How to Format a Flash Drive

by DoItYourself Staff

what you'll need

flash drive
computer

Formatting your flash drive is fairly easy and the benefits are great. When you format your flash drive for a Mac in MS-DOS or for Windows in FAT32 you will be able to access the information and documents stored on it on every Windows computer no matter what operating system it uses. Follow these simple steps for Mac and Windows to learn how to format your flash drive.

For Windows Platform

Step 1 - Get Started

Turn on your computer and insert your flash drive to the USB port. The system should find it as a "removable disk" right away.

Step 2 - Begin Formatting

Open "My Computer" and right click the flash drive icon in the window. A menu will pop up when you right click and you should select the "Format" option. When you select "Format" a new window will pop up titled "Format Removable Disk". From the drop down menu labeled "File System", select "FAT32". Ensure that "Quick Format" is not selected, then click on "Start".

Step 3 - Erase Data

After you click "Start", a new window will pop up indicating that all the data currently on your drive will be deleted so make sure that you don't need anything on your flash drive or save somewhere else before you continue.

Step 4 - Complete Formatting

Click "OK" on the pop up to complete formatting.

For Mac Platform

Step 1 - Get Started

Turn on your computer and connect your USB flash drive into the USB port, same as you would for Windows.

Step 2 - Begin Formatting

Open the "Finder" menu and select "Applications" from the left hand menu. Find the "Utilities" folder, open it and scroll down until you find "Disk Utility" and open it. From the left hand menu, select your flash drive then click on the "Erase" tab at the top of the screen. Again, make sure that everything on your drive has either been saved to another location or that you are okay to delete everything. Name your flash drive, then select "Mac X Extended Journal"