Formatting drive for mac OS & Windows Compatibility

This works with any drive that is accepted by both a Mac and Windows machine, and the entire process is performed in macOS:

1. Launch Disk Utility
2. Connect the drive you wish to format
3. Click the drive name on the left side list in Disk Utility, and then click the “Erase” tab
4. Click the pulldown menu alongside “Format” and select “FAT32”
5. Optionally, give the drive a name
6. Click the “Erase” button to format the drive for mac OS & Windows compatibility

The primary downside to using FAT32 is the file size limit, which limits files on the drive to being 4GB in size or less. If you require single files to be larger than 4GB, use exFAT instead, though you will lose some compatibility with older versions of macOS and Windows.

Squeeze out of OSXDaily.