If you are unsuccessful in formatting USB sticks using Windows on-board tools, you can alternatively use the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.

If you need a USB drive that's widely compatible with different devices, you may want to format it to FAT32. Here's how to do so on Mac and PC.

If you’re both Mac users, swell; with Mac and Windows in the mix, you might be tempted to pick FAT32 when formatting that thumb drive. But FAT32 is distinctly out of date.