If your gear features compatibility with external storage devices, such as SD cards, SSDs, or thumb drives, it is essential that these devices be formatted to the correct filesystem architecture to ensure optimal performance with your hardware. This tutorial serves to guide you through the steps to do so on Windows and MacOS.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

 


Video Tutorial (MacOS)




Step-by-Step Instructions (MacOS)

  1. Prior to reformatting, please be sure to back up all data to a safe location, as reformatting the drive will erase its contents completely.
  2. From your Mac's Applications Menu, open the Disk Utility application.  
  3. Once you've opened Disk Utility, select your drive from the list of drives denoted in the directory on the left side of the application window.
  4. Once the drive has been selected, click on the Erase button found in Disk Utility's top toolbar. Once you've done so, a pop-up menu will appear.
  5. Below the filename field in the pop-up menu, a dropdown menu will be present that is labelled 'Format.' From that menu, select FAT32 or exFat. exFat will be the recommended filesystem for most products, but some older products may require FAT32 instead.
  6. Once the new filesystem has been selected, click the Erase button. Disk Utility will now begin reformatting your drive. Once that process finishes, your drive is now reformatted and ready to use with your hardware.



Video Tutorial (Windows)



Step-by-Step Instructions (Windows)

  1. Prior to reformatting, please be sure to back up all data to a safe location, as reformatting the drive will erase its contents completely.
  2. Open your File Explorer and locate your drive from the list of drives on the left side of the File Explorer screen.
  3. Right-click the drive and select Format.
  4. In the Filesystem dropdown menu, select FAT32 or exFat. exFat will be the recommended filesystem for most products, but some older products may require FAT32 instead. 
  5. Once you've selected a filesystem, click Start, then click OK.
  6. Windows will now reformat your drive to the selected filesystem. Once completed, your drive is ready for use with your hardware.