If you are definitely going to use an external drive or flash drive with both Windows and Mac computers, choose exFAT when formatting your drive. For example, FAT32 supports files up to 4GB.
The exFAT offers similar compatibility as FAT32, however, it doesn’t have any of the annoying limitations that FAT32 has. The exFAT format is a file system that was created by Microsoft and supports both Windows and macOS operating systems. Suitable: For old Macs and old macOS systems (before 2017) or for mechanical hard drives and SSDs. Mac OS Extended supports encryption and password protection.Ĭons of HFS Plus: It is not supported on Windows computers until you install additional paid software like Paragon HFS Plus for Windows. If you bought a Mac before 2017 and haven’t updated it since then, it probably supports an HFS Plus drive. HFS Plus (Hierarchical File System Plus) was used for Mac computers before APFS was introduced. Not Suitable: For disks used with older Macs or for Windows and Linux. Suitable: For macOS system drives, hybrid drives, SSDs, and flash drives that are only used on macOS. If you have an external SSD or a new USB stick and you definitely are not going to use them with Windows computers, you can choose this option.Ĭons of APFS: As of now, APFS cannot be used to back up data using Time Machine. APFS also pays a lot of attention to technologies such as encryption, as well as improving work with metadata.īy default, APFS is optimized for solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash drives, however, it can also be used for traditional mechanical hard drives (HDDs). The main advantage of APFS is the fast speed of copying, pasting, and doing other operations on a disk. All new Macs are already bundled with APFS. APFS replaced the outdated macOS file system called HFS Plus.
APFS (Apple File System)ĪPFS is the format introduced by Apple in early 2017 for iOS devices. Let’s take a closer look at each file format for external drives for your Mac. What is the best format for an external Mac hard drive? Keep reading, and we will explain the differences between disk formats in more detail, as well as how to format a hard drive for your Mac. If you want to be able to work with your hard drive on both Mac- and Windows-based computers, then you will have to choose other formats. If you are only going to use the hard drive on your Mac, then you should choose the HFS+ format. There are also FAT32 and ExFAT formats, which are compatible with both operating systems. Mac computers use a different file system called HFS+. For example, if you buy a new HDD, you will most likely first have to format the external disk to be able to use it on your Mac. This often causes difficulties when opening external drives on a Mac. Why do you need to reformat an external hard drive for your Mac?īy default, most models of hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) are formatted for a Windows operating system.
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