offlineperformance.blogg.se

Format disc for mac and windows how to#
Format disc for mac and windows mac os x#
Format disc for mac and windows mac os#
Format disc for mac and windows full#

Format disc for mac and windows mac os#

The NTFS file system is another option to use for Windows formatted drives and volumes, but it has limited compatibility with Mac OS by default.

Format disc for mac and windows mac os x#

If you require single files to be larger than 4GB, use exFAT instead, though you will lose some compatibility with older versions of Mac OS X and Windows. The primary downside to using FAT32 is the file size limit, which limits files on the drive to being 4GB in size or less. This widespread compatibility makes FAT an ideal file system to use for USB flash drives or external hard drives that are intended for use in environments with multiple operating systems. You’ll even be able to use the drive on most Linux and Unix machines too, if you need to. The FAT file system is compatible with all versions of Mac OS X and macOS, Windows 95, 98, Windows XP, Vista, 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and later it’s one of the most widely recognized and usable file system formats. Simply connecting the formatted drive to a Mac or PC will allow the drive to be used on either operating system, so you can access and transfer files as needed. Once the drive is formatted it will be compatible to be read and written to on both a Mac and PC. Using FAT File System Format for Mac & Windows Compatibility

Click “Options” and choose “Master Boot Record” as the partition type, then click “OK” and “Apply”ĭrives format very quickly, though the total time taken will depend on the size of the drive.

From the “Partition Layout” dropdown menu, select “1 Partition”.

Click the drive, then select “Partition” tab.

From within Disk Utility, do the following:

Format disc for mac and windows full#

If you wish to boot the drive on a PC, or to use it with older versions of Windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to Master Boot Record (MBR) for full Windows compatibility. Making the Drive Bootable & Compatible with Older Windows PC using MBR The result is still the same however when it comes to formatting the drive. Note this approach to formatting a drive for Mac and Windows PC compatibility are the same on basically every version of MacOS and Mac OS X, but the screenshots may look slightly different depending on your OS version.

Remember, formatting a drive erases all data on it. That’s how you can make a drive compatible with both Mac and PC.

Click the “Erase” button to format the drive for Mac & Windows PC compatibility.

Click the pulldown menu alongside “Format” and select “MS-DOS (FAT)”.

Click the drive name on the left side list in Disk Utility, and then click the “Erase” tab.

Connect the drive you wish to format for dual compatibility to the Mac.

Launch Disk Utility, found within /Applications/Utilities/.

This works with any hard drive, flash drive, SSD, USB drive, or just about any other storage type that is accepted by both a Mac and Windows machine, and the entire process is performed in Mac OS X:

Format disc for mac and windows how to#

How to Format a Drive for Mac & Windows PC Compatibility Let’s quickly review how to format any drive for Mac and Windows PC compatibility with read and write support. Remember, formatting a drive erases all data contained on it so back up important files before proceeding. It only takes a few minutes to start and it’s extremely easy, and we’ll walk you through the entire process of formatting drives for Mac and PC compatibility in a few simple steps. Though this excellent cross-platform compatible ability is unknown to many users, it’s not a complex process, and if you frequently use both a Mac and Windows PC you will find this particularly useful because any data, media, or files stored on the the drive will always be accessible from any operating system.