Each volume within an APFS container can have its own APFS format-APFS, APFS (Encrypted), APFS (Case-sensitive), or APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted). You can easily add or delete volumes in APFS containers. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.ĪPFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted): Uses the APFS format, is case-sensitive to file and folder names, and encrypts the volume.

Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive format.ĪPFS (Encrypted): Uses the APFS format and encrypts the volume.ĪPFS (Case-sensitive): Uses the APFS format and is case-sensitive to file and folder names. Each volume uses only part of the overall container, so the available space is the total size of the container, minus the size of all the volumes in the container.Ĭhoose one of the following APFS formats for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later.ĪPFS: Uses the APFS format. If desired, you can specify reserve and quota sizes for each volume. When a single APFS container has multiple volumes, the container’s free space is shared and is automatically allocated to any of the individual volumes as needed. note the name of your USB key (mine was /dev/disk1) in Terminal: diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS 'WINDOWS10' MBR /dev/disk1. macOS 10.13 or later supports APFS for both bootable and data volumes.ĪPFS allocates disk space within a container (partition) on demand. While APFS is optimized for the Flash/SSD storage used in recent Mac computers, it can also be used with older systems with traditional hard disk drives (HDD) and external, direct-attached storage. (Or, you can open Launchpad, type disk, and then click the Disk Utility icon. To run it, press Command+Space on your keyboard and type disk utility, and then click the Disk Utility icon. Apple File System (APFS), the default file system for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later, features strong encryption, space sharing, snapshots, fast directory sizing, and improved file system fundamentals. To format a USB drive with the exFAT file system on a Mac, you’ll need to use a tool called Disk Utility created by Apple that ships with macOS.

Macos format usb drive