It is hardly possible to find a person who actively uses computer equipment, but does not have any removable drive available. Indeed, the USB flash drive currently acts as an excellent tool that provides fast copying of content and its subsequent successful storage. Having always a flash drive with you, a person allows himself never to part with important documents, to have them always with him, to use instantly if necessary.
The principles of working with a USB flash drive on a MacBook are simple and straightforward.
However, if you can use removable drives on Windows almost everything, then the principles of working with them on a MacBook for many remain beyond understanding. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the recommendations that will help you understand the issues of how to format a USB flash drive on a MacBook, how to transfer photos, audio recordings or video materials to a removable storage device.
The basics of working with a flash drive
If you have become the owner of a MacBook, it is really useful for you to learn how to work on such a device with removable drives. If in Windows it is enough to click the right mouse button and select the “Format” option, then on MacBook such actions are impossible, since there is simply no such item. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to format a USB flash drive on MacBook. Using such a gadget, you should just make some other manipulations, we will help you to figure out which ones.
Formatting flash drive
If you have a flash drive that you intend to use actively, transferring materials to it, and also from it to MacBook, then you need to format your new USB flash drive. The fact is that the format of the drive is focused on Windows, you also need to “tune in” to your MacBook. Changing the format of the drive is easy if you familiarize yourself with the algorithm of actions.
Insert your USB flash drive into your MacBook, then go to “Programs”, go to the “Utilities” line, there you will find the “Disk Utilities” option. Log in to it. Translate your view on the sidebar, there you will see your removable drive, select it. Now at the top you will find four tabs, you should go to the second in a row called "Erase."
On this tab, you can familiarize yourself with a small instruction again, if suddenly you are experiencing a "trembling in your knees." Now just below you need to choose the format that you would like to give your drive. To work on a MacBook, the optimal format is “Mac OS Extended (journal), ” which is why it is this one that you select in the drop-down list. It remains to click on the "Erase" button, located at the bottom of the window, as the process starts, thanks to him you will be able to quickly format your USB flash drive.
We remind you that any formatting process is accompanied by the complete destruction of all data from the drive. If you want to format the drive that you have already used, it has important information, photos, videos that you wouldn’t want to part with, then before starting the process, copy all the content to another source, where you can store it.
Using the exact same method, you will be able to format the memory card, since it is also defined as a removable drive. Before starting the process, also consider which format option would be preferable for your memory card.
Boot from flash drive
It is no secret that often the flash drive is used as an excellent boot tool. If you need to boot from a flash drive too, then you need to follow certain steps. First connect your removable drive, then turn on your MacBook. If it has already been enabled, then restart it necessarily. At the time of launching the system, hold down the "Option (Alt)" key and continue holding it until you see a menu on the screen in which you are prompted to select the boot option.
It is in this menu, you must point to your flash drive. Sometimes she may not be in this list. Do not panic, just wait a few minutes so that MacBook can scan and identify all devices connected to it. Your removable drive will definitely appear in the boot menu. You have to choose it using the mouse, the arrows on the keyboard or the trackpad. Now you need to confirm that you really want to run your MacBook from a dedicated flash drive. To do this, simply press the "Return (Enter)" key. As you can see, there are no difficulties in performing this process.
Copying files
It is clear that if you decide to use a flash drive, then you need to write and copy some information. Unfortunately, newbies often encounter a problem, which makes it possible to copy any content, including photos, video, audio, on a MacBook, but in the opposite direction the process stops. When you hover the mouse and the next attempt to copy something to a USB flash drive from a MacBook, the user sees an explicit “ban” icon. Even trying to continue the process of copying photos to a removable drive, nothing happens.
Of course, to fix such a problem, you just need to format your drive. You can choose any format that is perceived by the MacBook. It can be FAT32 or exFAT. After formatting the flash drive is completed, try copying photos, videos, and audio to your drive again. Now you make sure that everything works without a single failure.
So, working with flash drives when using a MacBook has its own characteristics, but you should not be afraid of them, since you will not need to take any super-complex actions, it is enough to familiarize yourself with our recommendations.