How to Format a Drive for Mac PC Compatibility. You can format a hard drive or USB flash disk specifically so that it will be compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows PC computers. Though this excellent cross platform compatible ability is unknown to many users, its not a complex process, and if you frequently use both a Mac and Windows PC you will find this particularly useful because any data, media, or files stored on the the drive will always be accessible from any operating system. It only takes a few minutes to start and its extremely easy, and well walk you through the entire process in a few simple steps. Sap Adobe Livecycle Designer Installation Guide. Remember, formatting a drive erases all data contained on it so back up important files before proceeding. Lets quickly review how to format any drive for Mac and Windows PC compatibility with read and write support. This works with any hard drive, flash drive, SSD, USB drive, or just about any other storage type that is accepted by both a Mac and Windows machine, and the entire process is performed in Mac OS X Launch Disk Utility, found within ApplicationsUtilitiesConnect the drive you wish to format for dual compatibility to the Mac. Click the drive name on the left side list in Disk Utility, and then click the Erase tab. Click the pulldown menu alongside Format and select MS DOS FATOptionally, give the drive a name. Click the Erase button to format the drive for Mac Windows PC compatibility. If you wish to boot the drive on a PC or use it with older versions of Windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to Master Boot Record MBR for full Windows compatibility Click the drive, then select Partition tab. AuXNXcDYXRI/hqdefault.jpg' alt='Can Windows Read Apple Formatted Drive File' title='Can Windows Read Apple Formatted Drive File' />From the Partition Layout dropdown menu, select 1 PartitionClick Options and choose Master Boot Record as the partition type, then click OK and ApplyDrives format very quickly, though the total time taken will depend on the size of the drive. Remember, formatting a drive erases all data on it. Using FAT File System Format for Mac Windows Compatibility. Once the drive is formatted it will be compatible to be read and written to on both a Mac and PC, and the resulting FAT file system is compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, Windows 9. Windows XP, Vista, 7, Windows 8, even Windows 1. This widespread compatibility makes FAT an ideal file system to use for USB flash drives or external hard drives that are intended for use in environments with multiple operating systems. The primary downside to using FAT3. Can Windows Read Apple Formatted Drive File' title='Can Windows Read Apple Formatted Drive File' />GB in size or less. If you require single files to be larger than 4. GB, use ex. FAT instead, though you will lose some compatibility with older versions of Mac OS X and Windows. Is NTFS Compatible with MacThe NTFS file system is another option to use for Windows formatted drives and volumes, but it has limited compatibility with Mac OS by default. Mac users can mount and read NTFS formatted Windows drives, making NTFS compatible with the Mac on the reading and mounting front, but writing to an NTFS drive requires using either third party software or enabling NTFS write support on the Mac using an experimental functionality bundled on the Mac. This is less than ideal for most users however, so while NTFS is compatible with a Mac and Windows PC, if you want to do heavy file sharing between the two with a lot of reading and writing, you may be better off formatting a drive as FAT3. What about HFS Apple File SystemHFS is the Mac file system. If you only intend on using the drive on a Mac its recommended to format for Mac OS X use only using the journaled file system. Just be aware that the Mac only formats are typically not readable by Windows machines without some third party software on the PC. Can Windows Read Apple Formatted Drive File' title='Can Windows Read Apple Formatted Drive File' />What File System Should I Use for My USB Drive It can be tough transporting your videos and music to every device you use. How do you know your Mac, Xbox, and Windows PC can read your files Read on to find your perfect USB drive solution. If you want to share your files with the most devices and none of the files are larger than 4 GB, choose FAT3. If you have files larger than 4 GB, but still want pretty good support across devices, choose ex. FAT. If you have files larger than 4 GB and mostly share with Windows PCs, choose NTFS. If you have files larger than 4 GB and mostly share with Macs, choose HFSFile systems are the sort of thing that many computer users take for granted. The most common file systems are FAT3. RSTUDIO Data Recovery Software supports file recovery over a network, RAID recovery, hard drive unformat and Linux recovery. Trying to format a large external USB or Firewire hard drive to the FAT32 file system Cant do it Only see an option for formatting the drive using the N. How to Open a. Pages Format File in Windows Microsoft Word. Why your USB drives file format matters FAT32 vs. FAT vs. NTFS The differences involve file size and transfer speed. Keep in mind that this chart chose the native abilities of each OS to use these file systems. Windows and macOS both have downloads that can help them read. FAT, and NTFS on Windows, APFS and HFS on mac. OS, and EXT on Linuxthough you may run into others on occasion. But it can be confusing understanding what devices and operating systems supports which file systemsespecially when all you want to do is transfer some files or keep your collection readable by all the devices you use. How To Create Bootable USB Flash Drive From ISO File To Install Windows 7. So, lets take a look at the major file systems and hopefully, you can figure out the best solution for formatting your USB drive. Understanding File System Problems. Different file systems offer different ways of organizing data on a disk. Since only binary data is actually written to disks, the file systems provide a way to translate the physical recordings on a disk to the format read by an OS. Since these file systems are key to the operating system making sense of the data, an OS cannot read data off of a disk without support for the file system with which the disk is formatted. When you format a disk, the file system you choose essentially governs which devices can read or write to the disk. Many businesses and households have multiple PCs of different types in their homeWindows, mac. OS, and Linux being the most common. And if you carry files to friends houses or when you travel, you never know what type of system you may want those files on. Because of this variety, you need to format portable disks so that they can move easily between the different operating systems you expect to use. But to make that decision, you need to understand the two major factors that can affect your file system choice portability and file size limits. HFS Plus or HFS is a file system developed by Apple Inc. It served as the primary file system of macOS. HFS was developed to replace the Hierarchical File System. You can format a hard drive or USB flash disk specifically so that it will be compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows PC computers. Though this excellent. Windows 10 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk. Two questions this week Carla wants to share some files with her dad, who uses Windows, but she has run into problems, while Anon wants to play Apple Lossless files. Were going to take a look at these two factors as they relate to the most common file systems NTFS The NT File System NTFS is the file system that modern Windows versions use by default. HFS The Hierarchical File System HFS is the file system modern mac. OS versions use by default. APFS The proprietary Apple file system developed as a replacement for HFS, with a focus on flash drives, SSDs, and encryption. APFS was released with i. OS 1. 0. 3 and mac. OS 1. 0. 1. 3, and will become the mandatory file system for those operating systems. FAT3. 2 The File Allocation Table 3. FAT3. 2 was the standard Windows file system before NTFS. FAT The extended File Allocation Table ex. FAT builds on FAT3. NTFS. EXT 2, 3, 4 The extended file system EXT was the first file system created specifically for the Linux kernel. Portability. You might think that modern operating systems would natively support each others file system, but they largely do not. For example, mac. OS can readbut not write todisks formatted with NTFS. For the most part, Windows will not even recognize disks formatted with APFS or HFS. Many distros of Linux like Ubuntu are prepared to deal with this file system problem. Moving files from one file system to another is a routine process for Linuxmany modern distros natively support NFTS and HFS or can get support with a quick download of free software packages. In addition to this, your home consoles Xbox 3. Playstation 4 only provide limited support for certain filesystems, and only provide read access to the USB drives. In order to better understand the best filesystem for your needs, take a look at this helpful chart. File System. Windows XPWindows 781. OS 1. 0. 6. 4 and earliermac. OS 1. 0. 6. 5 and laterUbuntu Linux. Playstation 4. Xbox 3. One. NTFS Yes. Yes. Read Only. Read Only. Yes. No. NoYes. FAT3. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. YesYesex. FATYes. Yes. No. Yes. Yes with Ex. FAT packagesYes with MBR, not GUIDNoYes. HFSNoread only with Boot CampYes. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. APFSNo. No. No. Yes mac. OS 1. 0. 1. 3 or greaterNo. No. No. EXT 2, 3, 4. No. Yes with third party softwareNo. No. Yes. No. Yes. Keep in mind that this chart chose the native abilities of each OS to use these file systems. Windows and mac. OS both have downloads that can help them read unsupported formats, but were really focusing on native ability here. The takeaway from this chart on portability is that FAT3. This makes it strong candidate for being the file system of choice for most USB drives, so long as you can live with FAT3. File and Volume Size Limits. FAT3. 2 was developed many years ago, and was based on older FAT filesystems meant for DOS computers. The large disk sizes of today were only theoretical in those days, so it probably seemed ridiculous to the engineers that anyone would ever need a file larger than 4 GB. However, with todays large file sizes of uncompressed and high def video, many users are faced with that very challenge. Todays more modern file systems have upward limits that seem ridiculous by our modern standards, but one day may seem humdrum and ordinary. When stacked up against the competition, we see very quickly that FAT3. File System. Individual File Size Limit. Single Volume Size Limit. NTFS Greater than commercially available drives. EBFAT3. 2Less than 4 GBLess than 8 TBex. FATGreater than commercially available drives. ZBHFSGreater than commerciallyavailable drives. EBAPFSGreater than commerciallyavailable drives. EBEXT 2, 3. 16 GB up to 2 TB on some systems3. TBEXT 4. 1 EB1. 6 TBEvery newer file system handily whips FAT3. And when you look at volume size limits, FAT3. TB, which is more than enough for a USB drive. Other files systems allow volume sizes all the way up into the exobyte and zetabyte range. Formatting a Drive. The process for formatting a drive is different depending on what system youre using. Rather than detailing them all here, well instead point you at a few handy guides on the subject The conclusion to draw from all this is that while FAT3. FAT3. 2 finds support on the most devices, allows volumes up to 8 TB, and file sizes up to 4 GB. If you need to transport files greater than 4 GB, youll need to take a closer look at your needs. If you only use Windows devices, NTFS is a good choice. If you only use mac. OS devices, HFS will work for you. And if you only use Linux devices, EXT is fine. And if you need support for more devices and bigger files, ex. FAT may fit the bill. FAT is not supported on quite as many different devices as FAT3.