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Steps to Format a Drive for Use on Windows and macOS Using exFat

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Answer ID 50277: Format USB Flash and External Drive as exFat using Windows for use on Windows and macOS Guided Assist
Answer ID 50276: Format USB Flash and External Drive as exFat using macOS for use on macOS and Windows Guided Assist

Western Digital drives come formatted as NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (macOS).
The drive must be formatted as exFAT when used on both Windows and macOS computers.

Need more help?
Answer ID 5242: Linux and Unix Support for Western Digital Retail Products

STOP Critical:

The process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone.
ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!

Steps to Format a Drive on Windows

  1. Right-click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen.
    Click Disk Management.

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  2. The lower pane of Disk Management will show a list of drives. Choose the drive that needs to be formatted.
    A blue bar will show above the drive if there is a partition on it.
    Right-click the bar and click Delete Volume.

    IMPORTANT:
    A drive that shows Not Initialized will need to be intialized prior to format.

    Need more help?
    Answer ID 18824: How To Initialize Secondary Drives on Windows.

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  3. A drive will show as Unallocated when there is no partition on it.
    Right-click the Unallocated space.
    Click New Simple Volume.

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  4. Click Next.

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  5. Choose the volume size.
    Click Next.

    The maximum disk space is selected y default.
    It is recommended to leave it at this size.


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  6. Assign a drive letter.
    Click Next.

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  7. Set the file system to exFAT.
    Leave the Allocation unit size to Default.
    Choose a name for the Volume Label.
    Check the box Perform a quick format.
    Click Next.

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  8. Click Finish.

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Steps to Format a Drive on macOS

  1. Connect the drive to the computer.

  2. Press CMD + Spacebar to open Spotlight Search.
    Type Disk Utility
    Press Enter.

  3. Click View.
    Click Show All Devices.

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  4. Select the drive on the left.

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  5. Enter a name for the drive.

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  6. Click the Format drop down.
    Select ExFAT.

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  7. Select GUID Partition Map.
    Click Erase.

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  8. Click Done.

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Details
Answer ID 20821
Published 08/20/2018 02:56 AM
Updated 10/23/2023 10:00 AM

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