I use a USB flash drive on a regular basis to store and transfer files. Now that I am using both a Mac and a PC, I need to be able to transfer and add/edit/delete files on my USB flash drive from both computers. Unfortunately the way most flash drives are set up out of the box makes this not possible. I needed to find a way to make a flash drive work seamlessly between both the Mac and Windows PC platforms. The best way I have found to do this is to change my USB drive's file system to exFAT. This enables me to read and write files on the drive on both a Mac and a PC.
Most newer flash drives and external drives come pre-formatted with NTFS in place. The Mac OS reads NTFS well, however does not write natively to them. It can be done, but writing to NTFS configured drives involves running extra third-party software to be successful. This is inconvenient for the typical 'I just want it to work' user.
Can Windows Read Exfat
Some drives come formatted in FAT32, which is common to both systems but has some drawbacks. exFAT is the successor to the old FAT32 file system. One of FAT32's main problems, and one of the main reasons it is not ideal for my use, is that the maximum individual file size on a FAT32 formatted drive is 4GB. Backups, home videos, and downloadable software can easily exceed 4GB and beyond. exFAT, on the other hand, has a file size of 16 exabytes (that's 16,000,000,000 gigabytes for those keeping score). This essentially eliminates format size limits and file size limits. exFAT works most efficiently on flash drives and many media drives, while NTFS is still the standard for larger hard drives.
This means exFAT is the most ideal solution for a blended environment of Mac and PC. It handles read/write seamlessly for both Mac and PC, and handles large files that are now more common. One con of the exFAT system is that it only works natively on newer operating systems for both Mac and Windows PC (sorry Linux, but you will get your turn soon). If you have an older computer, this might not be the best solution for you. exFAT is a Microsoft file system that is licensed out to others. Windows XP users can get support for this through this patch.
- This means exFAT is the most ideal solution for a blended environment of Mac and PC. It handles read/write seamlessly for both Mac and PC, and handles large files that are now more common.
- 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.
- Using an external drive between Mac and Windows computers can be a hassle, since you constantly have to reformat it to fit which computer you're using it on. Instead of reformatting it all the time, just use the much more platform-independent exFAT and never format it again.
- ExFAT works most efficiently on flash drives and many media drives, while NTFS is still the standard for larger hard drives. This means exFAT is the most ideal solution for a blended environment of Mac and PC. It handles read/write seamlessly for both Mac and PC, and handles large files that are now more common.
ExFAT drives are faster at reading and writing as compared to FAT32. This format can store large files and it's also lightweight. It's compatible with all versions of Windows and the best thing it's along with Windows it's also compatible with macOS, Linux, and Android, etc. Dell mac keyboard.
How to Format a Drive to exFAT on Windows 7
Insert your USB drive into your computer, then click on Computer. You should see your drive listed under the heading Devices with Removable Storage. In my example, it is drive F:
Next, right-click on the drive (F:), and choose the option to Format.
In the Format Removable Disk screen, look for the dropdown box for File System. Choose the option exFAT. Then, click on the Start button. This will format the drive. It will erase any data that is on it, so be sure to have any important files backed up on your computer before beginning the format.
Once the format is complete, your flash drive file system will now be exFAT and you can start using the drive seamlessly between your Mac and PC.
Advanced users – you can have a drive with multiple partitions formatted in different ways.
Related posts:
The file system compatibility is always a big issue between Mac and Windows. It's well known that by default, Windows uses NTFS, and Mac OS uses HFS, these file systems are not compatible with each other. Often switch between Mac and PC? Want to share one external hard drive between Mac and Windows? No worries! There are still ways to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC.
Two ways to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC
FAT32, exFAT and NTFS are three file systems for external drive in Windows, while NTFS is read-only on Mac. Therefore, based on these three file systems, we have two methods to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC.
Method 1: Reformat this external hard drive (not recommend)
1. Reformat it as FAT32
As the oldest file system among these three file systems, FAT32 is compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including Mac and Windows. However, FAT32 can only support files up to 4 GB in size and A FAT32 partition must also be less than 8 TB. Thus, unless every file we plan to store on the disk is less than 4GB in size, we'd better avoid this method.
2. Reformat it as exFAT
FAT32, exFAT and NTFS are three file systems for external drive in Windows, while NTFS is read-only on Mac. Therefore, based on these three file systems, we have two methods to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC.
Method 1: Reformat this external hard drive (not recommend)
1. Reformat it as FAT32
As the oldest file system among these three file systems, FAT32 is compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including Mac and Windows. However, FAT32 can only support files up to 4 GB in size and A FAT32 partition must also be less than 8 TB. Thus, unless every file we plan to store on the disk is less than 4GB in size, we'd better avoid this method.
2. Reformat it as exFAT
Can Exfat Be Read By Mac And Pc
The exFAT file system can also work with Mac and Windows. It eliminates the two major deficiencies of FAT32, which has no limitation on partition size or file sizes. And exFAT external hard drive is faster that FAT32 at reading and writing data. It's a great way to share external hard drive between Mac and Windows.
Method 2: Use an NTFS driver for Mac
NTFS is the default file system on Windows. But due to technical reasons and copyright issue, macOS only enables NTFS read support, but doesn't enable write support. To make your Mac compatible writing on NTFS, you can install a professionalNTFS driver for Mac like iBoysoft NTFS for Mac.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac - the easiest way to manage NTFS external hard drives on Mac
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a professional and easy-to-useNTFS mounter for Mac that can mount NTFS formatted external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, etc. in read-write mode on Mac, making NTFS compatible with both Mac and Windows. We can use this utility on macOS 10.15/10.14/10.13/10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8.
Exfat For Mac Os
Aside from what mentioned above, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is also a wonderful manager for NTFS external drives. With this tool, we can open, mount, unmount, repair, and erase NTFS drive on Mac natively. Also, you can use this tool to reformat other disk to NTFS on Mac natively.
