I would like to have here a good discussion for using exfat vs ntfs on mac. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. A file system uses a set of rules to control how data is stored and retrieved on a storage device. In the file system list box, choose exfat, type in a volume label if. The maximum size of the file you can store in the hard drive with fat32 is 4 gb along with 8tb maximum partition size. Windows, mac, linux, android, even tv, and ps3 etc. Step 1 in the case of external hard drive, connect the drive to your system using a compatible medium and make sure the windows recognizes your drive. Windows snapin formatting tools are helpful in formatting exfat on windows 10. How to format drive with compatible file system for mac. Select the upper level of the drive you would like to format and click the erase button.
So, apple could fix this problem by changing to boot camp assistant to format the usb flash drive as exfat instead of fat32. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write. Choose this format if the size of the disk is over 32 gb. How to format your hard drive to exfat file system on. Fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system. A hard disk partition also known as a volume can be formatted to ntfs, fat, or exfat. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. After many years of using ntfs formatted disks except mac internal hd. The default file system under windows is ntfs for hdd, but ntfs is readonly on os x. This could quickly damage the drives partition and corrupt the. To format external drive to file system compatible with mac and pc, connect the drive to your computer and follow the detailed steps given below take formatting hard drive to exfat in windows 7 for example. Almost since exfat is fairly new, it isnt compatible with older macs. The easiest way to format the drive to fat32 or exfat is by using macoss builtin disk utility or windows builtin disk management.
Both fat32 and exfat have advantages and disadvantages. Select exfat when formatting an external drive with windows. Hi, i have a 10tb gdrive usb not usbc harddisk and i have formatted it to exfat via a window 7 pc. For now, you can use the following steps to create a usb windows 10 flash drive installer. I later on bought a new mac book pro with touch bar with macos high sierra 10. As long as we format the external hard drive to one of these 2 file systems, it can be shared between mac and windows. If you format your fat32 drive in windows, the drive partition cannot be. Connect the hdd to a mac and format the drive as fat32 and then connect the same mac hdd to windows and convert it to ntfs. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and windows use. Never attempt to connect any external drive to multiple computers at the same time. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Although it lacks all modern features and comes with 4 gb limit for single file size. In the main interface, right click the partition on that need.
In the top menu bar, go to view, and choose show all devices. Actually, there is no need to format it all the time, as the exfat file system is compatible with both mac and windows computers. The other is to format your drives with the exfat file system. Do you need to use the drive with windows pcs as well as with your mac. Choose this format if the size of the disk is 32 gb or less. I understand that you are facing issues with windows 10. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. Be absolutely sure you have your files off the drive and that youve selected the correct drive you want to format. But luckily, there are file systems well supported by both mac and windows pc, and they are fat32 it might be called msdos on mac and exfat. How to format a flash drive to work on os x and windows.
The extended file system ext was the first file system created specifically for linux. It has been the standard format for hard drives and floppy disks so to maximize the compatibility across modern systems including mac, linux, and windows. This works in most cases, where the issue is originated due to a system corruption. How to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. Then click the dropdown menu beside format and select msdos fat the fat32 file format or exfat. The oldest windows os that exfat can work with is windows xp sp3, while the oldest mac os is mac 10.
Click the format popup menu, then choose one of the following. Essentially, its a file system thats both readable and writable on any modern mac or. The default values are used by windows when one of the following methods is used to format the partition. If you are not planning to use this drive as the windows startup disk or use it with the oldest version of. Formatting for exfat using disk utility on the web i have seen several warnings that if one formats an external hd for exfat using disk utility, it will still not work on windows. Read mac formatted drives with windows the tech guy. You can specify the partition label at next prompt if you want to. At this time, a couple of formatting options available. So far the exfat drives have allowed me to move data from both laptops to the drives. Remember, this will erase all the files on the drive. Both fat32 and exfat can be used on windows pc and mac. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Finally, an exfat partition will be created on your external hard disk so that it could be shared between mac and windows pc step 3. The maximum length for the volume name is 11 characters.
For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. I can find the hark disk in disk utility with the correct name but the harddisk name is. How to format hard drive to exfat in windows 7810 three ways. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. Formatting for exfat using disk utility apple community. Macyourself blog archive how to format a drive for mac and pc. Using thirdparty software for formatting andor encryption is not a problem. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. To sum up, it is easy to format an external hard drive for both mac and windows pc. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats.
So, if you want to use an external hard drive on both windows and mac, you need to format it to a filesystem that is compatible with windows pc and mac. Gdrive usb formatted as exfat cannot be mounted in mac os. One simple way to make the drive readable on both platforms is to format it to exfat, which both operating systems can understand. Using another format makes the usb drive unreadable on windows computers.
Plug the disk into a windows vista sp1 or windows 7 computer. If you need to use big, over 2 gb files both in windows and mac os xs, mbr partition format and exfat file system could be the most practical option for your mobile hdd. Click on the usb drive name in disk utility app and click restore button displayed on the top menu. This article will illustrate to the differences between the three, analyzing their pros and cons, compatibility and usage in an allrounded way. Using disk utility, i can only format the drive to a nonencrypted fat32 or exfat. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. How to format an external hard drive for mac and windows. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. If you want a hd that truly works on both platforms windows and os x you need to format it to exfat from within windows. Boot camp software for running windows on a mac and the microsoft office productivity suite.
Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. We live in a windows world, so crossplatform compatibility for our usb flash disks and hard disk, is essential. This will erase all contents on the disk, however, so youll need to transfer those files to a safe place first. If you plan to use the usb drive on linux computers, you can format it to this file system.
If so then format it to fat32 or exfat using a windows pc. Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. But compared with formatting, an ntfs for mac driver like iboysoft ntfs for mac is a better and feasible solution. You will probably find that the programs for unlocking the drive require it to be formatted to ntfs, so if you need to change the formatting of the drive you will almost certainly lose that functionality.
Heres how to correctly format the drive to work on both. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. I formatted all my backup drives using exfat format for a mac running 10. Even better, its freely included in both operating systems. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. I am interested in getting a twodrive raid 1 setup from owc or gtech and wondering if i can format the drives as exfat. Transfer data back to external drive if you want to share files that you have backed up between mac and pc, now please transfer these files back to external hard drive. How to choose the best format for usb drive on windowsmac. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it. Formatieren einer festplatte fur windowscomputer mit dem. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer.
I will leave windows instructions below for the benefit of windows users. Follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. Format external driveusb exfat in windows 10 in simple steps. Open disk utility and click the drive you want to format. If you are not comfortable with the previous method. You can apply either the windows cmd or the thirdparty partition manager to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 file explorer or disk management. Under file system box, select exfat for this drive. The usb should be ready to use for both windows and mac without the use of thirdparty software. Select one of the format from dropdown menu and click erase to. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Your choice is msdos aka fat32 or exfat and i go over the difference in the video. Format external hdd for mac and windows exfat partition hdd. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
If you want to format your internal or external drive to exfat file system, then the easiest way to do it is via disk management feature on windows. With tuxera ntfs for mac, you can use apples disk utility or tuxera disk manager to format ntfs drives. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac. Well, if you are both mac and windows pc and one external hard disk drive for storage and backups then you have a bit of a problem.
How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. But hey, if you got your mac and pc within the past two decades, then its safe to say that fat32 vs exfat has a clear winner. How to format a drive as exfat on linux if the issue is with your computer or a laptop you should try using reimage plus which can scan the repositories and replace corrupt and missing files. This file system can be read and written by both mac and windows with support for single files of up to 128 petabytes. How to format usb to fat32ntfsexfat on windows and mac. Mac computers running high sierra or mojave may be able to boot from usb flash drives that are exfat formatted.
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