Is there a 4G USB stick brand that is recommended for use with MacBook Pro? I'd prefer they come formatted, but not being savvy in USB sticks, I'm not sure they come formatted. That said, how does one format the USB sticks?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 13.2
Just make sure to select a good reliable brand since the quality of many USB sticks is extremely poor, both in performance & reliability...I have found many which will corrupt data intermittently (discovered by actually testing some USB sticks looking for these errors).
Many USB sticks out there are extremely slow so make sure to check their actual transfer rates. The majority will be only about 20MB/s to 40MB/s, but there are some which may write at 150MB/s which is much better, and just a few which can actually write at about a max of 380MB/s.
Don't assume just because a USB stick is advertised as USB3.2 that it will be fast. That "USB3.2" designation is just the protocol the device supports and has no bearing on how fast the device will transfer. Many manufacturers and vendors (aka sellers) will hype the USB3 speed designation to distract you from how slow the device really is. If the manufacturer does not clearly list actual read & write speeds, then assume the drive will be extremely slow.
SanDisk is usually fairly good. They have slow, medium, and fast versions so look carefully at the read & write speeds for each model. Even many familiar & popular brands have some issues, plus the products keep changing so it is hard to recommend a specific model.
Usually a USB stick comes formatted from the factory with an MBR legacy partition and FAT32 file system....some may use the exFAT file system instead. If it does come pre-formatted with the exFAT file system, then then macOS may or may not be able to mount it...it all depends on the specific characteristics the factory used with exFAT since macOS cannot read some variations of exFAT. However, if this is the case, then you just need to use Disk Utility on macOS to erase the USB stick as exFAT so it has a version which macOS recognizes (Windows will also recognize it this way too).
You can use any file system you want on a USB stick. It all depends on how you plan to utilize the drive. The same goes for the partition type which can be either MBR (usual default of USB sticks) or GUID (aka GPT).
You can use Disk Utility on macOS to erase the drive using any of the following file systems:
Here is an article with more details including pictures of the process to erase an external drive:
https://www.hellotech.com/guide/for/how-to-format-a-hard-drive-for-mac
Just make sure to select a good reliable brand since the quality of many USB sticks is extremely poor, both in performance & reliability...I have found many which will corrupt data intermittently (discovered by actually testing some USB sticks looking for these errors).
Many USB sticks out there are extremely slow so make sure to check their actual transfer rates. The majority will be only about 20MB/s to 40MB/s, but there are some which may write at 150MB/s which is much better, and just a few which can actually write at about a max of 380MB/s.
Don't assume just because a USB stick is advertised as USB3.2 that it will be fast. That "USB3.2" designation is just the protocol the device supports and has no bearing on how fast the device will transfer. Many manufacturers and vendors (aka sellers) will hype the USB3 speed designation to distract you from how slow the device really is. If the manufacturer does not clearly list actual read & write speeds, then assume the drive will be extremely slow.
SanDisk is usually fairly good. They have slow, medium, and fast versions so look carefully at the read & write speeds for each model. Even many familiar & popular brands have some issues, plus the products keep changing so it is hard to recommend a specific model.
Usually a USB stick comes formatted from the factory with an MBR legacy partition and FAT32 file system....some may use the exFAT file system instead. If it does come pre-formatted with the exFAT file system, then then macOS may or may not be able to mount it...it all depends on the specific characteristics the factory used with exFAT since macOS cannot read some variations of exFAT. However, if this is the case, then you just need to use Disk Utility on macOS to erase the USB stick as exFAT so it has a version which macOS recognizes (Windows will also recognize it this way too).
You can use any file system you want on a USB stick. It all depends on how you plan to utilize the drive. The same goes for the partition type which can be either MBR (usual default of USB sticks) or GUID (aka GPT).
You can use Disk Utility on macOS to erase the drive using any of the following file systems:
Here is an article with more details including pictures of the process to erase an external drive:
https://www.hellotech.com/guide/for/how-to-format-a-hard-drive-for-mac
What kind of USB sticks can be used with mac book pro
