Check USB Format on macOS | Generated by AI

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Question: In macOS, how to know what format a USB disk is (FAT32 or others)?

Answer:

Here are the easiest ways to check the file system format (such as FAT32, exFAT, APFS, Mac OS Extended, NTFS, etc.) of a USB drive on macOS:

Method 1: Using Finder (Quickest – Recommended)

  1. Plug in your USB drive.
  2. Open Finder.
  3. In the sidebar, locate your USB drive (it usually appears under “Locations”).
  4. Right-click (or Control-click) the USB drive name.
  5. Choose Get Info.
  6. In the Info window, look for the line labeled Format (near the top, under General).
    • You will see something like:
      • MS-DOS (FAT32) → This is FAT32
      • ExFAT → Modern large-file compatible format
      • Mac OS Extended (Journaled) → Also called HFS+
      • APFS
      • Windows (NTFS)
      • etc.

This method works on any recent macOS version and is the fastest for most users.

Method 2: Using Disk Utility (More detailed view)

  1. Plug in your USB drive.
  2. Open Disk Utility:
    • Go to Applications → Utilities → Disk Utility
    • Or use Spotlight (Cmd + Space) and type “Disk Utility”
  3. In the left sidebar, select your USB drive (click the actual device name, not just the volume — if you don’t see the full device list, go to menu View → Show All Devices).
  4. Look at the information shown in the main area:
    • You will see Format or File System listed clearly (e.g., “MS-DOS (FAT32)”, “ExFAT”, “APFS”, etc.).
    • You can also click the Info button (i icon) at the top for more details.

Method 3: Using Terminal (For command-line users)

  1. Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal).
  2. Run this command to list all disks: 
    diskutil list

    → Find your USB drive (usually something like /dev/disk2 or /dev/disk3 — look at the size and name to identify it).

  3. Then run (replace disk3 with your actual disk number): 
    diskutil info disk3s1

    (use the partition like diskXs1 or diskXs2 that corresponds to the volume) → Look for the line File System Personality or Type (Bundle) — it will show FAT32, ExFAT, Journaled HFS+, APFS, etc.

Quick tip: FAT32 usually appears as MS-DOS (FAT32) in macOS. If you see just “MS-DOS (FAT)”, it’s the older 16-bit FAT (rare on modern USB drives).

These methods work on macOS Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia, and earlier versions.

References:

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