

- #Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc mac os x#
- #Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc mac os#
- #Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc install#
- #Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc Pc#
#Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc mac os#
The native Windows file system is NTFS, which is only partially compatible with Mac OS X.
#Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc Pc#
This isn’t a good solution if you need your drive to work on any PC without installing software, though.
#Disk utility partition hard drive for 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.

#Disk utility partition hard drive for mac and pc mac os x#
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. Follow the on-screen instructions when the New Simple Volume Wizard appears.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.

However, FAT32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating systems. exFAT is not a journaled file system which means it can be more susceptible to data corruption when errors occur or the drive is not disconnected properly from the computer.įAT32-Compatible with Mac and Windows. APFS is only supported on macOS 10.13 or later.ĮxFAT-Compatible with Mac and Windows.

Format LaCie USB 3.0 Drive to HFS+ if you intend to use it with Time Machine. You cannot use an APFS-formatted disk as your Time Machine backup drive.While you can format your hard disk drive (HDD) in APFS, performance may be degraded when files on the drive are routinely subjected to extensive editing (for example, large-scale image, video, audio, and music editing). This is the best format if you intend to use LaCie USB 3.0 Drive with Time Machine.ĪPFS (Apple File System)-An Apple file system optimized for solid state drives (SSDs) and flash-based storage systems. Windows cannot natively read or write to HFS+ (journaled) volumes. Mac OS Extended (HFS+)-The native hard drive file system for macOS. macOS can read NTFS volumes but cannot natively write to them. Use Disk Management (Windows) or Disk Utility (Mac) to format your drive in non-native formats. Format your drive for optimal performance with just a few simple clicks.
