Formatting A USB Stick To Be Readable On A Mac, Or On A PC ?

[Robert11]

Hello,

I understand that it is possible to format a USB memory stick
such that it is readable by a MAC, or by a PC

True ?
Any caveats ?

How do I do this re-formatting from my MAC ?

Explicit instructions would be most appreciated; old age problem a bit.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[MacsBug]

Hi Bob,

This quite easy.. Here are the steps.

1. Launch Disk Utility (from Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility).
2. In the menubar under the View menu make sure that Show All Devices is checked
3. Select the drive in the left-hand sidebar.
4. Click Erase. (You should see the name and 2 dropdown menus)
5. Name the Drive
6. From the Format menu, select ExFAT.
7. From the Scheme menu, select Master Boot Record. (NOTE: for large flash drives over 64gb I prefer GUID here)
8. Click on Erase and follow prompts to confirm.