- #BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC FOR MAC#
- #BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC PC#
- #BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC MAC#
- #BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC WINDOWS#
The most important, you should decide which format to use. Check this guide to learn more about all the drive formats macOS supports.Part 1: Which File Format You Should Choose?īefore you begin formatting the drive, there are a few things to do. Lastly, if you’re drive is less than 32GB then reformat that drive in FAT format and if it’s more than 32GB, format the drive in ExFAT format. Furthermore, if you’re planning to use the drive for time machine backup, checkout this guide to understand the format macOS supports for the same. Considering the fact that just a few years ago, enabling the NTFS write compatibility on OSx was a nightmare, especially for the non-techie people.Įven after formating the drives in relevant format, if you can’t read/write files & folder to those drive, you may need to check if you have permission to access a drive on you mac.
#BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC WINDOWS#
In this case, its a workaround that you, as a windows user, won’t be accustomed to. While using macOS is a fascinating thing, it’s obvious that there will be some restrictions. Make sure it’s ExFAT format if you want to move your files/folders to that drive and then on windows PC.
#BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC MAC#
Check the details of the drive in Disk Utility app on your mac to find the format of the drive. MacOS can’t write on drives that are formatted in NTFS format. If you’re trying to move a file/folder to an external drive, check the format of the drive. Simply format the drive you want to use on mac and windows and select the format as ExFAT at the time of formating. Note: You can do this on windows as well. Furthermore, make sure you backup the content of the drive before formating it for mac. You need to ensure that you don’t format external hard drives often to null the chances of corrupting those drives. These steps will help you read and write on hard drives that were previously in NTFS format. Select ExFAT as shown below & click erase to finish
#BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC FOR MAC#
Select the drive you want to reformat the hard drive for mac 5. Make sure the drive you want to format is listed in the disk utility app 4. Open Disk Utility app that comes as a part of macOS 3. Here are the steps to format external drives for macOS: 1.
Furthermore, those drives may still not be ready for macOS out of the box. Upon quick research, mac format external drives usually priced around $160-$220 for just 1 TB. Usually, the external drives in mac format are expensive for mere reason that those are optimized for macOS & SSD in nature. Related: 67 macOS shortcuts that will save years of your life Formating external drives for macOS on macbook Checkout the official document from Apple stating the formats that are supported on mac and windows. Interestingly, almost all external hard drives are available formatted in NTFS only.
#BEST EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE FORMAT FOR MAC PC#
Most users that switch from windows have some or the other files to transfer from their old PC to new mac and data-transfer is a bottle neck for those users. On the other had, an external drive I used is a mac formatted external hard drive, which is compatible for both macOS & Windows. The default disk format on mac is APFS as shown in the image below. That is, if a hard drive is formatted in NTFS format, it can be read on a mac but you can’t write anything on those drive(s). This means, files stored in NTFS format can only be read in mac. That was because windows files are stored in NTFS format. The default problem with macOS out of the boxĪs I mentioned earlier, I faced problem transferring files from my windows PC to mac. If you’re looking for a solution around the same problem, your search ends here. This post is about how I formatted my external hard drives to be compatible with both mac & windows. I already had a 2TB external hard drive but I had no idea I can use that on mac and windows as well.
That’s the biggest hurdle you’ll face while transferring data from windows to mac or vice-versa. MacOS (and many linux flavours) cannot write on NTFS formatted external drives, but can read though. NTFS & FAT (also FAT32) are the external hard disk format supported by windows and macOS respectively. While using Windows, if you ever got a chance to format/reformat a drive, you must’ve noticed the format type. NTFS is the default format that windows prefers for its drives. If you too had faced this, you’d relate to this. I even considered buying SSD hard drives, thinking only SSD hard drives are compatible with mac. After I purchased my MacBook Pro, I was searching for mac format external drives. I partially knew that I won’t be able to transfer my data from windows to mac easily. When I switched to mac from windows 2 years ago, I had a mild idea that mac and windows aren’t the best of friends.
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