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.
Free Mac File System Recovery When considering Mac OS X data recovery, much depends on the formatting (also called the file system) of the drive. But whether you are looking for HFS recovery for Mac, file recovery for Mac FAT32 system, NTFS recovery for Mac, Disk Drill can help. WD Passport Shows Up on my Mac but not on Windows t0pher Apr 2, 2014, 5:32 PM I just built a new PC and my WD 1TB Passport external hard drive shows up fine on my Mac laptop but won't appear on. 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.
Windows' default NTFS is read-only on OS X, not read-and-write, and Windows computers can't even read Mac-formatted HFS+ drives. FAT32 works for both OSes, but has a 4GB size limit per file, so it isn't ideal. You can always install drivers for those other OSes, but that doesn't help when you're sharing files with your friends' computers. Besides, it's kind of a hassle. The exFAT file system is a much simpler option.
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Read more ReadexFAT has been around for awhile, but we've never really talked about it. Essentially, it's a file system that's both readable and writable on any modern Mac or Windows machine (sorry, Leopard users). All you need to do is format the drive on a Windows machine and you're good to go. Note that you can't format it on OS X, you have to format it on Windows for it to be compatible with both platforms (Update: A lot of you are noting that OS X formats these just fine, so your mileage may vary). To do so, just:
- Open up Windows Explorer and right-click on your drive in the sidebar. Choose 'Format'.
- In the 'File System' dropdown, choose exFAT instead of NTFS.
- Click Start and close this window when finished.
Read Fat32 On Mac
From then on, that drive should work fantastically between Mac and Windows machines. It won't work with Linux unless you install Linux's exFAT drivers, but for most people, exFAT is just about perfect.
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Guide: How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with Macs and PCs without third party software MacTip via Reddit