As Kryptonhite mentioned above, you can format it to FAT32 with the MAC OS. Follow the steps below to change the file format type of the portable drive for it to be compatible with both Mac and Windows. Please do not use Time Machine on Mac because it will change the. This week's best deals: $100 off the Mac Mini M1 and more. Plus an all-time low on the latest MacBook Air. Twitter Facebook Reddit Mail. BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE PERFORMING THESE STEPS This Lee Sapara with a 30 second short video on Formatting a USB Drive to Fat-32 on your mac. In Disk Utility.
How much do you know about APFS vs Mac OS Extended? Which Mac file system should you choose? How to format hard drive for Mac? If you have similar questions on your mind, please read this page carefully to find answers; the main differences between APFS and Mac OS Extended file system and several ways to format a hard drive (internal/external) on Mac will be introduced.
Mac (formerly known as Macintosh) refers to the personal computers that are designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Inc. MacOS is one of the most popular operating systems in the world; it’s the main competitor of Windows.
Common Mac file system includes:
The following content first discusses on APFS vs Mac OS Extended; after that, it will tell you how to format a hard drive for Mac in several different ways.
In this part, I’ll first introduce APFS and Mac OS extended to you. Then, I’ll compare these two file systems used on Mac for you in brief. You may ask what are the differences between APFS and Mac OS Extended, right?
APFS refers to Apple File System, which is a proprietary file system used by Mac devices running macOS 10.13 or later. Mac OS Extended is a journaling file system used by macOS 10.12 or earlier. APFS is best for solid state and flash drives while Mac OS Extended is best for mechanical drives, or drives used on older macOS.
APFS (the full name is Apple File System) is a proprietary file system released by Apple Inc. It can be used on different devices running macOS High Sierra (10.13) and later, iOS 10.3 and later, all versions of iPadOS, watchOS 3.2 and later, or tvOS 10.2 and later. APFS is a new file system which was originally designed by Mac to fix core problems of Mac OS Extended.
Mac OS Extended, also known as HFS+, HFS Plus or HFS Extended, is actually a journaling file system released by Apple Inc. It was released in 1998 to replace HFS (Hierarchical File System, also known as Mac OS Standard or HFS Standard), which is the previous primary file system in Apple computers. Two main advantages of HFS+ when compare to HFS are: a. it gives support to much larger files; b. it uses Unicode for naming items.
APFS vs HFS+ vs HFS:
APFS file system was announced in June 2016 to replace HFS+ (also known as HFS Plus or Mac OS Extended); the latter was used on all Mac computers as the primary file system since 1998 to replace the previous HFS.
When compared to Mac OS extended, APFS has been optimized a lot in terms of encryption, so it’s more suitable for flash and solid-state drive storage. APFS becomes the default file system for both for SSDs (Solid State Drives) and flash drives.
But don’t worry, you can still use the APFS on mechanical and hybrid drives. Sneakers and an oversized hoodie mac os.
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There are two main highlights in APFS.
1st: fast speed. Copying and pasting a folder on APFS drive can be finished in an instant since the file system points to basically the same data twice.
2nd: reverse compatibility. If you are running 2016’s macOS Sierra or the later versions of macOS, congratulations, you have both read and write access to APFS, HFS +, and HFS file system. However, for users who run an older Mac (or a Windows operating system), they are not allowed to write to APFS-formatted drives.
Main advantages of APFS:
Main disadvantages of APFS:
Mac OS Extended (HFS+) is the default file system for all Macs from 1998 to 2017, until the new APFS replace it. Till now, it’s still the default file system for both mechanical and hybrid hard drives. You should keep it unchanged while you install the macOS or format external hard drive Mac. The HFS+ is a better choice than APFS on even current mechanical and hybrid hard drives.
Besides, you should definitely choose Mac OS Extended when you reformat external hard drive Mac considering that it may be used on older Macs running El Capitan or earlier versions of macOS. As you know, the new APFS file system is not compatible with these old macOS versions.
Main advantages of HFS+:
Main disadvantages of HFS+:
Please ask yourself the following questions when you choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended:
Though the file system of main system drive on Mac is confined to APFS and Mac OS Extended, you can still consider exFAT (or the older FAT) when you format an external hard drive on Mac.
The most obvious benefit of using exFAT is that it can work with both Windows and macOS computers (you have both read and write access to the exFAT drive). Although there are solutions to read Mac formatted drive on Windows or read a Windows formatted drive on Mac, formatting drives to exFAT is still a convenient thing and an economical choice.
Users shouldn’t reformat the disk that built-in Mac causally unless they have special needs and they are professional enough. So this part will focus on how to format external hard drive for Mac by using the snap-in tool: Disk Utility (it can be used to format & manage both internal and external hard drives as well as disk images).
How to format an external hard drive for Mac? Please follow this guide.
Step 1: open Disk Utility on your Mac.
Go to the Applications -> select Utilities folder -> double click on Disk Utility.
Step 2: choose View -> Show All Devices.
Please click on the View icon in the upper left corner of Disk Utility window. After that, please select Show All Devices from the drop-down list.
Step 3: erase/wipe the target disk.
Please connect the external hard disk in advance and make sure it’s appeared on Mac. Then, select the disk that you want to format from the left sidebar. After that, you should click on the Erase button in the right pane.
You can now start to use the formatted disk. Please click here to know how to format a disk for Windows computers in Disk Utility on Mac.
The file formats available for you to choose are:
Click here to know more about the differences between these file formats.
That’s how to reformat a disk on Mac by using Disk Utility (the steps to reformat MacBook Pro are the same). Of course, there are also many third-party tools you can download to format the disk on your Mac.
Delta0 mac os. Data recovery from mac formatted external hard drive:
Extended reading:
Both APFS and Mac OS Extended are popular file systems supported by Mac computers. If you don't know which one is more suitable for you, please read part 1 and part 2 carefully (the advantages & disadvantages of these two Mac file systems are included). Part 3 teaches you how to format a hard drive for Mac by using the snap-in Disk Utility; besides, it offers an easy method for recovering data from a formatted drive on Mac. Hope this can help you decide which one to choose: APFS or Mac OS Extended, and prevent your important data from getting lost.
SD describes devices that conform to SD standards for non-volatile memory cards. See the SD Association website for details.
Yes. The SD card specification for a memory card is 32mm by 24mm by 2.1mm. You can also use thinner cards, such as MultiMediaCards (MMC). Avoid using cards that have a thickness greater than 2.1mm, as they might damage the SD card slot if you try to insert them.
Cards that conform to the SD 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x standards should work. The SD card slot can use:
You can use a passive adapter like the one shown here to make MiniSD, MicroSD, and higher density formats like MiniSDHC and MicroSDHC conform to the width and thickness specifications listed above:
Mac notebooks use the USB bus to communicate with the SD card slot. They have a maximum speed of up to 480Mbit/s. Mac desktops use the PCIe bus to communicate with the SD card slot. Desktops can transfer data at a faster rate.
Check the packaging that came with your SD media to determine the maximum transfer rate that your specific card uses.
To determine the maximum transfer speed of your Mac, you can use System Information. Choose Apple menu > About This Mac and then click System Report.
If you use a Mac notebook:
If you use a Mac desktop computer:
Yes. However, most media manufacturers preformat the media using common block-and-cluster sizes that don’t approach the theoretical limits of a given file system.
Most SD cards use the FAT32 file format, and preformatted FAT32 SD media is commonly available up to a capacity of 32GB. Media that exceeds 32GB usually uses the exFAT file system, while some smaller capacity cards use the FAT16 file format. Preformatted FAT16 media is generally available up to a capacity of 2GB.
If you use OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.5 or later, you can find out which file system you’re using:
Yes. Any Mac that has an SD card slot and is running OS X 10.6.5 or later can use the exFAT file system.
exFAT is also supported in Boot Camp with Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 on any Mac made in 2011 or later with an SD card slot.
When you insert the card, make sure that the metal contacts face down and point toward the computer. Don’t force media into the SD card slot, as this might cause damage.
Your computer recognizes a card inserted into the SD card slot as a USB storage device. You can mount, read from, and write to the SD card just like you can with any other USB storage device.
Remove the card and insert it again. Sometimes the SD card won’t mount properly if you put it into the slot too slowly. If the card still won't mount, you might need to reformat your SD card.
You see this message when you try to edit data on an SD card that’s locked. You need to use the lock slider to unlock the card before you can edit the data.
To eject the card, drag the icon that represents the card to the Trash. After the icon disappears from the desktop, you can remove the card from the computer. Adjust the lock slider tab to unlock the card, then reinsert the card into the slot. See the manufacturer’s instructions for the location of the slider tab.
You can use Disk Utility to partition and format an SD device as FAT32 (using the MS-DOS FAT setting) or Mac OS Extended. The Mac OS Extended format can be used only on Macintosh systems. Non-Apple systems won’t recognize cards formatted to Mac OS Extended.
You might have to format a card that’s larger than 32GB with exFAT if you want to use it with a digital camera, GPS, or another device. When in doubt, format the card in the device that you intend to use it with. Formatting a card permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep on the SD card.
Use Disk Utility to change the default partition table to GUID. Then format the card to use the Mac OS Extended file format.
Before you remove the card, allow any data transfer to SD media to complete. To eject the card, drag the icon that represents the card to the Trash. After the icon disappears from your desktop, you can remove the card from the slot.
Don't remove a card while your Mac is sleeping, as this could lead to data loss. Always wake your computer and eject the SD card before removing it from your Mac.
You can get information about the interface hardware and the media that you inserted in the slot from the System Information:
The SD card slot works with Boot Camp in all supported versions of Windows. You’ll need to download and install the Windows Support Software to use the SD card slot with Windows.
Learn more about using Windows on a Mac.
You can use an SDXC card in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 with these Mac computers:
No. You can’t use SD, SDHC, or SDXC cards with Boot Camp to install Windows software on Mac computers.