You have four options for the level you’d like to use from Fastest to Most Secure. When the Erase box opens, click Security Options. Step 3: Optionally adjust the Security Optionsīefore erasing and formatting the card, you can optionally choose the security level for cleaning the card.Ĭlick Erase in the toolbar at the top of the Disk Utility window. If you’ve never given it a name, it’s likely labeled No Name or Untitled. With Disk Utility open, select your SD card on the left side.
If you don’t have a card slot, you’ll need to connect an external device with read and write ability like the SD card reader on our list of portable tech gadgets. For a microSD card, be sure to use a microSD-to-SD card adapter. Step 1: Insert the SD card and back up the dataįor a Mac with an SD card slot, simply insert the card with the metal connector contacts facing down, sliding that side into the slot.
Here, we’ll walk through the steps and show you how to format an SD card on Mac. Step 3: Optionally adjust the Security Options.Step 2: Open Disk Utility and select the card.Step 1: Insert the SD card and back up the data.The computer will delete the contents of your SD card and format it. A message will appear asking, “ Are you sure you want to erase the partition “?” Click Erase.If it’s a 64GB card, please select ExFAT. Select MS-DOS (FAT) if the card is 32 GB or smaller. Next, click on the Format dropdown menu.Click the ERASE tab in the middle of the window.It’ll be named something like NO NAME or UNTITLED. Find the SD card in the left side of the window.Type “disk utility” in the search box that opens, then click on the “Disk Utility” Application that comes up. To do this, click on the magnifying glass in the top-right corner of your computer screen. In this case, we'd recommend either upgrading your OS to 10.6.6 or later, or using an SD card that's already formatted to MS-DOS (FAT) or FAT32 to complete the below steps. This means that you won't be able to format or use exFAT card on your computer.
Formatting the SD card deletes all the data off of the card. Save all the files from your SD card that you want to keep to your computer before moving to step 2.
Connect the SD card to your computer by using an external card reader.