

- Best format to use external hard drive for mac and pc how to#
- Best format to use external hard drive for mac and pc Pc#
- Best format to use external hard drive for mac and pc windows#
If you add phones to the mix, you'll have to use FAT32 or exFAT. As long as you don't hit the file size limit of FAT32, they're pretty much the same. However, I would not use a drive formatted with FAT32 or exFAT for anything that isn't transient or unimportant. I recently had problems with both file systems on camera SD cards that required reformatting to fix. I don't even want to think about having the same issues with a 2TB hard drive.
Best format to use external hard drive for mac and pc windows#
While you can fix minor problems on all three file systems with fsck, you will have to use MS Windows to fix anything major. Then click OK button to go on.Consider splitting the drive into two partitions. A large NTFS partition for data that is more stable, as well as read/write on Windows and Linux. A small exFAT partition to copy files from Mac OS.įAT32. Read/write on all three systems. Not journaled. File size < 4G.ĮxFAT. Read/write on all three systems. Not journaled. Right-click on the drive you want to format, select Format to see the list of configurations including file system.

Press Win+X, then hit K key to open Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). Option 2: Format a USB drive as EexFAT in Disk Management. Under File system box, select exFAT for this drive. Right-click on the drive you want to format, click on Format. Press Windows logo key + E to open File Explorer. Option 1: Format a USB drive as EexFAT in This PC. Note: If you have important data on your USB flash drive, you should backup your drive before formatting it.
Best format to use external hard drive for mac and pc Pc#
There are several ways to format drive in Windows PC, you can do that in This PC or in Disk Management.
Best format to use external hard drive for mac and pc how to#
How to format a USB flash drive as exFAT on Windows PC Be sure to eject the disk before you remove it from your Mac. This will erase all the files on the drive. Click the Erase button when you are done and the Disk Utility will format your disk with the settings you specified. Then select the default GUID Partition Map (GPT) scheme. You will be asked to provide the disk name and then select the file system as exFAT. If you have a USB flash drive inserted in your Mac, you can see it under the External in the Disk Utility. Go to Open Disk Utility, which is located under Applications in the Finder menu. To format a drive on a Mac, you'll need the built-in Disk Utility application. You will see the drive's file system shown on the right “Format”.įormatting a drive will erase it completely, so make sure you have everything backed up that you want to keep. Right-click the drive icon in the Finder sidebar (or on the desktop) and select Get Info. So how do you know if your USB drive is in the correct format? You do not need to do anything special on the "Disk Utility" - simply insert the USB drive and open Finder. How to format a USB drive as exFAT on Mac Part 2: Format a USB drive as exFAT on Windows.Part 1: Format a USB drive as exFAT on Mac.You can format the drive on your Mac or Windows computer. If you plan on using an external drive with both Macs and PCs, you should format the disk with the exFAT file system instead. By default, Macs use HFS, while PCs use NTFS, which are not compatible with each other. Since the PC and Mac are two different operating systems, they use different file systems. How to Format a USB Drive as exFAT for Mac and Windows Compatibility
