You will want to keep the drive in the Fat32 format ONLY if you are moving it between a Mac and a PC.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. If the drive is formatted FAT32 it will mount on most Macintosh systems. If the drive is formatted Mac Extended, you will not need to initialize the drive before use unless you wish to partition it.Need to access or transfer files between Mac and PC? As simple as this task sounds, it’s not very straightforward for inexperienced users. Open Computer and right-click on the flash drive. Select Policies and pick the option for best performance. Find the USB device and double-click to open its properties. It's probably your best option, as it avoids any user-space filesystem drivers, which personally make me a bit uneasy.Start with a clean USB flash drive and install it in your computer’s USB port. Disk Utility will happily format your drives using it.It’s a standard hard disk drive with an RPM of just 5,400. For speeds, the real problem is the technology of the drive, though. Let’s take a look at them: HFS+For Mac users, you’ll need to reformat it, and there’s no USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt, just USB 2.0/3.0. 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.Macs can read files on NTFS drives, but it cannot write to them. NTFSThe 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. 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.
It works with all versions of Mac OS X and Windows. FAT32The 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. Any Mac running 10.6.5 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion) supports exFAT, while PCs running Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1, and Windows 7 are compatible. Awesome, it’s perfect! Almost… since exFAT is fairly new, it isn’t compatible with older Macs and PCs. ExFATThe exFAT file system eliminates the two major deficiencies of FAT32: the largest partition and file sizes it supports are virtually unlimited by today’s standards. Quicken for mac best priceSelect the format – Mac OS Extended (HFS+), MS-DOS (FAT32), or exFAT – then name the drive.I’ve read too many posts from people having all sorts of problems using exFAT to consider using it. Select your external hard drive or USB flash drive from the list on the left. Launch Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities). Format a drive using Disk Utility on a Mac What Is The Best Format And Windows Hard Drive Password If PromptedMake sure to download the “free for home user” version.The other methods involve using 3rd party drivers such as: Paragon NTFS or Tuxera NTFS. Back in the terminal, type: open /VolumesThere’s your NTSF drive! Now you can do whatever you want with it in Mac OS X.(tip: create an alias of the volumes so you don’t have to go back to the terminal every time…)Another free method: “EaseUS ALL-IN-ONE Partition Manager” softwareI’ve not tried it myself, but I’ve only heard good things about it. Unmount your drive, then plug it back in.4. Type (copy/paste): sudo nano /etc/fstabType: LABEL=TEST none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse3. (enter your password if prompted)2.
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