On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 04:57:47PM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote: > > It's a 4GB stick and I am thinking of using all the space in a single > > partition. > > Assuming the USB stick is at /dev/sdb I'd do: > > % fdisk /dev/sdb > o > n RET RET RET RET > w > q > % mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1 > > This has always worked well for me, for Windows and Mac OS X. > [ IIUC using vfat for larger devices can occasionally lead to > incompatibilities, but for 4GB there's no such problem. ] > >
I followed the above instructions exactly except that my USB stick is /dev/sdg, and the q command is not necessary as the w command quit automatically after writing the partition table. It all worked well but unfortunately my Mac-using friend called off our rendezvous this evening as he is not feeling well. So I have not yet been able to check it can be read by the Mac. I'll try it on a Windows laptop later although Windows is a lower priority for me as what Windows machines I have left are on my network and can get data without resorting to USB sticks in most cases. So the Windows part is more "it should work with everything" while the Mac part is "I've got a specific need to share data with a Mac user". My only slight worry is following the above instructions the partition created on the stick was marked as "Linux". Really? Is that OK? The discussion this generated has left me with a question though. Some people put forward the view that they use exfat and share data between Linux, Windows and Mac with no problems. Others said exfat has terrible compatibility problems. Which is it? I went with vfat, but I'd like to resolve the question of exfat if possible, out of curiosity. Thanks very much to everyone who contributed to this thread and educated me in the process. If the issue turns out not to be resolved you'll hear from me again :-) Mark
