Looking to share an external hard drive between a Mac and PC? The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as FAT32. … Conversely, Windows 7 can’t read and write to drives formatted as HFS+–also known as Mac OS Extended (journaled)–unless you install third-party software such as Paragon’s.
Can Mac OS Extended Journaled be read by Windows?
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) – This is the default file system format for Mac OS X drives. … Disadvantages: Windows-running PCs can read files from drives formatted this way, but they can’t write to them (at least not without the same amount of work it takes to get OS X to write to NTFS-formatted drives).
Can PC read Mac OS Journaled?
A hard drive formatted for use in a Mac has either an HFS or HFS+ file system. For this reason, a Mac-formatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a Windows computer. The HFS and HFS+ file systems are not readable by Windows.
Is Mac OS Extended the same as NTFS?
Windows — With the advent of Windows NT, Microsoft moved their optimized drive format to something called NTFS (New Technology File System). This is the format that is used with all current versions of Windows. … Mac — Since Mac OS 8.1, the Mac has been using a format called HFS+ — also known as Mac OS Extended format.
How do I format a drive for Mac OS Extended Journaled in Windows?
How do I make my external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC?
- Connect the drive to the Mac.
- Open Disk Utility. …
- In disk utility, you will have an internal and external drive.
- Select the drive you want to format and click erase.
- Give the partition a name and select exFAT for the format.
Can Windows read a Mac hard drive?
Windows can’t normally read Mac-formatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. But third-party tools fill the gap and provide access to drives formatted with Apple’s HFS+ file system on Windows. This also allows you to restore Time Machine backups on Windows.
Can a Mac read NTFS?
Because it’s a proprietary file system Apple hasn’t licensed, your Mac can’t write to NTFS natively. When working with NTFS files, you’ll need a third party NTFS driver for Mac if you want to work with the files. You can read them on your Mac, but that’s likely not going to suit your needs.
Can Mac write to NTFS?
Apple’s macOS can read from Windows-formatted NTFS drives, but can’t write to them out of the box. … This could be useful if you want to write to a Boot Camp partition on your Mac, as Windows system partitions must use the NTFS file system. However, for external drives, you should probably use exFAT instead.
Can I put a Mac hard drive in a PC?
While you can physically connect a Mac hard drive to a Windows PC, the PC cannot read the drive unless third-party software is installed. Because the two systems use different file systems for storage: Macs use the HFS, HFS+, or HFSX file systems, and PCs use either the FAT32 or NTFS.
Is Apfs better than macOS Journaled?
Newer macOS installations should use APFS by default, and if you’re formatting an external drive, APFS is the faster and better option for most users. Mac OS Extended (or HFS+) is still a good option for older drives, but only if you plan on using it with a Mac or for Time Machine backups.
Is exFAT slower than NTFS?
Make mine faster!
FAT32 and exFAT are just as fast as NTFS with anything other than writing large batches of small files, so if you move between device types often, you might want to leave FAT32/exFAT in place for maximum compatibility.
What format should my Time Machine hard drive be?
If you plan to use your drive for Time Machine backups on a Mac, and you use only macOS, use HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus, or macOS Extended). A drive formatted this way will not mount on a Windows computer without additional software.