Connect 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 (FAT)” Optionally, give the drive a name. Jan 09, 2020 Connect the flash drive that you want to format. Go to Applications and Utilities and launch Disk Utility. The application will appear on the screen, and you will see the main window, with a list of available storage devices on the left and various disk management options on the right.

By Juno | Posted to NTFS for Mac Tips, updated on November 18th, 2020 |

Though the default hard disk file system (also known as format) of Windows and Mac are different, there should be some ways to format an external drive for both Mac and PC. This post will conclude these tutorials:

A comparison of common File Systems for Mac and PC
Guide to format external hard drives for Mac and PC
Guide to partition an external hard drive for Mac and Windows PC
Make external hard drives compatible with Mac and PC without formatting

To format your external drive hard drive in Windows to use on Mac and PC platforms, first plug-in your drive with a Windows machine. Open the Disk Management tool by right-clicking on the start menu icon and then select Disk Management.
Format USB drive for both Mac and PC use. I bet some of you have this dilemma: you have a USB drive and want to use it on both Mac and PC. If you format the USB drive to HFS+ File System, it will not be supported by Windows computer. And if you format it to NTFS, it will not be fully supported in Mac Operating System.
It might be a permission issue. I had a flash drive I tried to format on my dad's MacBook and I had the same problem — it wouldn't let me erase or format the partition. When I got home and put it back in my Mac mini I was able to format it without any issues.

Then, after reading this post, you'll know what is the best file system for your camera's SD card and what is the best format for your Mac and PC. More importantly, you will know how to format flash drives for Mac and PC and make hard drives compatible with macOS and Windows.

Common File Systems for Mac and PC

The file system is one of the most important part for an external hard drive because it manages how your files are stored and retrieved. So, every hard disk needs a proper file system, including desktop drives and portable storage devices like external hard drives, USB flash drives and SD cards. However, different file systems have different advantages and disadvantages. So before you know how to format a hard drive, you should know the pros and cons of each file system.

1. FAT32

FAT file system includes three major file system variants but the majorly used one is FAT32. FAT32 is commonly used in floppy disks, SD memory cards, USB flash drives, digital cameras, as well as many portable and embedded devices.

Pros

Works universally with all versions of Mac, Windows, Linux, game devices, as well as other devices supporting a USB port.

Cons

Doesn't support a file size larger than 4GB and a drive partition size larger than 32GB on Windows.
Doesn't support the drive partition larger than 2TB on macOS.

2. exFAT

exFAT is a good option for external hard drives (e.g. Seagate Backup Plus Slim), especially for large-capacity removable storage devices. It also is frequently used in flash memory drives such as USB flash drives and SD cards. exFAT is easily often implemented in firmware that has low memory and low power requirements, such as cameras, mobile phones, media players, etc.

Pros

Supports the largest partition and file sizes by today's standards.

Cons

Not compatible with too much old operating systems.
Not a good option for drives less than 32GB because it can't maximize space utilization.

3. NTFS

Format Usb Flash Drive Windows

NTFS is a proprietary journaling file system developed by Microsoft. It is used as the default file system of Windows system hard drive (e.g. Windows 10). NTFS does well in data security based on its encryption, access permission control, and log file.

Pros

Improved performance, reliability, and disk space use.
Performs better in protecting data security, data management.
Compatible with all versions of Windows and latest hardware.

Cons

Read-only in macOS and the disabled-by-default write support for NTFS in macOS is unstable.

4. Mac OS Extended (HFS+)

HFS Plus or HFS+ is a journaling file system developed by Apple Inc. It's the startup disk’s default file system before macOS High Sierra. It also frequently used as Time Machine backup external hard drives of WD, Seagate, etc.

Pros

Supported by all versions of Mac OS X and macOS.
Has journaling, compression, and encryption features.

Cons

Has no access permission control.
Perfoms slow or crash in dealing with a large number of files.
Harder for data recovery when an HFS+ hard drive is corrupted.

5. Apple file system (APFS)

APFS is the new proprietary file system of Apple. It has been known to increase read/write speeds on solid-state drives (SSDs), as well as increase storage space due to the way in which it calculates the available data on disk.

Pros

Allows full-disk encryption with single or multi-key encryption for added security.
Efficient in management of free storage space

Cons

Not good for Time Machine backup due to no support for hard links to directories.
Can only be used on macOS 10.13 and above.

After knowing their unique specifications, it becomes easier to choose the best file system for your storage device. For instance, you would know why exFAT is better for camera SD cards, or why NTFS is better for external backup drive on Windows 10. In a word, you can format or reformat your external hard drive per your requirement, either for Mac and PC.

Warning: Formatting will erase data on this drive. So, make sure you have a backup. However, if you have formatted this drive and lose files, you can recover lost data from formatted external hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

How to format external hard drives for Mac?

To format external hard drives on Mac, you'll need the built-in disk management tool called Disk Utility. Then, you need to choose the best file system for your external hard drive when erase it.

Tips: Remember to back up the files on the external hard drive if you have saved anything important on it.

• Guide to format external hard drive on Mac computer.

How to format external hard drives for Windows computer?

Similarly, you can also format your drive on Windows computers with a utility called Disk Management.

Tips: To prevent data loss during formatting, make sure you haven't saved important files on the drive. If you have, backup them first.

• Guide to initialize and format external hard drive on Windows computer.

How to format an external hard drive for Mac and PC?

It's important to know how to format an external hard drive for your Mac and PC before you use it to free up space and transfer files between computers. If you don't format the external hard drive correctly, it won't work to the utmost extent. For instance,Windows uses NTFS, while Mac uses HFS+ or APFS. Out of the box, Windows can't read or write to HFS+/APFS drives and Macs can't write to NTFS drives either.

Sometimes, users need to use the same external hard drive interchangeably on Mac and PC. To make it compatible with both macOS and Windows, you need to reformat the external hard drive.

Whether you are using an APFS/HFS+ or a Windows NTFS formatted external hard drive on Mac, you can reformat the external hard drives for both Mac and PC. File systems like FAT32 and exFAT can make the external HDD compatible with both Macs and Windows PCs.

Warning: Reformatting will wipe files off the external hard drive. So, you should make sure you have backed up your files on the ext

Format Flash Drive For Mac And Pc