by Shirly Chen, updated on 2019-11-17 to Mac Data Wipe
Format FAT32 Flash Drive to NTFS When There Is No Option for NTFS File System. When you attempt to format a FAT32 flash drive on your computer, you may find that there is no option for NTFS file system (show as the image below). Reason for the problem: This problem often occurs when you format a flash drive that has capacity less than 32GB. When using Mac OS 10.6, it is possible to write on an NTFS drive, even without installing third-party drivers. However, the write support in the OS settings is not active. Therefore, SL-NTFS software acts as an interface for the Mac OS 10.6 NTFS drivers hence allowing writing permissions for a drive in NTFS format.
“Hi, I have a 128 GB USB flash drive, but it can’t be used on my Mac because the file system sis NTFS file system. Is there any way to format the NTFS USB flash drive for Mac?” - Kenny
NTFS file system is not compatible with macOS. Any NTFS device will become read-only when it is connected to your Mac. If you want to format a NTFS USB flash drive for Mac or you want to permanently wipe all data on the NTFS USB flash drive under Mac OS, just follow this guide. We will show you an easy way to format and wipe NTFS USB flash drive on your Mac.
If you format as NTFS it works great on all Windows machines, but Macs can only read from the device, they cannot write to it. There are some plugins to help the Mac deal with NTFS but our experience proves those add-ins to be unstable. If you format it as exFAT all computers (Windows and Macs) will see the drive except for Windows XP.
First of all, let’s introduce the best Mac disk formatting software - DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac. It can help you securely and easily format any hard disk drive, storage device on Mac. We strongly recommend it to you when you are going to format/wipe a NTFS USB flash drive on Mac. Click the download button below to download DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac.
Easy steps to format/wipe NTFS USB flash drive on Mac
DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac can help you: format NTFS USB flash drive, permanently erase data from NTFS USB flash drive. Just follow the steps below to format/wipe a NTFS USB flash drive on Mac.
Step 1: Connect the NTFS USB flash drive to your Mac.
Connect the NTFS USB flash drive to your Mac so that DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac can recognize it.
Format Flash Drive Mac To Ntfs File
Step 2: Format the NTFS USB flash drive for Mac.
Choose tool “Disk Manager”, then you will see the NTFS USB flash drive. Just format the NTFS USB flash drive for Mac by click on “Format” button.
Step 2: Permanently wipe data on NTFS USB flash drive.
Please note that, after formatting the NTFS USB flash drive, the data on the NTFS USB flash drive still can be recovered by data recovery software. So, if you want to erase the data forever, just wipe the NTFS USB flash drive.
Choose mode “Wipe Hard Drive”, you will see the USB flash drive, choose it and wipe it by clicking on “Wipe Now” button.
DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac offers certified data erasure algorithm to help you securely and permanently wipe all data information on the NTFS USB flash drive. Once the process gets finished, all data is gone forever, can’t be recovered by any data recovery software.
Before you sell, donate or recycle a NTFS USB flash drive, you can follow the steps above to permanently erase a NTFS USB flash drive on Mac (it even can help you format/erase damaged, corrupted NTFS USB flash drive on Mac). And after erasure, you will get a brand-new USB flash drive for your Mac. DoYourData Super Eraser for Mac also can help you format/eras SSD, HDD, memory card, digital camera, portable hard disk drive, etc. Just free download this software here:
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Did you know that Tuxera NTFS for Mac also comes with Tuxera Disk Manager? With Tuxera Disk Manager, you can format an external drive or USB stick to work with Windows PCs.
What is formatting?
Simply put, formatting is the process of preparing a drive for use by an operating system. As an example, say you want to get super-organized with your sock drawer. To do that, you would first empty the drawer of all your mixed socks. Then, you’d place a drawer divider into the drawer. The drawer divider creates several small compartments inside the drawer, each meant for storing one pair of socks. With your sock organizing system in place, you’re set up to start filling each compartment with pairs.
Formatting a drive is a bit like organizing a sock drawer. Image credit: osseous(own work) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Flickr.
This is similar to how formatting works. First the drive is cleared of any data that may be stored on it. Then it’s set up and organized for storing data in a way that’s possible for the computer’s operating system to understand. And finally, you can start adding files onto it.
Be aware that if you do format a drive, everything on it is deleted in the process. So if you have anything important stored on the drive, make sure you back it up before you format.
Tuxera Disk Manager – a must-have for El Capitan
We originally developed Tuxera Disk Manager for the OS X El Capitan release. At that time, Apple’s Disk utility – which is normally used for formatting drives – did not support the NTFS format. If you aren’t able to upgrade from El Capitan, you need to use Tuxera Disk Manager to format NTFS drives.
Apple Disk Utility vs. Tuxera Disk Manager
In Sierra, support for NTFS drivers returned to Apple’s Disk Utility. That means on the latest Macs, you can use Apple’s Disk Utility or Tuxera Disk Manager to format your drive. Whichever way you choose, you’ll still need to install Tuxera NTFS for Mac to format your drive.
Want to learn how it’s done? Watch our video on how to format an NTFS drive using Tuxera Disk Manager:
https://youtu.be/tMxsokC8XUQ?t=2m5s