- #Best format for hard drive mac and pc how to#
- #Best format for hard drive mac and pc mac os x#
- #Best format for hard drive mac and pc mac os#
- #Best format for hard drive mac and pc install#
- #Best format for hard drive mac and pc drivers#
Note : If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it.
#Best format for hard drive mac and pc how to#
Here’s how to do that: How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac So if you’re trying to connect an external hard drive to a Mac, you might have to format the drive before you can use it. They’re not free, but they won’t break the bank.Most external hard drives are designed to work for Windows computers.
#Best format for hard drive mac and pc drivers#
The other methods involve using 3rd party drivers such as: Paragon NTFS or Tuxera NTFS.
Make sure to download the “free for home user” version. I’ve not tried it myself, but I’ve only heard good things about it. (tip: create an alias of the volumes so you don’t have to go back to the terminal every time…)Īnother free method: “EaseUS ALL-IN-ONE Partition Manager” software
#Best format for hard drive mac and pc mac os#
There’s your NTSF drive! Now you can do whatever you want with it in Mac OS X. Back in the terminal, type: open /Volumes Unmount your drive, then plug it back in.Ĥ. Type: LABEL=TEST none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowseģ. Go to “utilities” and start the “terminal” app.
#Best format for hard drive mac and pc mac os x#
Mac OS X is actually capable of writing to a NTSF drive, just not by default (don’t ask!). make the NTSF drive both readable and writable in Mac OS X. – Stable, so your data is relatively safe (priority #1)Ģ. Format your hard drive, or every partition on it, using NTSF. Maybe one day, but for now, “not ready for prime time!”.ġ. I’ve read too many posts from people having all sorts of problems using exFAT to consider using it. Select the format – Mac OS Extended (HFS+), MS-DOS (FAT32), or exFAT – then name the drive.
This is a deal-breaker if you work with huge files. For example, you cannot save files that are larger than 4GB on a FAT32-formatted drive. Unfortunately, FAT32 is a very old file system and has some technical limitations. It works with all versions of Mac OS X and Windows. The most universally supported way to format your drive is with the FAT32 file system. However, you won’t be able to move files in the other direction, from Mac to PC. So if you need to get files from a PC to your Mac, NTFS is a decent option. Macs can read files on NTFS drives, but it cannot write to them. The native Windows file system is NTFS, which is only partially compatible with Mac OS X. This isn’t a good solution if you need your drive to work on any PC without installing software, though.
#Best format for hard drive mac and pc install#
When you install MacDrive on a Windows PC, it will be able to seamlessly read & write to HFS+ drives. If you’re only going to be using your external or USB flash drive with certain PCs – such as at home or the office – you might be interested in a program called MacDrive. But while HFS+ is the best way to format drives for use on Macs, Windows does not support it. Mac OS X’s native file system is HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended), and it’s the only one that works with Time Machine. In fact, there are four ways you can format an external or USB flash drive to achieve varying degrees of compatibility between Macs and PCs. Since Mac OS X and Windows use totally different file systems, the way a drive is formatted can determine what type of computer it will work with. Need to access or transfer files between Mac and PC? As simple as this task sounds, it’s not very straightforward for inexperienced users. Learn a few ways to make your drive Mac and PC friendly. If you have an external hard drive or USB flash drive that you’d like to use on both Macs and Windows PCs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing.