#Mac format usb to work for pc how to#
#Mac format usb to work for pc for mac#
#Mac format usb to work for pc mac os x#
#Mac format usb to work for pc movie#
#Mac format usb to work for pc plus#

#Mac format usb to work for pc for mac#

The best file formatting settings that I can recommend for Mac users are: use HFS+ for the internal hard drive and backup drives and use ExFAT for USB flash drives and other external drives. SEE ALSO: 7 Best Ways to Share Files Between iPhone, iPad and Mac The Recommended Scenario

#Mac format usb to work for pc mac os x#

The other options to write to NTFS from Mac OS X are using free third-party software or enabling Mac OS X experimental NTFS support, but both options require messing around with the system via Terminal and known to cause problems with NTFS file system. So, they are not recommended. If you have Seagate external hard drive, you can download the free Seagate version of Paragon NTFS for Mac. Two most popular alternatives to such software are Paragon NTFS for Mac (US$ 19.99 with ten-day free trial) and Tuxera NTFS for Mac (US$ 31 with fifteen-day free trial). Currently, the recommended safe and hassle-free way Mac OS X can write to NTFS drives is with the help of third-party software. The problem arises when you need to write files to those drives. Mac OS X can read NTFS-formatted drives, so you can copy files from them. To format a USB flash drive, simply plug the drive into your Mac, and choose it from Disk Utility’s sidebar menu. The easiest way to format a disk in Mac OS X is using Disk Utility. Let’s discuss them in detail down below:. There are several ways to format the USB (flash) drive in Mac OS X environment. For example, if you need to change the file format of the drive, create a bootable installer, 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). Looking at the maximum commercial storage size available today, we are not going to reach that limit anytime soon.Įven though external drives comes factory pre-formatted, there are occasions where you need to re-format the drive. It supports volume size and file size up to 8EB (Exabytes) roughly equivalent to 8 Million Terabytes.

#Mac format usb to work for pc plus#

NTFS is ideal for internal drives on Windows computers.Īt 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. Mac OS X and some Linux distributions can only read NTFS-formatted disk without the help of third-party software. The format has even less compatibility than ExFAT. 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. This file system is perfect for those who only works among Windows computer. But it’s not as compatible as FAT32 as there are devices that don’t support it, such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The system is commonly used for shared hard drive(s) that is plugged into computer most of the time. This format works on Windows, Linux (with FUSE), and Mac OS X. If you still need the universal support, but will exchange files bigger than 4 GB, you might want to use ExFAT file system.

#Mac format usb to work for pc movie#

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. 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. Almost all USB flash drive comes pre-formatted with FAT 32 file system because it virtually works everywhere. This legacy file system is the next generation of FAT that comes a long way from the DOS era. Here are the overview of the commonly used file systems. With several different formats available, which one should we choose? It will depend on your usage. But that trend also makes file system compatibility problem more apparent. It’s a common thing to see people sharing and distributing files using USB drive. The mass adoption of USB drive makes it one of the most used storage media today.

#Mac format usb to work for pc how to#

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. Due to the smaller worldwide user-based percentage, Mac OS X users are the ones who would likely stumble into these file format problems. Not many people are aware of these differences until they need to copy files into a storage formatted using the different file system.