What format a new external?

Spizz

Spizz

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I just got a new WD Elements 2TB external drive and I'm wondering how best to format it for use with both OS X and Windows? (yes I'm a fairly new OS X user)

It's really just a drive for movies, music and photos which will mostly be used by my MBA, but occasionally also on my works laptop which runs Win7. I was going to just make it FAT32 but have been reading about exFAT and wondered what people generally do?
 
Spizz said:
Problem is you can't transfer back and forward on OS X with NTFS (or so I notice with other drives)
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As long as you do not mind having files under 4GB in size, fat32 will work. It is not good for moving HD videos.
 
liber8 said:
NTFS for bigger file sizes.
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Not without third party write support.

Options are ExFAT, UDF and FAT32. If you have single files > 4GB, then I think FAT32 becomes a problem. UDF is fine but some Windozes installations don't like it on anything except a DVD (don't ask me why - I haven't bothered too much figuring it out). Ex is great but media players often struggle/fail to recognise it.
 
GreGorGy said:
Not without third party write support.

Options are ExFAT, UDF and FAT32. If you have single files > 4GB, then I think FAT32 becomes a problem. UDF is fine but some Windozes installations don't like it on anything except a DVD (don't ask me why - I haven't bothered too much figuring it out). Ex is great but media players often struggle/fail to recognise it.
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Hmmm, ok so FAT32 looks like the one to go with. I don't have anything over 4gb so that's not a problem but the media player might be as I do plug my external in now and again.
 
Electric said:
Fat32 is sloooooow.
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Lol. That's why I'm confused about it all :)

I've always used NTFS but now with my MBA being my main machine I've got to change things a bit. If I was going to use the drive exclusively on OS X which would the best and fastest format be?
 
Spizz said:
Lol. That's why I'm confused about it all :)

I've always used NTFS but now with my MBA being my main machine I've got to change things a bit. If I was going to use the drive exclusively on OS X which would the best and fastest format be?
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HFS+ - the native Mac format. Try an ExFat in the media player - if it works, go for that. My cross-platform external is ExFat and the only thing that hates it is my Sony BluRay player.
 
GreGorGy said:
HFS+ - the native Mac format. Try an ExFat in the media player - if it works, go for that. My cross-platform external is ExFat and the only thing that hates it is my Sony BluRay player.
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Sweet, thanks for the info. I'll format a memory stick into exFAT and give it a bash first.
 
Invest in Paragon NTFS for Mac. Then format in NTFS and enjoy cross platform use and large file size capacity. :)
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
You know you don't have to use any additional software to write to NTFS drives under Mac OS.

You just need to mount it through the command line or add an entry in your fstab file.

http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/02/enable-ntfs-write-support-mac-os-x/
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Because this feature is officially unsupported by Apple, NTFS should not be considered a reliable cross-platform file system for moving files between a Mac and a Windows PC, users will still want to format drives for the FAT file system for optimal Mac to/from PC drive
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How reliable is the native OSX NTFS driver?

I found the Paragon driver to be excellent in terms of speed and reliability and have not had a single problem in years. With the only exception being, after Snow Leopard, Finder no longer indexes NTFS drives accessed by NTFS for Mac.
 
Space_Chief said:
How reliable is the native OSX NTFS driver?

I found the Paragon driver to be excellent in terms of speed and reliability and have not had a single problem in years. With the only exception being, after Snow Leopard, Finder no longer indexes NTFS drives accessed by NTFS for Mac.
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I won't recommend it for day-to-day use, but it I haven't had a problem yet (but others have).

I recommend two partitions. The HFS+ partition can be the biggest and create a second small FAT32 partition for the days when you need to plug it into a Windows system. Make the FAT32 about 5% of the total hard drive size.
 
My 3tb, 2x 2TB and all my usb drives are now on exFAT, have not had any issues.

I can plug and play into my Windows 7 x64 Dell and MacBookPro, WD TV Live and DroidTV.

Have not had any hassles touch wood.
 
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