Running El Capitan 10.11.6 and there is no option for FAT16 vs FAT32...only MS-DOS. When I format MS-DOS on my .5GB flashdrive I "Get Info" and it tells me its FAT16...I need FAT32. What's the deal apple???
Anyone have a solution...why why why does apple try to dumb down these options to the point of idiocy??? How about a "Advanced" button....????
Painful...wasted an hour of my time already.
Unfortunately, when you format a drive in OS X or macOS using the MS-DOS option, the OS decides whether to make it FAT16 or FAT32 according to the size of the device being formatted. Yours must be small enough to be under a predetermined limit and is formatted as FAT16 each time.
Mind you, I've read this on a couple of Mac-centric sites, and this is their conclusion. I don't know how accurate that info is.
Easiest would be to use a Windows computer to erase the USB drive. There, you can manually choose what level of FAT you want in the dialogue box.
Just formatted 2GB drive MS-DOS(FAT) and it defaulted to FAT32....do you folks realize how many blog posts I have read on how to format flash drives is in FAT32 and not one mention of this...JFC
Thank you all....
Yes I have a car audio that needs a flash update...but it needs FAT32 formatted USB flash drive. Sony says can be either FAT16 or FAT32 but the FAT16...it does not seem to work. I was told that it has to be FAT32
And car stereos (such as this case), exFat is awful, lacking (as it does) a second allocation table (unlike FAT) it is usually unrecoverable if even the slightest error occurs, it's a quick and dirty abomination.
Many claim to, many that do, don't. And the single rather than dual FAT is a terrible compromise to make, it was originally designed for use in Cameras, where longevity of files did not matter, they would be transferred somewhere else quite quickly (so the manufacturers assumed). The file size limitation imposed by pure FAT formats does not matter for most uses (including this one)
The forums are being wonky tonight. Your graph wasn't there when I started typing, or even after I posted my reply. And yet, my post is now below yours. Makes it difficult to avoid repeating things. 🙂
Back to where we left off. I just formatted a SanDisk 4GB flash drive as MS-DOS/MBR and both Get Info and Disk Utliity show it as FAT32. Where did you see FAT16?
Whether it formats as FAT 16 or 32 depends on volume size.
See this table
Try ExFat.
MS Dos is FAT, 16 or 32 does not matter. Use that, don't use eXFat
Csound1 wrote:
MS Dos is FAT, 16 or 32 does not matter. Use that, don't use eXFat
Why not? It has support for larger files than FAT32 and Macs can read and write to it.
Not consistently they can't. As the correct FAT format is available I would recommend using that.
Well, six of my Macs can. As can my Windows 10 machine. Nonetheless, FAT32 is more compatible than ExFAT on certain devices such as XBox 360s vs XBox Ones, PlayStation 3s vs PlayStation 4s etc.
http://www.howtogeek.com/235596/whats-the-difference-between-fat32-exfat-and-ntf s/
Well Sony should know. Make sure to select Master Boot Record (MBR)
No option to format flashdrive FAT32
