#Format usb exfat for windows and mac how to#
#Format usb exfat for windows and mac mac os x#
#Format usb exfat for windows and mac mac os#
#Format usb exfat for windows and mac plus#

There are two backup methods: using copy & paste and using backup software. If there are important files on the USB drive that needs to be formatted, you need to back up the data on it beforehand.

#Format usb exfat for windows and mac how to#

Tip: You can find more useful information from this post: Which Is the Best Format for External Hard Drive on Mac? How to Format a USB Device on Your Mac Computer? Step 1: Back up Your Data on the USB Drive

#Format usb exfat for windows and mac mac os#

However, if you have no special requirements, APFS is a good choice for a Mac that is running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later and Mac OS Extended is a good choice for a Mac that is running macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or earlier. If you want to use the USB drive on both Windows and Mac, exFAT is a good choice. This format is used for volumes that exceed 32 GB.

This format is used for volumes that don’t exceed 32 GB.

Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted).

Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled).

Mac OS Extended has four formats in Disk Utility:

#Format usb exfat for windows and mac mac os x#

Mac OS Extended was the primary Mac OS X file system until it was replaced with APFS. It is using on macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or earlier.

#Format usb exfat for windows and mac plus#

Mac OS Extended is also known as HFS+/HFS Plus or HFS Extended. Bothe bootable volume and data volume can be formatted as APFS on macOS 10.13 or later. But you can also use it on older systems with traditional hard disk drives (HDD) and external, direct-attached storage. This format features strong encryption, space sharing, snapshots, fast directory sizing, and improved file system fundamentals.ĪPFS is optimized for the flash or SSD storage used in recent Mac computers. If you want to know which the best file system is for USB on your Mac computer, you need to know the best applicable scenarios for these file systems.Īpple File System (APFS) is the default file system for a Mac computer that is running macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later. Which Is the Best File System for USB on Mac?

MS-DOS (FAT) and exFAT: the file systems that are compatible with both Windows and Mac.

Mac OS Extended (HFS+): the file system that is available on macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or earlier.

Apple File System (APFS): the file system that is available on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later.

The file systems supported by Disk Utility are the formats supported on Mac.ĭisk Utility supports the following file system formats: Which File Systems do Mac Support?ĭisk Utility is a Mac snap-in hard disk management tool. Let’s talk about these questions one by one. Well then, which file systems do Mac support? Which is the best format for a USB drive on Mac? If you want to use the USB drive on both Windows and Mac, which file system should you use? No matter which situation you are facing, you need to format your USB drive to a suitable file system. Which Is the Best Format for a USB on Mac?

We will not list all the situations in this part. For example, if you want to delete all files in the USB drive, you can directly format the drive.

Of course, there are other situations in which you need to get a USB drive formatted. If you want to use a USB drive/thumb drive/flash drive/pen drive on both Windows and Mac, you need to format it to a file system that is compatible with both Windows and Mac.If the USB drive is inaccessible or damaged due to some reason, you need to format it to its normal state.If you want to use a USB drive that is previously used on a Windows computer on a Mac, you may need to first format the USB to a Mac-supported file system.If not, you need to format it to a supported format in advance. When you get a new USB device/thumb drive/flash drive/pen drive and want to use it on your Mac computer, you need to make sure that the file system of the USB device is supported on your Mac.In many situations, you need to format a USB drive on Mac to meet your requirements: When Do You Need to Format a USB Drive on Mac?įormatting a USB drive on your Mac computer is a basic and simple operation. How to Recover Data from a Formatted USB Drive on Mac?.How to Format a USB Device on Your Mac Computer?.Which Is the Best Format for a USB on Mac?.When Do You Need to Format a USB Drive on Mac?.