How do I make my external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC?

Buy A 2nd External Hard Drive

  1. Format that drive to ExFAT. ExFAT is an efficient, fast, compatible file system.
  2. Next. Once you have your new or loan external hard drive formatted to ExFAT.
  3. You then open two finder windows on your Mac.
  4. And because your Mac can read the NTFS drive.
  5. And there you go.

Can I use an external hard drive for both Mac and Windows?

Instead of buying one of those programs, a better solution is to set up your external hard drive so that it is compatible with both your Windows machine and your Mac. This lets you create an external hard drive for Mac and PC that doesn’t require any additional software to function.

How do I split a hard drive between Mac and PC?

Create a partition on a Mac

  1. Launch Finder, click Go, select Utilities, then double-click Disk Utility.
  2. Select the Volume you want to partition, then click the Partition button.
  3. Click the + icon, then rename the partition you want to create.
  4. Select the file format, and enter the size you want the partition to be.

Does exFAT work on Mac and PC?

exFAT is a good option if you work often with Windows and Mac computers. Transferring files between the two operating systems is less of a hassle, since you don’t have to constantly back up and reformat each time.

Can Seagate work with Mac and PC?

Newer Seagate and LaCie branded external drives come preformatted with the exFAT file system, which allows it to be used on both Mac and Windows without reformatting the drive.

What is the best format for external hard drive Mac and PC?

exFAT
The Best Format for External Hard Drives If you want to format your external hard drive to work with Mac and Windows computers, you should use exFAT. With exFAT, you can store files of any size, and use it with any computer made in the last 20 years.

How do I use a Seagate hard drive for both Mac and Windows?

If you need to use your drive on both Mac and PC then it’s best to format exFAT. If you are not sure which one is best for you the File System Format Comparisions highlights the main difference between file systems. Seagate internal drives are not preformatted and must be formatted before use.

What format supports both Mac and PC?

For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a PC and Mac computer, it must be formatted to ExFAT or FAT32 file format. FAT32 has several limitations, including a 4 GB per-file limit.

Can I use Seagate external hard drive with Mac and PC?

What are the disadvantages of exFAT?

Here are the cons/disadvantages of the exFAT file system:

  • Not as compatible as FAT32.
  • It does not offer journaling functionality and other advanced features built into the NTFS file system.

Is exFAT or NTFS better for Mac?

exFAT is the preferred file format for flash storage drives that you share between Windows and Mac. exFAT has no realistic file or partition size limits. It also doesn’t require complicated ACLs and file attribution system like NTFS.

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