Flash Drive Format For Both Mac And Pc
It's no surprise that PCs and Macs do not work well with each other, due to differences between the two operating systems (Windows vs macOS). One main difference is file system. By default, Macs are with HFS+ (since 2017 there's new Apple File System,, optimized for flash storage), while PCs are with NTFS. If you have a USB drive, and you plan to use it on both a Mac and PC, things can get a bit tricky here. What do I mean?
So for example, an individual can encrypt a removable drive using a passphrase or a public key on Mac OS X, and when this drive is inserted on a Windows system, the user would authenticate via a configured passphrase or key. This article will teach you how to format the USB flash drive so both Mac’s and PC’s can read them. There are two parts to this tutorial. One for Mac and the other for Windows 7.
If your disk was initially formatted to NTFS on a PC (or HFS+ on a Mac), most likely you'll suffer limitations, for example, the data on your drive can't be read or written on one of your computers. Adobe acrobat x pro for mac. Fortunately, there is a file system (actually two, I'll explain) that you can format your flash drive in order to be fully compatible with Mac and PC.
In other words, you can access the drive and transfer data without any hassles. That file system is — exFAT. Free version of skype for mac. Note that there is another file system called FAT32 that pretty much does the same thing but with one major flaw. See the table below for more info.
Compatible with macOS? Compatible with Windows? File size Max. Partition size HFS+ Yes No No limit No limit NTFS Partially Yes No limit No limit FAT32 Yes Yes 4GB 8GB exFAT Yes Yes No limit No limit As you can see, exFAT is the only file system that works with all versions of Windows and macOS and does not have any max file-size or partition-size limits. Therefore, it's perfect for a USB flash drive or external disk especially you need to save files more than 4GB in size. You should go ahead and format your storage drive with exFAT instead of FAT32, assuming that all devices you want to use the drive support exFAT. You may notice that in NTFS is marked 'Partially' under the Compatible with macOS column.
Best Flash Drive Format For Mac And Pc
This is because an NTFS-based drive can be read by Macs but you can't write data to the drive. Now that you've learned exFAT is the ideal file system to go. How to know what current file system your flash drive is with, and how to format it to exFAT? Read on for step by step instructions. How to Check a USB Drive's File System? First of all, plug your flash drive into the USB port on your computer.
Make sure your device can be detected and recognized. I'm here to use a 32GB Lexar USB key as an example. If you are on a Mac. Once the Lexar disk shows up on the desktop, right click on the drive icon and select 'Get Info'. How to Format Your USB Flash Drive to exFAT? Important: make sure you have at least one backup of all the data stored on the device before you proceed.
Drive Format For Both Mac And Pc
Because the process of reformatting a disk drive will very likely erase all content and make recovery impossible. See for more information. Also, since I don't know whether you are on a PC or Mac to perform this operation. I'm here to break down this guide into two parts.