Open your terminal and install the exfatfuse and exfatutils packages using the following commands. While mac os x can read hard drives formatted as ntfs, write access is not available. Whats the difference between fat32, exfat, and ntfs. Formatting an external hard drive in ext4 from my mac. From then on, that drive should work fantastically between mac and windows machines. Theres really no need for you to use ubuntu to format the drive. Chances are you have an external device formatted with exfat file systems in order to mount and use exfat devices, you must run the commands below to install fuse exfat, a tool that provide exfat support on unixlike systems, including ubuntu.
How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility posted by ant on march 11th, 2012 43 comments if you have an external hard drive or usb flash drive that youd like to use on both macs and windows pcs, choosing the right file system to format the drive can be confusing. Mac by default, and may be readonly by default with some linux. If you format your external hard drive to hfs, you can use it on mac and linux by removing journaling. I would like to have an external drive 2tb usb 3 capable in the best possible format to be able to write and read in the 3 operating systems.
Try connecting an exfatformatted drive without installing the required. To mount an exfat filesystem on debian, first youll need to install the free fuse exfat module and tools which provide a fullfeatured exfat file system implementation for unixlike systems. Format drive exfat in windows 10 using command prompt. Use the exfat file system and never format your external drive. Filesystem compatible with gnulinux and mac super user. You can also just format them with exfat from windows, mac, or other devices that support exfat. Copy the windows support software designed for your mac to the flash drive. Essentially, its a file system thats both readable and writable on any modern mac or windows machine sorry, leopard users. Install the fuse exfat and the exfat utils packages. If you have ever formatted a hard drive as ntfs, you know that there is a lot of trouble in getting it to work with mac and linux. Ubuntu linux requires exfat packages to run on the exfat format filing system.
It supports many partition formats such as fat32, ntfs, exfat, ext4 and of course supports mac os extended. It seems to me that you think that os x cannot readwrite your drive because of the question mark, and thats why you want to use ubuntu. See the screenshot below and youll see how i created an empty partition with no filesystem specified. Besides using this particular usb flash drive as a windows 10 installation disk, i also use it to transfer files from home pcs into workplace macs which i cant do with an ntfs drive. Use the exfat file system and never format your external.
Its a direct continuation of the original dos format used on floppy diskettes and hard. Also find out the difference between file system i. How to format hard drives on windows, mac and linux. If youre using both ubuntu and windows, then yes, you should probably store files you want accessible by both in an ntfs partition. Hi, i formatted all my backup drives using exfat format for a mac running 10. However, ubuntu by default does not provide support for the exfat filesystem. The reason i prefer to use exfat instead of ntfs is that exfat is read and write compatible with both windows and mac os you cant write to ntfs on a mac. What is the best drive format to share data between mac, linux and. Mount the windows iso file, the copy the files to the flash drive. It wont work with linux unless you install linuxs exfat. Essentially, its a file system thats both readable and writable on any modern mac or. The exfat is supported by recent versions of mac and windows operating systems. My second choice would be exfat, because you need to download a driver from microsoft in order to use.
The fat or file allocation table is quite possibly the most widelysupported disk format in existence today. Seagate backup plus hub is available in two models, windows and mac. You want to quickly and permanently erase all content from your mac and restore it to factory settings, such as when youre selling, giving away, or trading in your mac. I just attempted exfat for windows debian ubuntu external drive. Learn steps on how to format usb drive with exfat using cmd, file explorer and free exfat format tool in windows 7. But hey, if you got your mac and pc within the past two decades, then its safe to say that fat32 vs exfat has a clear winner. Create a partition in your favourite partition manager.
I am interested in getting a twodrive raid 1 setup from owc or gtech and wondering if i can format the drives as exfat. If you have a mbr partition type, set its type to ntfs that is code 7. So during this tutorial, we are going to cover how to mount and use an exfat usb drive. Cant make a bootable drive from iso using exfat issue. How to enable exfat filesystem support on ubuntu 16. No matter which of the guides you use, the partition scheme should be guid partitioning map, and the format can be msdos fat or exfat. It is quite easy to have exfat format in windows 10, isnt it. Find out how to format an external drive or usb disk making the drive work with both windows pc and mac can read and write. How to format your usb drive with exfat in windows 7810.
Mac os also supports full readwrite to the ntfs drives. However, if your external hard disk is in the exfat format, your system wont be able to detect it since it doesnt support it natively. It worth mentioning that windows 10 has builtin formatting tools as well, disk management and diskpart. This works in most cases, where the issue is originated due to a system corruption. However, you can format the drive to work with both windows and mac by using the exfat filesystem. Ubuntu seems to support it via an additional package on. If you want to format your external hard drive to work with mac and windows computers, you should use exfat. To format your drive to exfat, the drive must not be formatted to any other filesystem format. Choose the exfat format and the master boot record scheme. Should i choose exfat or ntfs for a shared partition in.
How to mount and use an exfat drive on ubuntu linux. How to use external hdd with windowsmaclinuxandroid. If youre transferring files between computers running windows and linux, then you can either format drives with the exfat or ntfs file systems to make. Best format for an external hdd in 2019 to be used in macos. Operating systems and file systems crosscompatibility. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Format external driveusb exfat in windows 10 in simple steps. Gparted comes preinstalled on many linux distributions like ubuntu, debian, linux mint. I dont know about mac os, but if you care about doing this on linux. Youre changing the format of a disk, such as from a pc format fat, exfat, or ntfs to a mac format apfs or mac os extended. How to format external hard disk to exfat filesystem in ubuntu. This video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it.
The current windows 10 iso can be downloaded from the microsoft website download windows 10 disc image iso file. You can also just format them with exfat from windows, mac, or other. You can also open a finder window, select applications in the sidebar, and head to utilities disk utility. File system formats available in disk utility on mac.
The format dialog in windows doesnt explain the difference, so we will. Support for mounting exfat and ntfs file systems under centos. It also briefly introduces exfat allocation unit size that you may care about. Its purpose is only to make it easy to identify which disk and partition you use for ubuntu. How to format external hard disk to exfat filesystem in ubuntu by damien posted on sep 23, 20 feb 12, 2015 in linux if you are using multiple oses and wish to transfer files from one computer to another via an external hard disk, you will want to format the hard disk to exfat format since it is widely supported by most os and doesnt. I formatted an external hard disk on my ubuntu linux system with exfat. You will learn the easiest way to format drive on mac and windows as exfat.
How to create mac os extended journaled partition and. You can use exfat drives on linux with full readwrite support, but youll. To format a drive on a mac, youll need the builtin disk utility application. Mac os cannot mount exfat disk created on ubuntu linux unix. Windows uses ntfs and mac os uses hfs and theyre incompatible with each other.
You can use this command to format partitions with the exfat file system from linux, if you like. However, to use it on windows you can hfs explorer read only. The above represents each operating systems native. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. How to format a drive as exfat on linux if the issue is with your computer or a laptop you should try using reimage plus which can scan the repositories and replace corrupt and missing files.
This is a default file system for linux os including raspberry pi. Difference between fat32 and ntfs and exfat technotaught. If right click a particular drive in windows 10 file explorer, you can format the drive to exfat directly as well. How to mount an exfat drive on debian linux linuxize. Gparted is good for creating new partitions that have no specified filesystem.
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