In addition to the protective side of things discussed above, is the fact that a hfs filesystem has all the mac os x hooks built in for automated indexing, backup, version control and so on that would not be possible on a fat32 enabled filesystem. I night have hinted at some wrong information in a previous post. Hfs aterstallning pa mac os x ar enkelt om du hade haft disk drills recovery vault eller guaranteed recovery funktioner som. Interoperability of fat32, exfat, hfs apple community. File system formats available in disk utility on mac apple. After connecting external storage media directly to the android device user can work with photos, videos, presentations. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. This is the required format for a bootable mac hard drive. Jan 08, 2018 mac os extended was introduced in 1998 for mac os 8. Fat32 has some serious limitationsindividual files can only be up to 4gb in. Microsoft ntfs is one of the primary windows file systems. Tuxera ntfs is the sw i use to write in ntfs disks. Which mac file system is best for an external drive.
Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. I dont know ntfss layout microsoft hasnt released the specs to it. Fat32 surmounted the limited volume size offered by the fat16 file system. Use the exfat file system and never format your external drive again. Hfs plus mac os extended hfsx mac os extended casesensitive write access. We compare performance between fat32, ntfs, and the newer exfat file systems on two popular ssd architectures. But if you didnt foresee that, you may have formatted your drive with apples hfs plus, which windows cant read by default. It is an upgrade from the original mac os standard format known as hfs hfs standard, or hierarchical file system, supported by mac os 8. On macos high sierra, its used on all mechanical and hybrid drives, and older versions of macos used it by default for all drives. It is an upgrade from the original mac os standard format known as hfs hfs standard, or hierarchical. Im using macdrive on this pc laptop i got, but now id like to go in the reverse direction and transfer files directly from an ntfs formatted drive to my. Max volume size of 8eb exabytes max file size of 8eb.
The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Mac os native format is a bit too specific, as it does seem that there are more windows computers out there in the wild than macs. Wondering what the best format for your new external hard drive is. Not a big situation or anything but am realizing i might have passed on some bad info. Ntfs, exfat, fat32, ext4 file systems explained utilize. Oct 16, 2019 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. Best for mechanical drives, or drives used with older macos versions. Which format to use exfat vs fat32 vs hfs apple community. This is not healthy specially if you have only 1gb free, youll have to repeat this procedure 160 times, but you asked if it was possible. So on a windows pc, you can read and write to a fat formatted drive. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. To this day, it remains the default file system for mechanical and hybrid hard drives, both while installing macos and while formatting external drives. It mounts as two volumes on macs but windows only sees the fat32 portion.
The macos high sierra, however, only utilizes this file system for hybrid and mechanical drivesy. One of the oldest file systems today, fat32 works with all versions of mac and windows operating systems. Though you may want to go with apfs instead as thats the newer file system from apple with a few extras like integrity checks and healing abilities built in. Should i have my external hard drives in each format. Dec 08, 2015 different file systems and which one works best where. Microsoft exfatntfs for usb by paragon software is a convenient method for transferring files between android devices and removable storage media via usb onthego. Its also possible to read and write apfs drives in windows. Disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Solved external hdd compatibility on macwindows exfat. Mac os extended was the default file system used by every mac from 1998 until 2017, when apfs replaced it. The 32bit file allocation table was released in august 1995, with the launch of the windows 95 operating system.
Ntfs is very stable, much more than the predecessor fat32. The tech world faces a problem mac hard disk not working on windowspc and windowspc hard disk not working on mac. By jesus vigo jesus vigo is a network administrator by day and owner of mac jesus, llc, specializing in mac and windows integration and providing solutions. In addition to the protective side of things discussed above, is the fact that a hfs filesystem has all the mac os x hooks built in.
Fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems created by microsoft which used to store data on storage devices. Different file systems for those who dont know what these are, they are the different file systems for storage devices like hdd, sd card, flash sticks ntfs new technology file system. Fat32 vs windows ntfs vs mac hfs vs exfat for all my external. Its worth noting that starting with mac os high sierra 10. Fat32 vs windows ntfs vs mac hfs vs exfat for all my. It replaced the hierarchical file system hfs as the primary file system of apple computers with the 1998 release of mac os 8. Ntfs, exfat, fat32, ext4 file systems explained utilize windows. When a volume is mounted in write mode, you can do everything with files and folders it contains. Las garna var guide for hur du formaterar en extern harddisk eller ett usbminne for att fungera bade i windows och mac os x med just exfat. Disk accesses are a lot faster, and fat32 doesnt have journaling. However, you need thirdparty apps to do that, and, at the moment, none of them are free. Afps and mac os extended only work on macs and cant be used for other operating systems. These drives then require reformatting on the mac to exfat or fat32, etc.
You can disable core storage to solve this problem. Mar 22, 2010 exfat vs fat 32 vs ntfs vs hfs vs ext2 22032010 at 6. If you wish to make the most of your apple device, then you need to convert hfs to apfs. Disk utility on mac supports several file system formats. As every os has its particular and defined file system choice you cannot modify that. You wont have a lot of features at your disposal and you cant use it to write on macformatted drives. I have previously formatted it to fat32 in windows. It offers a maximum file size of two gigabytes and a maximum volume size of two terabytes.
Theres one significant limitation to this though a fat32 formatted drive cannot take a file larger than 4gb. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. I know that everyone seems to recommend fat32 as the preferred format for rekordbox and cdjs. This software is completely free, but dont expect anything too fancy. Ill be transfering between pc and mac, and dont want just one big fat32 drive too many limitations.
There will be in having a ntfs disk and share it between both os w10 and mac os x. This format was optimized to minimize the amount of drive storage space used for a single file the previous version used sectors loosely, leading to rapidly lost drive space. Just got a new external hard drive lacie 250gb, and have learned that the two file system formats seem to be completely incompatible. The difference between ft32, ntfs, and exfat is the storage size that the file. Jun 20, 2018 the tech world faces a problem mac hard disk not working on windowspc and windowspc hard disk not working on mac. Different file systems and which one works best where. For those who dont know what these are, they are the different file systems for storage devices like hdd, sd card, flash sticks. In this post, we will make you familiar with a smart and seamless way to convert hfs to apfs. As fat32 is a windows filesystem anyway, the only reason to use it with a mac would be on an external drive, which needs to be accessible by both platforms. Also if hs your internal drive happens to be formatted hfs journaled it will not recognize or read correctly any external drive formatted in apfs. If you need to write files that will be larger than 4 gb, then fat32 is out.
If you work on a mac computer and need to read or write files from hdd, ssd or a flash drive formatted under windows, you need microsoft ntfs for mac by paragon software. It will not touch any windows drives such as fat32 or ntfs so that rules that out. So if exfat is the new fat32 why is it only intended to work with ssd then. When youre reformatting a hard drive, windows will ask you what format to use. Here are your macos file system options and how to pick the best one for you. Hfs or the hierarchical file system was introduced by apple in 1985 for use in mac os. Told me that the max volume size was 2gb for hfs and it wouldnt format it. Dec 21, 2018 fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems created by microsoft which used to store data on storage devices.
Apfs vs ntfs vs macos extended vs hfs mac optimization. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Aterstalla ntfs, fat, fat32, ext3ext4, hfs pa mac os disk drill. Ask a mac owner or those who run linux or a variation thereof. Neither windows or mac os has a native ext2 ext3 or ext4 support.
Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. File system formats available in disk utility on mac. When i migrated to a mac, i wanted to do the same thing. Anytime i copy to a fat32 drive on a mac it takes 10 times longer. Fat32 and ntfs are the most common formats, but whats the difference.
This format gives you the ability to very easily move a drive between the two compute platforms. Fat32 allows you to store files of size up to 4gb and the maximum disk size can go up to 16tb. I had a bunch of media on a fat32 firewireusb disk, and i wanted to boot the mini from. Mar 15, 2018 windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows.
1450 433 625 1363 1601 812 107 1471 928 418 1347 897 286 651 569 1250 340 1039 506 7 467 1343 1440 500 1052 1462 1607 723 863 1570 675 1216 598 1196 340 1233 964 850 886 563 1171 1336 907 471 589 108 602