{"id":67200,"date":"2014-05-26T17:31:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T15:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=67200"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:40:30","slug":"format-a-disk-to-use-on-both-mac-and-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/format-a-disk-to-use-on-both-mac-and-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Format a disk to use on both Mac and PC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wanted a hard disk or a flash drive that you can use on both your Mac and your PC?<\/strong> With OS X, you can create one in less than a minute.<\/p>\n

It’s not uncommon to need an external drive (hard drive or USB stick) that works on both Mac and Windows computers, especially if you need to constantly transfer files from one system to another.<\/p>\n

Luckily, with OS X, you can\u00a0create a disk that can be used by both operating systems<\/strong> in a snap.\u00a0Here’s how.<\/p>\n

1. Connect the disk and open Disk Utility<\/h3>\n

Connect the hard drive or USB drive to your Mac and then open the Disk Utility app, which is located in\u00a0Applications> Utilities> Disk Utility<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0You can also open the app from Launchpad.<\/p>\n

\"Open<\/p>\n

2. Select a disk to format<\/h3>\n

Choose the disk that you want to format for both Mac and PC from the column on the left.<\/p>\n

\"Select<\/p>\n

3. Choose the format<\/h3>\n

Open the Erase <\/em>tab.\u00a0From the Format <\/em>drop-down menu, choose\u00a0MS-DOS (FAT)<\/strong>, <\/strong>better known as FAT32.<\/p>\n

\"Choose<\/p>\n

4. Choose a name for the disc<\/h3>\n

After you choose the format, you’ll see a box to enter the name of the disk.\u00a0Choose any name with a maximum of 11 characters (don’t worry, it can be changed later).<\/p>\n

\"Choose<\/p>\n

5. Erase and format<\/h3>\n

Click on Erase<\/em> and confirm\u00a0the operation in the next pop-up window.<\/p>\n

*Warning<\/strong>: this will delete all data on the disk.\u00a0If there are documents on there that you want to keep, make a copy of the files<\/strong> on your Mac or on another external drive first.*<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Erase\"<\/p>\n

And you’re done!\u00a0Now, the disk can be read and written using both Mac and Windows computers.<\/p>\n

What problems could I have on an\u00a0HD formatted in FAT32?<\/h3>\n

FAT32 is the only format that both OS X and Windows can read and write without the use of third-party apps.<\/p>\n

There are, however, some things you should\u00a0know about the FAT32 format:<\/p>\n