In Linux I tried to format an Apple SSD USB drive using the Disks application. I got the error “usb failed to meet partition size”.

Find the USB

$ sudo fdisk -l

Output

Disk /dev/sdb: 113 GiB, 121332826112 bytes, 236978176 sectors
Disk model: Transcend
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 33553920 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0000...
                                           
Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdb1         40    409639    409600   200M EFI System
/dev/sdb2     409640 235708599 235298960 112.2G Apple HFS/HFS+
/dev/sdb3  235708600 236978135   1269536 619.9M Apple boot

As seen in unable to delete USB drive partitions

Make sure to note the correct disk to format. Mine was /dev/sdb. Then run this:

$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=2048 count=32

Open Disks and delete all partitions from the USB drive. If you only want to use it for Linux, format as Ext4, if you want to use it for Linux or Windows use FAT. Also, enter a name for the drive.

Try the same command:

$ sudo fdisk -l

Output:

Disk /dev/sdb: 113 GiB, 121332826112 bytes, 236978176 sectors
Disk model: Transcend       
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 33553920 bytes