formatting a USB flash drive — #7

Post #7 by macguy

Source Forum	68kMLA
Category	Software
Post Date	Wed, 13 Jan 2010 - 19:55
Original URL	https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/formatting-a-usb-flash-drive.19555/

Post

I second phreakout and Bunsen's suggestion to ensure the OS 9 drivers checkbox is ticked. Because Apple would rather pretend that Mac OS 9 never existed, when you format a volume in Mac OS X (any version), it does not actually install the drivers (software that allows you to access the volume) for Mac OS 9 systems by default - you must ensure that checkbox is ticked if you plan to use the drive on an OS 9 (or below) system.
Drive Setup for Mac OS 9 (and below) run in the older versions of the Mac OS and therefore automatically install the required drivers.....really, if you're planning on using the drive with both an OS 9 Mac and an OS X Mac on a regular basis, I'd format the drive on the OS 9 Mac - so long as you format the drive in HFS+ (Mac OS Extended Format) rather than HFS (Mac OS Standard Format), it'll have everything it needs built in for you to use it on either a Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X system - unlike Mac OS 9, OS X does not require any specific drivers or whatnot.

Thanks for the clarification.

As noted in my posting above i never even considered the fact that a OS 9 driver should be embedded in the flash drive to allow it to be used in any mac.

I just started to use the flash drive in my Peforma6360 ( now that it has USB ports ) and then carry it over to the OS X machines for picking up the stuff i need to download form the Internet since the P6360 does not yet have Internet connectivity ( and may never have it depending on the cost of the card etc. ).

Once again thanks to all for making this personal puzzlement clear: and tha'ts y we have the 68kMLArmy.