USB Flash Drive Formatting Issue

Hi,
I formatted my 16 gig PNY flash drive using OSX to MS-DOS (FAT). So one would think I'd be able to use it with my PC as well. Well, I can't. It's telling me the drive isn't formatted when I plug it into the PC, and when I do format it, I get a measly 200 megabytes. That's it. Am I missing something here? I'm about to snap the flash drive in half. Thanks!
BB

Most likely you did not partition the drive properly. Do the following:
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your flash drive (the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to MBR then click on the OK button. Set the format type to MS-DOS. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

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I have noticed that when using Tigers Dosk utility to ERASE a flash drive I have a choice of FAT but not FAT32. It seems that flash drives formatted as FAT do not work properly when trying to copy files from a Windows machine. Why?

I have noticed that when using Tigers disk utility to format an external USB flash drive I only have the choice of FAT ( when formatting for use on a Windows machine ) and not FAT32. I have found that USB FLASH drives formatted as FAT do not always work on Windows machines. Why? How can I use Tiger to format for FAT32?

I think it depends on the size of the Flash Drive as to whether it uses FAT16 or FAT32.
Can you format it FAT32 on the PC?
Other options would be NTFS or Mac OS Extended...
NTFS-3G Stable Read/Write Driver...
http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
MacFUSE: Full Read-Write NTFS for Mac OS X, Among Others...
http://www.osnews.com/story/16930
MacDrive for the PCs... allows them to Read/Write HFS+...
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

If i use a usb flash drive which is both os and windows compatible can i transfer files from my mac to a windows pc using the same usb flash drive?

if i use a usb flash drive which is mac os and windows compatible can i use it to copy files from the mac to a windows machine. i have to do some training abroad and wnat to take the files on a usb from the mac but they will only have a windows operating system available to me.

Generally, it's not the flash drive that makes it compatible, but the formatting used on it. In Disk Utility on a Mac, the format is called MS-DOS (FAT). In Windows, I believe it is called FAT32.
A USB flash drive formatted that way should be readable and writable on both Mac OS X and Windows. But you may want to try a "trial run" before relying on it for the trip.

Pen drive formatting issue..

hello
sir,
window is unable to complete format..
Pen drive is detecting but when i want to see it's property it shwo us 0 byte.......... I have tried low level format, diskpart, HP pen drive format tool but not success , HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool replys" Media is write protected. "
& i have a 4 gb HP pen drive which is not detecting in my laptop??

Hello Mudsain,
If the pendrive is giving you a write protect warning, it might be fixed using USB Flash Driver Format Tool (Ufix-II).
http://www.pny.com.tw/index.php?cls=2&mode=download
You may need to have 7-Zip installed to extract the .rar file. It is a free download. http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
Your going to extract "RecoverTool_V2.00.42_M1223 8CE.exe" from the downloaded file and run.
You should now be able to reformat the pendrive. IF this does not help, then the pendrive is most likey damaged and nothing more can be done.
If it is new, I would take it back to the store for a replacement or contact HP Support for more options.
Contact HP Worldwide | HP® Official Site
Hope it helps.

USB Flash Drive v210w 16 GB Write Protected

Hi! After one week of usage, my new USB Flash Drive v210w 16 GB appears as Write Protected.
Impossible to add a new file, delete an old file, even format the whole USB Flash Drive.
I tried various procedures described on forums, as My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePoliciesWriteProtect > Value Data set to 0 \devise\harddisk1\dr2
and normal formatting (Properties > Format) and low level formatting tools, as http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool-Download-37794.htmlhttp://www.apacer.com/en/support/downloads/Repair_v2.9.1.1.ziphttp://www.transcendusa.com/Products/online_recovery.aspHP USB disk storage format tool SP27608-2.1.8.exe but in vain.
What happened? How to resume using my USB Flash Drive normally? I'm running a mini 311c on XP SP3.
Thank you for your help and best regards.

Hi! I contacted hp support and got as an answer the name of a recovery utility Ufix.rar. Unfortunately, this utility doesn't recognize the v210w. hp-branded flash USB cards are manufactured by PNY.So I went to the PNY website and dug a little. Actually, the latest release is Ufix2v3. Ufix-II (USB Flash Driver Format Tool)
Applicable for PNY/HP 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB flash drive products
(This software is not applied to A.V.S. Attaché,
but applicable for AVS-II)
2.98MB
Download http://www.pny.com.tw/pny_en/download.asphttp://www.pny.com.tw/pny_ch/upload/20101028122023052.rar It worked and restored my USB card. Windows and Mac OS format utilities seem not to handle correctly the USB flash card correctly.Mac OS says there's a 16 GB drive mounted on an USB support. I can unmount the volume without eject the USB connection. hp: Please mention this solution on the FAQ! Best regards,

Trying to format a new USB flash drive so it will work on both a Mac and PC

I have a brand new Sandisk USB flash drive that I am trying to copy movie files onto from my Mac's hard drive. For some reason I can copy one of the movie files but not the other, even though they are both Quicktime (.mov) files. In doing some research, it seems the one file will not copy/paste likely because it is over 4 GB in size and the FAT32 filing system on the USB drive prevents files in excess of this size to be copied and pasted.
My question to anyone who can help me is: How can I get files over 4 GB onto and off of this USB drive AND be able to use it for both Mac and PC computers?
Thanks for any advice.
Shaun

If I format the USB stick on my Mac as exFAT, will my client who´s most likely using a PC be able to screen it tomorrow morning...??
exFAT would only be an issue if they were running a version of Windows older than XP. If it is XP, they would need to install the free exFAT update before being able to access the drive.

I am having an issue with a USB flash drive.

Hello, I am having an issue with a USB flash drive. I have a 2012 iMac OS X 10.9. Drive keeps on disconnecting after about 30 seconds. I tried to reformat through Disk Utility but doesn't allow me to verify or repair as it disconnects. This same drive works fine on Windows machines. I tried all USB ports but all give the same issue. Message is: "Disk Not Ejected Properly. Eject "No Name" before disconnecting or turning off." When I attempt to copy data from the disk it comes up with the message: "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "" can't be read or written (Error code -36)". I believe the solution for this error is to format the drive but as mentioned this function doesn't work. I need to copy data from a Windows machine to my iMac. Any suggestions with this is appreciated. Thanks!

I went back to a Windows machine, formatted it to NTFS (so lost the data but had a backup), recopied the data. Went back to the Mac but same issue happened after I tried copying the data "Disk Not Ejected Properly - Eject " " before disconnecting or turning off." One of the USB ports didn't detect the 32GB flash drive at all. And disconnected on another one.

USB Flash Drive Issue On iMac - 1.1 on iMac, 2.0 on any other Mac

I have a Core i7 27" Late 2009 iMac.
I just noticed this issue today.
I have a couple of Patriot XPorter XT USB Flash drives that I use among my Macs to transfer big files around.
Hooking one of the 8GB flash drives to my iMac, the one listed above, it shows the device operating at USB 1.1 speeds, whether it's in a powered hub, or one of the 4 USB ports in the back of the machine. This was odd, because this was the first time it had ever done this. I only noticed this due to the painfully slow transfer rate the Finder was reporting to me. Restarting the iMac, cold starting the iMac, resetting permissions, PRAM and SMC did nothing. I thought it was a bum drive.
So I grabbed a 16GB flash drive (same brand and model family, different capacity) and it works perfectly fine on the iMac at USB 2.0 speeds. Hmm...
So I boot the iMac into Win 7 Ultimate x64. Both drives are listed at USB 2.0 speeds. Something is definitely afoot here.
To make sure I'm not losing my sanity, I grab my MacBook Pro and test the drives in there. Both drives are listed at USB 2.0 speeds.
I then run to my Mac Pro. Both drives are listed at USB 2.0 speeds.
Did something go wonky on my iMac?
Machine specs (for comparison above)
iMac 27" i7 2.8GHz - 16GB RAM
MacBook Pro 15" Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz - 4GB RAM
Mac Pro Xeon 2.66GHz - 12GB RAM

I think that you are just running into a communication blip between the thumb drive and the controller for the USB ports on your iMac. It is obviously reading the 8 GB drive as older and slower and is assigning that lessor priority to the bus serving the drive.
Have you tried attaching the drive directly to the iMac with no other device connected to a USB port? If it is the same, then I doubt there is anything that you can do, that is going to be the way the USB controller reads this thumb drive.

How to format USB flash drive?

I recently received a USB flash drive at a traveling covention. It has two partitions and one is unwritable and is filled with travel brochurs etc etc. I was wondering if it was possible to reformat the whole thing back into 1 partition. I already tried disk utility. Thanks!

Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

When to format a USB flash drive to Mac O?

I use thumb drives to transfer files from on computer/location to another, and never had a problem with drives that formatted FAT-32. Should I have been formatting these drives to Mac OS? Under what circumstances should a USB flash drive be formatted to Mac OS? What's the rule of thumb (no pun intended)?

File formats aren't compatible based on filesystem. It's just data to the filesystem. Compatibility is at the application level, which is where the files are opened and read. Any file can be put onto any drive, assuming it is within the filesystems limitations (i.e. FAT32's 4GB size limit).

I cannot create a folder on USB flash driver that was format in Windows

I have a USB flash drive that was format and use for my Windows PC.
When I used the USB flash drive on my Macbook, I can read the file but cannot create folder.
Is that the IOS restriction?
Thanks for replying.

Click on the drive, choose Get Info from the File menu, and check the format.
If it's formatted as NTFS, reformat it as MS-DOS, exFAT, or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as desired.
If it's formatted as FAT32 or exFAT, use the Disk Utility's Repair Disk command on it.
(82812)

Formatting a USB flash drive for Mac OS X Leopard & Windows XP

I'm pretty new to Mac, so forgive me if this seems a very basic question.
How do I format a USB flash drive so that it can be seen by both an Imac running Mac OS X Leopard and a PC running Windows XP?
If one or other machine can't see the drive it makes transferring files really frustrating.
Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

You can either use Windows or OSx to format the flash drive to FAT32. This will allow you to read and write from OSx and Windows. If you just bought the flash drive then double check before you format as it may already be formatted to FAT32.
Use Disk Utility from OSx to format your flash drive OR from windows, click on *My Computer* and then highlight the drive letter and choose File from the top menu and then Format.
Axel F.

Format to MS-DOS (FAT) still doesn't allow more than 4GB on USB flash drive

I have a 32GB USB flash drive but it only allows files that are 4GB of lees to be placed on the drive. I've read that I can remove this limit by formatting the flash drive on my MAC by going to Disk Utility>Erase>MS-DOS (FAT)>Erase. I've done this but it still won't allow me to upload (movie) files larger than 4GB.
Apparently if I format it on a PC it works just fine BUT I want it to format properly on my MAC.
Any ideas?

That's normal. FAT32 and FAT don't support files bigger than 4 GB.
What you can do is to format the external drive in exFAT, but do it on a PC. If you format it on the Mac, PCs won't be able to read it. exFAT removes the 4 GB file limit.
Another option is NTFS, but you will need a third-party app on the Mac to write in it

DIsk Utility Hangs When Formatting USB flash drive

I have a 4gb USB drive (Jetflash by Transcend) that's been usable formatted as FAT. I'd read that i/o would be a lot faster if I formatted as Mac OS Extended instead. In fact, I've done this with previous USB drives with success. When I try to reformat the drive in Disk Utility, it stalls at "Preparing to Erase." I've also tried going through Partition instead, but again, just stalls at the beginning. This is not a freeze or hang or spinning ball moment, but it will just sit there not doing anything. I can quit out of DU at any time. I've left DU alone, thinking this just may take a while, but it has stayed this way up to 3 hours. Suspiciously, there are no blinking lights on the usb drive during this process. I realize every USB flash drive must have different firmware that reacts differently to Macs and I may just be unable to Mac-format this. I've also taken the drive to other Macs all running 10.4.7 with the same results. Any ideas or workarounds will be appreciated. Thanks.

Update: I've tried on a 3rd mac, my g5/1.8 at home and plugged the USB flash drive to a powered usb hub. Now Disk Utility doesn't stall, but instead immediately states that it can't access the partition map. As the drive has public/private partition capability and also security features, I'm going to assume that's the reason for it to be only formattable as FAT. So now I'm looking for large capacity flash drives that are mac-formattable or find information that throughput is the same on a USB drive no matter how it's formatted.

Help formatting corrupted USB Flash Drive

My USB flash drive is now unreadable by my mac after neglecting to safely eject it. In disk utility I do not have the option to verify disk or repair disk. When trying to erase everything on it, an error message comes up saying "Unable to write to the last block of the device". Write status is still showing read/write. Can anyone tell me how to fix this? Do I really have to go out and buy a new flash drive?

Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

USB Flash Drive Formatting Issue

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