How to Format USB Flash/SD/Disk Fat32 on Mac - 3 ways

How to format usb to fat32 on mac? Here in this article we would share top free fat32 formatters mac for formatting usb drives or memory card to fat32 on MAC.

  • Open disk utility on mac
  • Insert usb to mac to format usb on mac
  • Select usb on the left column, click Erase option on the right
  • Select file system 'MS-DOS(FAT)' to format usb to fat32 on mac, and confirm the erasing

You may wonder why there is no MS-DOS(FAT32) option when there is MS-DOS(FAT) inside of Mac Disk Utility, are they the same file system? What's the difference? Where could we get the disk/flash drive formatted to fat32?

Don't worry, we would explain it to you and guide you the formatter to get it done on Macbook or other MAC X.

Guide - Top Free MAC FAT32 Formatters

  1. 1, Format usb/sd fat32 on MAC with Mac Disk Utility
  2. 2, Format usb/sd fat32 using Mac Terminal
  3. 3, Format fat32 with Freecome Hard Drive Formatter or also called FHD Formatter

1, Best Free MAC FAT32 Formatter - Mac Disk Utility

Mac Disk Utility is probably the best fat32 formatter for you on MAC since you don't have to install any other programs and the simple user interface and easy user manul would draw you from the rest tools.

The problem you may have on your mind: Isn't Mac Disk Utility providing FAT32 as a format/erase file system option?

The Answer: MS-DOS(FAT) is fat32 that shows in MAC Disk Utility, they are the exact same file system here.

Guide to Format SD/USB FLASH FAT32 in MAC Disk Utility

Simple Steps

How to open Disk Utility: -> Back to the desktop, search 'Disk Utility' in seach.

Load your usb flash/disk/sd card, get it clicked on the left, -> click 'Erase' option

Set file system 'MS-DOS(FAT)', and confirm the erasing. (Erasing is formatting on MAC Disk Utility)

Open Disk UtilityFormat usb flash fat32 with Mac Disk Utility

2, Format USB Stick/SD Card FAT32 with Mac Terminal

  1. Open Terminal, type: diskutil list
  2. Type: diskutil eraseDisk "MS-DOS FAT32" FAT disk5 (here you need to replace disk5 with your own drive)

Here is another terminal fat32 format guide on MAC that you may follow.

Preparations: Connect Flash drive to Mac ->Tap CMD and space bar to open Spotlight. Type “terminal” and press Enter

Open mac terminalOpen MAC Terminal to format media fat32

  • Type in: diskutill land locate your USB drivr
  • Type in sudo.diskutilerasediskFAT32MBRFormat/Dev/disk2
  • Sudo will give you the user right
  • Diskutill will call in utility program
  • Erasedisk commands will format
  • FAT32 will set the file system
  • MBRFormat will tell disk to format with Master Boot
  • /Dev/disk2 will be the USB drive location

3, Format Drive FAT32 with FreeCome Hard Drive Formatter - less popular

This program was called FHDFormatter and it is able to format the HDD as NTFS or FAT32.

format disk fat32 with freecom hard drive formatterFormat disk fat32 with Freecom Hard Drive Formatter

You may download it here

https://freecom-hard-drive-formatter.software.informer.com/

Note: Formatting/erasing would get your files lost, so it's better to move your data somewhere else before this.

Also read: best mac format tools

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