Not many people are aware of these differences until they need to copy files into a storage formatted using the different file system. Due to the smaller worldwide user-based percentage, Mac OS X users are the ones who would likely stumble into these file format problems. If you are a Mac users, here are overviews of different file format systems, and how to choose which format to use for your USB drive to ensure compatibility with other operating systems.
Choosing File Format System in Mac The mass adoption of USB drive makes it one of the most used storage media today. It’s a common thing to see people sharing and distributing files using USB drive. But that trend also makes file system compatibility problem more apparent. With several different formats available, which one should we choose? It will depend on your usage.
Here are the overview of the commonly used file systems. 1. FAT32 This legacy file system is the next generation of FAT that comes a long way from the DOS era. Almost all USB flash drive comes pre-formatted with FAT 32 file system because it virtually works everywhere. The disadvantage of this system is that it doesn’t support files with size bigger than 4 GB and storage partition bigger than 2 TB. If you only deal with simple documents, small movie files, or other kinds of files below 4 GB, and your storage drive is 2 TB or smaller, you should be fine with this file system. ExFAT If you still need the universal support, but will exchange files bigger than 4 GB, you might want to use ExFAT file system. This format works on Windows, Linux (with FUSE), and Mac OS X.
Rakesh Shewale writes with a common question about formatting compatibility: I bought a new external HDD for my mac about a month ago and But the problem is I can’t access this HDD from my PC which has Windows and Linux. The trouble is that the drive is already formatted—this limits.
The system is commonly used for shared hard drive(s) that is plugged into computer most of the time. But it’s not as compatible as FAT32 as there are devices that don’t support it, such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. NTFS This file system is perfect for those who only works among Windows computer. The format is the next generation of file format on Windows, supports big files, and can read and write faster than FAT32 – provided that other factors that influence speed are similar. The format has even less compatibility than ExFAT.
Mac OS X and some Linux distributions can only read NTFS-formatted disk without the help of third-party software. NTFS is ideal for internal drives on Windows computers. OS X Extended At the opposite side of NTFS, is Mac OS X Extended file system (HFS Plus). If you only work within Mac OS X environment, then the HFS Plus is perfect for you. It supports volume size and file size up to 8EB (Exabytes) roughly equivalent to 8 Million Terabytes. Looking at the maximum commercial storage size available today, we are not going to reach that limit anytime soon. Formatting Disk in Mac OS X Even though external drives comes factory pre-formatted, there are occasions where you need to re-format the drive.
For example, if you need to change the file format of the drive, or if one of your Windows-user neighbours ask your help to wipe clean his/her virus-infected USB flash drive (which happens more often than you think). There are several ways to format the USB (flash) drive in Mac OS X environment. Let’s discuss them in detail down below:- 1. Using Disk Utility The easiest way to format a disk in Mac OS X is using Disk Utility.
It’s Mac’s native disk maintenance tool. To format a USB flash drive, simply plug the drive into your Mac, and choose it from Disk Utility’s sidebar menu. Then choose the Erase tab from the top bar. A pop-up menu will appear, and you can customize many options here. First is the type of file system that you want to use. Please refer to the previous section above to find the formatting type that fit your need.
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Share on Facebook Tweet this Share Compatibility issues between Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS may have diminished sharply over the years, but that doesn’t mean they’ve completely disappeared. Today, if you go out and buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between the two is an often demoralizing task. But it doesn’t need to be.
A quick Google search may lead you to believe you’re on the right path by formatting the drive to FAT32. Unless every file you plan to store on the disk is less than 4GB in size, you may be better off avoiding this method, instead opting for the more storage efficient, reliable, and secure NTFS and Mac OS Extended file systems. Partition the drive on Windows 10 Possibly the best solution to using a hard drive with both Windows and Mac without the use of third-party software is creating two partitions on the drive, one for Windows and one for Mac.
This essentially tricks the computer into thinking there are multiple hard drives connected to the computer at once despite there only being one. Partitioning is a fairly simple process, and we can show you how to.
We’ll go into more detail below on how cross platform partitioning works, too. Partition the drive on a Mac As far as partitioning goes, Macs have it a little bit easier. Plus, you don’t have to deal with the restrictions of FAT32, which is icing on the cake. That’s why — if you have the option — we would suggest partitioning your hard drive from the Mac itself.
To do this, your first step will be to find “Disk Utility.” The easiest way to access Disk Utility is by searching for it in Spotlight Search in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. With Disk Utility open, locate the hard drive you want to partition and select “Partition.” If you want to start from scratch, you can do so by first clicking “Erase,” followed by “Erase Free Space” to format the disk. Next, under the “Partition Layout” column, specify the number of partitions you want to create on the drive.
In the “Partition Information” category, specify the name and size of each partition. Since we’re showing you how to use a hard drive with both Mac and PC, this setup is simple, with one partition dedicated to MacOS and the other dedicated to Windows. For now at least, you’ll want to format the MacOS partition as “MacOS Extended (Journaled)” and the Windows partition as “ExFAT.” Of course, as we mentioned before, the FAT file system isn’t without its fair share of problems. Unlike the older FAT32 format, however, ExFAT allows for the storage of files up to 16 exabytes (which equates to about 16 million terabytes!).
Likewise, it supports bigger volumes as well. But it also brings with it the shaky reliability and security standards of FAT32, which is why we’ll be showing you how to format this partition back to NTFS in Windows.
If you would like to specify a partition style, or scheme, select “Options.” However, the default option of “GUID Partition Table” is typically optimal with an external hard drive, so long as you don’t plan on booting the OS itself from the disk. Once you’ve decided on a layout as well as the names and sizes of your partitions, go ahead and click “Apply.” The next screen that pops up just wants to ensure that you’re aware of the effects that accompany disk partitioning, i.e. Erasing everything on your hard drive. Once you’ve come to terms with this, click “Partition.” And you should be done — ah, but wait! If you’re worried about the reliability factor of the exFAT file system, or lack thereof, there is a way to format the Windows partition to NTFS, but it requires connecting the hard drive to a Windows computer.
With Windows booted up, locate “Disk Management” by searching Windows Search / Cortana for “Create and format hard disk partitions.” When you’ve done that, make sure your hard drive is still connected and you should see the Windows partition, along with the letter you assigned it, under the “Volume” column. Right-click the Windows volume and select “Format.” Then, under “File system,” switch to NTFS and click “OK.” Congratulations! Now you can use your external hard drive with both Windows and MacOS.
But, remember, your Mac will only be able to write to the MacOS partition while your PC can only write to the NTFS-formatted Windows partition. If you need to overwrite files on the Windows partition using the Mac, for instance, you’ll have to first move the files over to the MacOS volume and vice versa.
Partitioning on Windows On a PC, the process is less straightforward than what you’d see on a Mac, but it’s a relatively similar process. If you’re on Windows 10, locate Cortana on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and search “Create and format hard disk partitions.” The “Disk Management” window will proceed to open up. If you haven’t formatted the drive already, you’ll want to do that now. To do this, you’ll want to find the disk in the lower half of Disk Management. If you don’t have any additional drives attached, aside from the one built in to your computer, it should be recognized as “Disk 1.” Typically, when you buy an external hard drive it will be formatted out of the box. Depending on a number of factors, however, your drive may be labeled “Not Initialized,” such as the 4TB drive exhibited above. If this is the case for you, right-click the drive you want to format and click “Initialize Disk.” This will prompt a new window, asking you to select a partition style for your disk.
If you’re going to be using the drive with a version of Windows prior to Windows Vista, you’re going to want to go with MBR. With that being said, MBR is only compatible with disks up to 2TB in capacity. Therefore, if you’re like most of us and you want to get the most out of your external hard drive, GPT is the way to go. Click “OK” when you’ve made your decision. Now that you’ve initialized the drive, you should have a drive listed, labeled “Unallocated.” Right-click the box where it says this and select “New Simple Volume.” This will thereby initiate the New Simple Volume Wizard. Click “Next” and you’ll be asked to specify the size of your volume.
The volume is the same as a partition. In Windows, the only partition type you can create with read/write compatibility on a Mac is exFAT. For the purpose of this article, we decided to open the Windows 10 Calculator app by searching “Calculator” in Cortana and divided the maximum disk space in half. This way, we could dedicate half of the storage space to the Mac-friendly FAT32 format and the other half to the NTFS format on PC. Click “Next” then you’ll be asked to assign a drive letter to the new volume. We’re calling ours “G” by default, but you use any letter you’d like to properly identify the disk when it’s in use.
After proceeding to the next page, select the file system exFat and keep the allocation unit size at the default. As a standard user, Microsoft advises against changing the allocation unit size. Again, you can assign whatever volume label you’d like, so long as it makes it easy to identify the drive when in use. For this reason, we opted for “MacOS,” a simple reminder that this partition will be used in conjunction with my Mac. Keep the box beside “Perform a quick format” checked and click “Next” to move on to the next screen. On the next page, make sure everything is correct and select “Finish.” Now repeat this process for Windows. However, this time, instead of using the file system exFat, you’ll want to go with NTFS.
The end result should look something like this: Final notes That’s how you partition a hard drive for use on both Windows and Mac. Alternatively, you can install an application like the commercial product or the open-source on your Mac to enable NTFS read/write support, but it should be noted that even with third-party software, some features including Time Machine will not work properly with an NTFS file system.