By default, Mac OS X doesn't use a case-sensitive file system.
Select the drive by clicking its name.Ĭlick the "Erase" button after selecting the entire drive to erase the entire drive and create a single partition on it. Your connected drives will appear under "External" in the Disk Utility's sidebar. You can also open a Finder window, select "Applications" in the sidebar, and head to Utilities > Disk Utility. Press Command+Space to open the Spotlight search dialog, type "Disk Utility", and press "Enter" to launch the app.
To format a drive on a Mac, you'll need the built-in Disk Utility application. Again, formatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. If you want to use a different file system on your USB drive, you'll need to "format" it. In the screenshot below, the drive is formatted with the exFAT file system. You'll see the drive's file system displayed to the right of "Format" under the General heading. So how do you know if your USB drive is using the right format? You don't need to do anything special with Disk Utility–just plug in your USB drive and open the Finder. Right-click or Control-click the drive's icon in the Finder's sidebar (or on your desktop) and select "Get Info." RELATED: What File System Should I Use for My USB Drive? But, if you plan on using an external drive with both Macs and PCs, you should format the disk with the exFAT file system instead. By default, they format disks with the Mac-only OS X Extended file system.