive icon in the Finder sidebar (or on the desktop) and select Get Info. You will see the drive's file system shown on the right “Format”.
Formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. To format a drive on a Mac, you'll need the built-in Disk Utility application.
Go to Open Disk Utility, which is located under Applications in the Finder menu. If you have a USB flash drive inserted in your Mac, you can see it under the External in the Disk Utility. Select your flash drive from the list. Go to the Erase tab. You will be asked to provide the disk name and then select the file system as exFAT.
Then select the default GUID Partition Map (GPT) scheme. Click the Erase button when you are done and the Disk Utility will format your disk with the settings you specified. This will erase all the files on the drive.
You're now done. Be sure to eject the disk before you remove it from your Mac.
How to format a USB flash drive as exFAT on Windows PC
There are several ways to format drive in Windows PC, you can do that in This PC or in Disk Management.
Note: If you have important data on your USB flash drive, you should backup your drive before formatting it.
Option 1: Format a USB drive as EexFAT in This PC.
Press Windows logo key + E to open File Explorer. Right-click on the drive you want to format, click on Format. Under File system box, select exFAT for this drive. Then click Start button to go on.
Option 2: Format a USB drive as EexFAT in Disk Management.
Press Win+X, then hit K key to open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc).
Right-click on the drive you want to format, select Format to see the list of configurations including file system. Select exFAT for this drive. Then click OK button to go on.
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- Password Protect a USB Flash Drive on Mac without Erasing Data
Updated by Admin to Bitlocker for Mac on July 22th, 2019
Is there any way to password protect USB flash drive so that I can access it on both Mac and Windows? I do not need government-grade encryption, just need to protect my important data from unauthorized access.
As far as we know, BitLocker is more secure than other drive encryption software. Although Microsoft just developed and released Bitlocker for Windows and there's no Mac implementation, but with help of M3 Bitlocker Loader for Mac, Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive can be readable on Mac.
How to password protect USB flash drive on macOS Mojave/High Sierra?
Step 1: Download and install M3 Bitlocker Loader for Mac.
M3 Bitlocker Loader for Mac is a Bitlocker To Go for Mac tool which can read/write Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive and external hard drive on macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7 Operating Systems.
Step 2: Insert an external drive (such as external hard drive, USB drive, flash drive) into your Mac computer.
Step 3: Launch M3 Bitlocker Loader for Mac.
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Step 4: Click 'Encrypt' button in toolbar.
Step 5: Select the partition which you want to encrypt and click Encrypt.
Step 6: Enter the password.
Step 7: Save the recovery key.
Step 8: Complete Bitlocker drive encryption.
Tutorial to read/write Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive on Mac
Step 1: Download, install M3 Bitlocker Loader for Mac on your Mac computer.
Step 2: Launch M3 Bitlocker Loader for Mac and insert a Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive.
Select Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive and then click 'Unlock/Open' icon to continue.
Step 3: Enter the password (or 48-digit Bitlocker recovery key) to unlock Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive.
Step 4: Read/Write Bitlocker password protected USB flash drive on Mac computer.
How to password protect USB flash drive in Windows PC?
To enable BitLocker drive encryption on a USB flash drive, do the following:
Step 1: Insert a USB flash drive to a Windows computer where installed Windows 10 Professional/Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Professional/Enterprise, Windows 7 Ultimate/Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate/Enterprise, Windows Server 2008/2012, only these Windows editions support Bitlocker drive encryption. If you only have Windows 7/8/10 Home edition, please refer to: How to enable Bitlocker in Windows 7/8/10 Home edition?
Step 2: Format USB flash drive into FAT32/NTFS/exFAT file system. If there is data in USB flash drive, please go to step 3.
Step 3: Right click USB flash drive in My Computer or This PC and select 'Turn on Bitlocker'.
Step 4: On the 'Choose How You Want To Unlock This Drive' window, choose one or more for the following options, and then click Next:
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'Use A Password To Unlock This Drive': Select this option if you want to be prompted for a password to unlock the drive. Passwords allow a drive to be unlocked in any location and to be shared with other people.
How To Format Usb Flash For Mac And Pc
'Use My Smart Card To Unlock The Drive': Select this option if you want to use a smart card and enter the smart card PIN to unlock the drive. Because this feature requires a smart card reader, it is normally used to unlock a drive in the workplace and not for drives that might be used outside the workplace.
Step 5: On the 'How Do You Want To Store Your Recovery Key' window, click Save The Recovery Key To A File.
Step 6: In the 'Save BitLocker Recovery Key As' window, choose a storage location and then click Save.
Step 7: On the 'Are You Ready To Encrypt This Drive' window, click Start Encrypting. Do not remove the USB flash drive until the encryption process is complete. How long the encryption process takes depends on the size of the drive and other factors.
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