Which way do I format a flash drive?

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Level 1

15 points

Which way do I format a flash drive?

Hello. I need to get a new flash drive to store some photos on as the one I have is full. I ran into an issue early on with my current one and how I formatted it. I guess there are a few ways to format and I did the wrong one and it was taking ages for like 10 photos to download onto it. I spoke to Apple and they told me I had used the wrong formatting option but I can’t remember which one to use. Can any advise me?

I have a 2020 iMac and I use the flash as an extra way to store other than my external HD.

Any help would be great. Thank you!!

Posted on Oct 8, 2025 3:50 AM

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Answer 1

lkrupp

Level 7

22,159 points

Oct 8, 2025 5:27 AM in response to zowenso

Normally an off-the-shelf USB flash drive needs no formatting. The most common format for those drives is ExFat which macOS fully supports. Should you choose to format that drive using an Apple format like HFS+ or APFS be aware that only Macs could read it thereafter. If you shared it with a PC owner they would not be able to use it.

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Answer 2

lkrupp

Level 7

22,159 points

Oct 8, 2025 8:50 AM in response to zowenso

The format has little to do with speed. Many flash drives are only USB 2.0 and slow. Slower USB 2.0 drives are the cheapest. Flash drives that advertise USB 3.2 are much faster but typically they cost more. Bottom line? You get what you pay for.

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Answer 3

zowenso Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 8, 2025 8:08 AM in response to lkrupp

Oh wow, so you don’t actually HAVE to format flash drives? I always thought you had to. Will it run any slower if it’s in ExFat and not one of the Apple formats? Thanks for the help.

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