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#Format external hard drive mac for mac
#Format external hard drive mac update
#Format external hard drive mac portable
#Format external hard drive mac mac

#Format external hard drive mac mac

If you need to transfer files between Mac and Windows computers, exFAT (extended File Allocation Table) is the best option, although it doesn’t work with File History or Time Machine.If you’re using an SSD, there is a newer format called APFS (Apple File System), which is intended for built-in drives and external SSDs for newer Macs.(Check the product listing to confirm the drive will be labeled as an HDD or SSD.) If you plan to use an external hard drive (HDD), which costs less than an external solid-state drive (SSD) for more storage capacity but has the downside of slower transfer times and a far less durable design, you should use HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus, also called macOS Extended Journaled). Typically, if an external drive is physically larger than a deck or cards or has more than 2 TB of storage, it’s an HDD.

macOS and Linux computers, however, can only read files stored on such a drive they cannot write to an NTFS-formatted drive. NTFS is native to Windows, and most hard drives are preformatted for this file system.

If you plan to use your drive for File History backups on a Windows computer, and you use only Windows, stick to NTFS (New Technology File System).

So how do those five file systems differ, and which one is right for you? Non-Linux computers can use five main file systems: NTFS, HFS+, APFS, exFAT, and FAT32. If you use a Mac, the likelihood that you’ll have to reformat the drive is higher. But if you buy a drive secondhand or if you plan to switch between operating systems, you may still need to reformat it for use on Windows.

#Format external hard drive mac portable

It also doesn't require complicated ACLs and file attribution systems like NTFS.If you buy an external drive-such as one of our recommended portable or desktop hard drives, portable solid-state drives, or USB 3.0 flash drives-you may need to reformat it to work with your operating system of choice, since different operating systems use different file systems to process data.Īlthough it’s true that any drive is compatible with both Windows and macOS once it’s formatted properly, most drives come preformatted for Windows out of the box. exFAT has no realistic file or partition size limits. exFAT is the preferred file format for flash storage drives that you share between Windows and Mac. Microsoft designed this to provide similar compatibility to FAT32 without the pesky limitations. Manufacturers like Seagate lets you read and write data interchangeably on Windows and Mac without formatting the external drive.

You can only access drives formatted with HFS+ on Windows through third-party apps.Even if you’re using SSD as a Time Machine drive, it’s not compatible with APFS. For Time Machine backups, use MacOS Extended (Journaled) if it’s a mechanical hard drive or if you’re using macOS Catalina or earlier.

#Format external hard drive mac update

If you have older Macs (pre–2016), particularly those too old to update to a recent version of macOS, choosing HFS+ will enable you to use your external drive with those machines.

If you bought a Mac between those dates, it shipped with macOS (or OS X, as it was known) installed on an HFS+ volume.

#Format external hard drive mac for mac

Mac OS Extended, also known as HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus), was the primary file system used for Mac system storage from 1998 until APFS launched in 2017. Here are some of the best apps that read-write APFS on Windows.

You can only access drives formatted with APFS on Windows through third-party apps.

If you connect that disk to Catalina, Time Machine won’t recognize it.

Time Machine volumes formatted as APFS will only work with Macs running Big Sur or later.

It’s fast, consumes less space, which means more room for backups, has greater resistance to data corruption, and copies cloned or sparse files efficiently.

Time Machine backups to APFS are impressive when compared to HFS+.

However, you won’t be asked for this option for the already formatted HFS+ disk.

Apple lets you format an external drive and choose APFS for Time Machine on macOS Big Sur.

An external SSD gives you the best performance over APFS, provided you don’t need to use the drive with other pre-Sierra Macs.

If speed and convenience are your top priorities and cost is not an issue.