Luckily, with OS X, you can create a disk that can be used by both operating systems in a snap. Here’s how. Connect the disk and open Disk Utility Connect the hard drive or USB drive to your Mac and then open the Disk Utility app, which is located in Applications> Utilities> Disk Utility. You can also open the app from Launchpad.

Kingston Datatraveler USB flash drives are designed to store and transport data, photos, music or video. Choose from personal, encrypted, and Windows to Go. This site uses cookies to provide enhanced features and functionality.

Select a disk to format Choose the disk that you want to format for both Mac and PC from the column on the left. Choose the format Open the Erase tab. From the Format drop-down menu, choose MS-DOS (FAT), better known as FAT32. Choose a name for the disc After you choose the format, you’ll see a box to enter the name of the disk. Choose any name with a maximum of 11 characters (don’t worry, it can be changed later).

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Erase and format Click on Erase and confirm the operation in the next pop-up window. *Warning: this will delete all data on the disk. If there are documents on there that you want to keep, make a copy of the files on your Mac or on another external drive first.* And you’re done! Now, the disk can be read and written using both Mac and Windows computers. What problems could I have on an HD formatted in FAT32?

FAT32 is the only format that both OS X and Windows can read and write without the use of third-party apps. There are, however, some things you should know about the FAT32 format: • It doesn’t support files larger than 4 GB. • It doesn’t let you set access permissions to files, so it’s potentially less secure than the NTFS format (the native OS X format). • It’s less efficient in terms of space management. In practice, for the same total size, you can put fewer files on a FAT32 formatted disk compared to a NTFS formatted disk. That said, for a daily exchange of files (for example, if you work on a PC but you have a Mac at home), it’s a practical and effective solution.

Of course, there are other options for transferring files between hard drives; cloud-based solutions like are convenient and don’t have compatibility issues, although are sometimes limited in space. If you’re thinking of moving to Mac but are unsure about the process or concerned with these kinds of issues, check out our.

Further Reading It was 2009. Things have proceeded remarkably smoothly since version 10.7 switched to download-only installers, but there are still good reasons to want a reliable old USB stick. For instance, if you find yourself doing multiple installs, a USB drive may be faster than multiple downloads (especially if you use a USB 3.0 drive). Or, maybe you need a recovery disk for older Macs that don't support the Internet Recovery feature. Whatever the reason, you're in luck, because it's not hard to make one., there are two ways to get it done. There's the super easy way with the graphical user interface and the only slightly less easy way that requires some light Terminal use. Here's what you need to get started.

• A Mac that you have administrator access to, duh. We've created Sierra USB stick from both El Capitan and Sierra, but your experience with other versions may vary. • An 8GB or larger USB flash drive or an 8GB or larger partition on some other kind of external drive.

For newer Macs, use a USB 3.0 drive—it makes things significantly faster. • The macOS 10.12 Sierra installer from the Mac App Store in your Applications folder.

The installer will delete itself when you install the operating system, but it can be re-downloaded if necessary. • If you want a GUI, we're recommending a different app than last year—take a look at. There are other apps out there that do this, but this one is quick and simple. If you want to use this USB installer with newer Macs as they are released, you'll want to periodically re-download new Sierra installers and make new install drives periodically. Apple rolls support for newer hardware into new macOS point releases as they come out, so this will help keep your install drive as universal and versatile as possible. The easy way. Once you've obtained all of the necessary materials, connect the USB drive to your Mac and launch the Install Disk Creator.