Using Disk Utility to format jump drives to work on a PC?

I have tried several times to format usb jump drives using Disk Utility and then I copy files to it and try to open it on a Windows computer and it prompts me that it needs to be formatted on the Windows computer. How do I format it on a Mac to work on a PC? I have tried this with different usb drives using the MS DOS format option.
Thanks.

Dude,
Of course this isn't a jumpdrive but for externals...
There's a bug in Apple's disk utility software when using USB. I just had this happen to me too. The work around is to use Firewire when formatting. Fortunately, I have a multi port interface so changing to Firewire wasn't an issue.

Similar Messages

  • Using Disk Utility to format external drive as Apple extended?

    Hello - I just bought a 750G Lacie USB hard drive, am attempting to reformat it from FAT32 to Mac Extended. However, when I attempt to 'erase' the drive and replace it with Mac Extended, I get the following error message:
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Preparing to erase : “ReadyNAS”+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Partition Scheme: Master Boot Record+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: 1 volume will be created+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Name : “ReadyNAS”+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Size : 698.6 GB+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Filesystem : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:24 +0100: Creating partition map.+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:26 +0100: Formatting disk1s1 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name ReadyNAS.+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:27 +0100: Disk Erase failed with the error:+
    +File system formatter failed.+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:28 +0100: Erase complete.+
    +2009-04-28 22:12:28 0100:
    +2009-04-28 22:12:28 +0100: Disk Utility failed during an unspecified action with the error:+
    I can reformat it as FAT32, no problem.
    Any clues? Thanks!

    Use the "partition" tab in Disk Utility, set it to "1 Partition" click the "Options" button, and choose "GUID".

  • I need help with boot camp. "Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."

    This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
    "Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
    I verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
    It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
    I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
    Please, any suggestions?

    This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
    "Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
    I verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
    It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
    I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
    Please, any suggestions?

  • External hard drive not recognised after using disk utility to format

    i formatted two external hard drives using disk utility on my mac mini, now they do not show in finder. they can be seen in disk utility but the repair options etc are greyed out?

    Try http://pondini.org/OSX/DU1.html
    Allan

  • Using disk utility to format WD Elements 2TB drive

    I recently bought a Western Digital 2TB external drive. When attempting to format this drive, using Disc Utility to format (Mac OS Extended - Journaled), it fails. I used the "do not erase data" option (mostly because I want to use the drive this century, and everything else takes forever). What am I doing wrong?

    Hi,
    did you use the 'Option' button in Disk Utility to set the partition scheme to be GPT (Guid Partition Table ?
    Most (if not all) sold harddisks are using the Windows - MBR (Master Boot Record) as partition scheme.
    Regards
    Stefan

  • Disk utility wont format external drive

    Hi all
    I have a friends 1 TB toshiba external drive, purchased at office works. I am trying to format it for NTFS so he can use it to watch the movies he is copying on any machine, xbox etc..
    using disk utility I am erasing the 1tb drive with the NTFS format option, then I am creating the partition with NTFS but after formatting, it is only allowing me to read. I have tried formating the hard drive with Mac OSX journaled and then creating the partition at 1tb with NTFS, but getting the same issue.
    I am a little confused as I just did the same thing with my 2TB drive I purchased from Office works as well.
    any ideas?
    bret

    Hi Bret.  I am not sure I fully understand the details of your problem - the mention of another drive (the 2TB one) confused me a little.  I'll try to help though because it doesn't look like anyone has had a chance to reply to your question yet.
    As far as I can see, OS X doesn't write to NTFS formatted drives by default.  It appears you can enable it by altering the mount options, e.g. http://learnaholic.me/2013/11/11/enable-ntfs-write-on-mac-os-x-mavericks/
    Alternatively, perhaps just formatting it as FAT32 would achieve your aim - although now that I check, it doesn't really look suitable as it has a 4GB file size limit and some of the movies could be over that.
    Hope that helps.
    Ivan

  • Using Disk Utility to erase Hard Drive

    Hi All
    I just bought a new external hard drive and am using Disk Utility to erase and format it. I did not know for sure if erasing the hard drive was the right thing to do. Anyway I set up the Volume as follows from the mac help instructions:
    1.format OS extended journaled
    2.Install OS9 disk driver.
    3.("Zero all data" and "8 Way Random Write Format"). So it has been running for about 3 hours now and is only 1/8 of the way writing 0's to disk.
    My question is should I continue on and just let it finish up? At the rate it is going It might be done by sometime tomorrow.
    Or can I stop the erasing process without hurting the hard drive.
    Then start disk utility erasing the hard drive without this Zero all data.
    Thanks much

    Just to confirm your impression, S. Frigolett: yes, everything should be fine now.
    Zeroing a drive is advisable if you have reason to believe there may be bad data storage blocks on it; zeroing identifies those blocks and prevents them from being used (because using them would result in lost or corrupt data). A simple erase doesn't do that, but on a new drive straight from the factory there is no reason to think it's necessary.
    The 8 way random write option is for people who have extremely sensitive data to erase from a drive that may pass into other hands, and who want to be sure that no one short of the NSA will have any chance of recovering any of that data. A new, empty drive has nothing on it that even the NSA could recover, so there's no reason to erase it that thoroughly.

  • Using Disk Utility to formatting Micro SDHD 10 card

    The first time I formatted the 32gb Micro sdhd card with MS-DOS/FAT for the car's camera...all  was well. Then recorded some HD movies with the camera as I drive (the car's camera has a built-in DVR), then attached to the MacBook Pro via USB to download. The computer would not recognize the Micro SD card and want to initialize...hmm! So, open Disk Utility and format as ExFAT...5hrs pass and it's still half way...7hrs pass and it's still half way.
    I don't think it's doing anything as it starts halfway, and a minute left which stretches to 7hrs. I tried both MS-DOS/FAT and EXFAT...same thing. Is there any solution?

    Regardless where that SDHC card is formatted, you should take great care that it is properly unmounted from the Mac desktop before you disconnect the camera. Otherwise, you could corrupt that data card, as several posts in the community have discovered.
    Secondly, it is important to know if the Camera is compatible with iMovie '11. Here is the iMovie Supported Camera selector. If your videos are in AVCHD video format, here is how to get them off the camera.

  • Using Disk Utility for backup - target drive must be same size as source?

    Hello. I have a 250 GB data drive that I need to back up to an external drive using Disk Utility (restore) so that I can create a RAID-1 set using the 250GB drive. The files take up only 100 GB on the drive.
    Does the target external drive need to be 250 GB or just 100+ GB in size for the Disk Utility to work?
    Thanks
    David

    I you want to make a non mirrored drive into a mirrored one you can do that with diskutil. Copying it first is not needed.
    man diskutil:
    enableRAID mirror|concat device
    Convert single filesystem disk or volume into a unpaired mir-
    ror RAID set or concat set. Ownership of the affected disk is
    required.
    repairMirror raidDisk newDisk
    Repair a failed mirror. Supply the existing RAID as the raid-
    Disk parameter. Supply the new disk as the last parameter of
    the request. newDisk and raidDisk are only Device Nodes or
    Disk Identifiers. Ownership of the affected disk is required.
    The second disk in the mirror set needs to be as big or bigger as the first disk.
    Do this booted from another disk or DVD.

  • When using disk utility to copy one drive to another is it common for the screen to go black

    I have a G5 and the main HD is making a little noise. I installed a new HD and was using disk utilities to copy the old to the new. The message came up that it would take 5 hours to copy. The screen went black ... is this common? How do I know it's doing it's thing?

    I always set the Energy Saver settings to "never" whenever I do things like volume cloning, software (especially OS) downloading and installing, or using Disk Utility for most anything.

  • Disk Utility - Erasing a hard drive using MS-DOS (FAT)

    Hi all,
    I have recently purchased a 500GB external hard drive. I have used Disk Utility to format the drive from NTFS to MS-DOS (FAT) so I can use it with Windows PC's as well as Mac's.
    My issue is this.
    I copied a 1.16GB file over Firewire 800 to test the speed and then deleted it. After deleting the file the info pane still reports that 1.17GB of the drive has been used.
    Why is this?
    Thanks!
    David

    Did you remember to empty the trash can? If not, the file is in the hidden directory .Trashes on the Windows drive. You don't reclaim the space until you empty the trash.

  • Cloning drive to external & partitioning using Disk Utility.....!

    Hi,
    I wonder if someone is able to answer my questions and offer some advice and help.....?
    I am purchasing a new external drive and would like to know how to clone the internal drive of my Power Mac G4 using disk Utility to the external drive, so that it is also bootable.  I have seen that there seems to be more then one way of doing this within disk utility, but would like to know which is the best way?
    1. Please could you take me thorough the steps as I have never done this before?
    2. Would it be wise to partition the external drive to keep the cloned bootable system seperate from the rest of the content that will be placed on the external drive or not?   If so again please could you take me through the steps on how to do this (partition external drive)?
    3.  Prior to partitioning the drive is it necessary to delete the new external drive even though there is nothing on it?  As I read someone that this need to be done, but didn't quite get that!
    Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks in advance

    Hello,
    Hopefully it'll be an External Firewire drive, as USB cannit be booted from on PPC Macs.
    I wouldn't use Disk Utility, there are easier ones for free.
    I strongly recommend that you get a good Firewire drive to Clone your Internal drive to...
    http://eshop.macsales.com/search/firewire+drives
    Many of those come with Backup SW, or...
    Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
    http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
    Or SuperDuper...
    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
    2. It depends how big the new drive is & how much space is used on the current drive.
    OSX loves lots of free space on it's boot drive for VM & other temp files, I don't feel 50% is too much free space to leave.
    3. Normally isn't needed to Zero the Drive, but you may have to foprmat it...
    How to format your disks...
    http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
    Thanks to Pondini, Formatting,  Partitioning, Verifying,  and  Repairing  Disks...
    http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html

  • Using Disk Utility for Boot Camp to work

    I'm trying to install Windows 7, but Boot Camp gave me the old error message about having unmovable data and needed to use Disk Utility to format it as a Single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Volume. So I backed everything up and am ready to go, but when I open Disk Utility and select my hard drive/disk, all the options under "erase" are grayed out. Any ideas?
    Thanks!

    You can't format what you are using.
    If you cloned your drive you would be able to boot from that; if you used another method and you don't have OS X installed on another hard drive, you have to use your DVD.

  • Boot camp probl"back up disk and use disk util. to reform as single MAC OS.

    The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.
    Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again.
    I am trying to install win 7 32 bit but before i partition my mac osx an error message pops up with the above wording...I went to disk utility and it is already a single mac osx (journaled). any help would be great and much appreciated..thank you for viewing.

    The error message must be the title of 100s of threads.
    Do you know how to backup?
    It can't move files, some are fixed, the free space has to also be unfragmented contiguous chunk at the end of the drive.
    Disk Utility Restore tab (and Help menu).
    and of course external backup drive. And backup is step #1. There is a PDF you can save or print from the Boot Camp Assistant.
    If you only have TimeMachine for backup you might want to install OS X anyway on a small 30GB partition (shrink partition size) or use your OS X DVD.
    From OS X DVD go to Utility and then Disk Utility. Restore to another drive and that should be then bootable.
    Or pick up SuperDuper or Carbon Copy to clone-backup and use one of those.
    iDefrag $$ may be able to optimize the free space.
    But it is wiser to first insure any data and files are backed up before changing or installing another OS, and before changing partitions around.

  • Boot Camp Assistant: Using disk utility? (PLEASE HELP!)

    I am trying to download Windows XP with boot camp and I waited for the disk to be partitioned (I'm not even really sure what that means) and then it says:
    The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot me moved. Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single MAC OS Extended (Journaled) Volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again.
    Okay, so I went to Disk Utility and now I have no idea what I am supposed to do. Please help!

    If you use Time Machine you can reinstall Leopard and then using the Install Disc go to the Utilities and go to the Restore from Time Machine. You can restore your new drive to any of the saved days. It would save them to the hard disk defragmented. Another program is SuperDuper! which can make a clone of your Macintosh HD to an external disc as a bootable option. This is easier and faster though this program has not been confirmed to work with Leopard yet. And as I said before you can buy iDefrag for $30 and not have to restore and erase anything. But what ever you do, make sure to back your files up.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Apple iPod Nano Case

    Hello. I was just wondering, which case looks like it would be better, look better, and just overall better. They are both twenty dollars. Which one should I get? The Incase Neoprene Sleeve for iPod Nano, or Agent 18 Shield for iPod Nano. They are in

  • Super-narrow filename column in PDF export window

    Does anyone know why the left (file name) column would be very, very narrow in the dialog box when exporting an ID doc as a PDF? And how it can be remedied? See screen shot attached. This isn't a huge problem, but it's annoying always seeing truncate

  • Dialog popup promting user to accept one of the options

    I have a VI consisting of three sub VI's which perform the same application. I would like the program to pop up a dialog box asking the user which subvi he would like to proceed with. The program should lead to the appropriate sub vi and continue upo

  • Flat-out not working.

    Yo. I've had my iPod nano for over a year and it has always been pretty reliable. But recently, I took it out and tried to turn it on but it wouldn't. I don't remember the battery life being low, but I went home and plugged it in to my iHome to see i

  • MacBook is starting to shut down after 5 minutes.

    My MacBook has just started to shut down after 5-10 minutes. The computer still holds a charge, and the battery Percentage says that it's full, so I dont know what's going on.