

These methods also work for MacOS Big Sur.
Format g drive for mac mac#
If you’re looking to ensure you don’t experience the severe pain that is data loss, we’ve broken down the best way to back up your Mac and protect your information. It’s always a good idea to have multiple forms of backup (local backup and remote backup) when possible. With online storage services like iCloud or even Google Drive, some people assume that there’s no need for an external hard drive on your Mac. Make sure to back it up somewhere safe while you format the drive. Please Note: If you are going to try to format your hard drive, then remember to backup the whole drive as all data will be lost. Then you will need to use the ‘erase’ feature to format the drive in the format type you wish to use and rename it to what you want to call it. From there simply select the drive you want to format in the lefthand side. On a Mac the formatting options for drives can be found under ‘Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility’. Otherwise go with FAT32 for the extra compatibility with older devices. This is also the case for some modern SSD drives and Compact Flash cards.Įach format type does have its own pros and cons, like having faster transfer speeds, better compatibility etc, but for external drives transferring large files across multiple devices, exFAT is the best option. It is now a common format for larger SDXC cards used in cameras. It is a Microsoft file system introduced in 2006 that was designed for flash drives. The only drawback of exFAT is that it may not be compatible with some older machines. exFAT also allows for larger file transfers, TBs worth in fact.
Format g drive for mac windows#
Formatting your drive to exFAT is a great solution to your workflow.ĮxFAT works on both Mac and Windows machines, so you can seamlessly transfer between the two. You also don’t want to have to edit them before transferring the raw files, just to get them down to size. This is a real pain when working in video, because you don’t want to let that dictate how long you shoot your video clips for. This will likely be because your drive is formatted as FAT32 and the largest file size you can transfer is 4gb. When working with large files like video and transferring to your usb pen or hard drive you may notice that certain files cannot be transferred on to it. The transfer rates are far too slow and drastically reduce your productivity. Unfortunately for anybody who uses large files on a daily basis, this is not an option. This reduces a lot of the hassle currently created by having to carry hardware around with you. USB pens and external hard drives are in a way being replaced by cloud services like Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox. Read below to find out which one is right for you. You will want to change that to either the FAT32 or exFAT format. If you can’t get past this bit then your hard drive is formatted as NTFS or HFS+. You will likely not even care about what format it is using so long as it works. This often is not a problem so long as your usb pen has been formatted to work on both a Mac and a PC, usually in a FAT32 format. Maybe you have a Mac at work and Windows laptop at home or vice versa and you want to take some work from one machine to another.
Format g drive for mac Pc#
If you have ever tried to work from both a Mac and PC then you have likely experienced the nightmare that is getting external drives to work on both machines properly. But they are far from ideal for using on external drives and devices. The top two are going to be the ones used on your Mac and Windows machines by default.


– exFAT (Works on Mac and PC with better file size restrictions) – FAT32 (Works on Mac and PC with 4gb file size limit) A very basic rundown of the format types available are – Formatting drives sounds very scary and difficult, but it is very simple and can take only a couple of minutes on a fresh drive. It is relatively easy to make a hard drive work between Mac and PC with no file limits.
