FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 VS MAC MAC OS

It’s possible for Windows to read APFS and Mac OS Extended drives, but you require external software to do so.

FORMAT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE WINDOWS 10 VS MAC HOW TO

Related: How to Reformat an External Hard Drive Without Losing Everything Thus, it’s considered to be a better alternative for cross-platform flash storage. ExFAT removes the 3GB file size limit and the 2TB partition size limit of FAT32 drives, which can be too restrictive for many. While APFS and Mac OS Extended are macOS specific, you should consider formatting your drive to ExFAT if you’re considering using your drive across Windows or Linux, as well as macOS.ĮxFAT is an old file system from Microsoft, intended to replace the even older FAT32 file system used with Windows system drives before Windows XP. There are two other file formats available in Disk Utility: ExFAT and MS-DOS FAT (FAT32). Other File Formats (exFAT and MS-DOS FAT)

Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted): This format uses the Mac format, is case-sensitive to folder names, requires a password, and encrypts the partition. Part 3: How to Format Internal or External Hard Drive on Mac Step 1:To begin formatting, go to Finder > Applications > Utilities Step 2: View all the.

For example, Assignments and ASSIGNMENTS are two different folders.

Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): This uses the Mac format, but is case-sensitive to folder names.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted): This uses the Mac format, but requires a password and encrypts the partition.

Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive format.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled): This is the default, most basic version of Mac OS Extended.

These differ slightly in their function, as described below: If you decide to go with Mac OS Extended for your drive, you may notice that there are four different types of file formats available in Disk Utility. Since most external hard drives are formatted for PCs, before. You should consider Mac OS Extended if you’re looking to use your drive for any of these purposes. Copying the files from your Mac to an external drive allows you to save data on your own terms. Similarly, Time Machine and Fusion Drive only work with Mac OS Extended and not APFS (yet). This doesn’t mean that you can’t format an HDD to APFS-it’s just that many of the speed and performance enhancements that APFS brings rely on using a high-speed SSD or portable flash memory drive.

iCloud Drive: What Should You Use to Back Up Your Mac?Īnother benefit of using Mac OS Extended is that it’s optimized for mechanical hard drives (HDDs), whereas APFS was specifically created to work well with Solid State Drives (SSDs).

Format external hard drive windows 10 vs mac