What is the best file system for USB or external hard drive on Mac?
Windows and Mac OS X use different file systems. Windows uses NTFS and Mac can't write files to volumes with NTFS format.
So, if you want to use a USB flash drive or an external hard drive with NTFS format on Mac, you should first reformat the devices to the Mac OS Extended file system. It is the best way to ensure full Mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk.
Usually, FAT32 which can be read and wrote on Mac is recommended for maximum compatibility. And if you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Macs and Windows computers, exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT) is better.
Partitioning Mac’s internal Hard Drive running OS X Lion can sometimes be tricky. This is especially true when you are trying to partition a Hard Drive Note: Before you begin this process, make sure to backup the contents of your entire Hard Drive to an external Hard Drive. Mac’s come with a built in.
How to format USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac
But how can you format USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac? Don’t worry! This page will show you two ways to do this job:
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using Mac disk utility
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac on Windows PC using third-party USB format tool
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac on Windows PC using third-party USB format tool
Now, you can follow these two solutions to format any hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, SSD or any other external storage drive so as to make them work on your Mac now.
Method 1. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using Mac Disk utility
Windows offers users built-in disk management tool to create, delete, resize, merge and format partitions. You can try the following steps to format USB or external hard drive for Mac with Disk Utility on Mac.
- 1. Connect the USB or external hard drive to your Mac computer.
- 2. Launch the Disk Utility by clicking 'Applications' > 'Utilities'.
- 3. Locate and click on your USB or external hard drive in Disk Utility and then click on 'Erase'.
- 4. Next to 'Format', click the contextual menu and select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'.
- 5. Reset the drive name and click 'Erase', confirm the operation on the next pop-up window.
- Wait for the process to complete and then you'll get compatible HFS+ file system on your external hard drive or USB, which will make your device compatible and workable on your Mac.
Method 2. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using third-party USB format tool on a Windows PC
If you need a simpler format tool to format USB or external hard drive to FAT32 to make them work on Mac, you can apply a third-party format tool to format them on Windows PC. EaseUS partition software is a popular disk partition management tool which is available for all hard disk related jobs such as format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem.
Now you can try it to format USB or external hard drive on your Windows PC by following the steps below. If you stored important data on the USB or external hard drive, you can try this tool to convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2: Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.
After this, you can connect your external hard drive/USB to Mac computer and use it to save data by then.
Updated: November 10, 2019 Home » Freeware and Software Reviews » SSD, HDD, RAM & Flash Memory
Can I repartition my hard disk without formatting it? Yes, but first, when it comes to re-partitioning and resizing your hard disk, it is important to backup all the files in the drive onto an external hard disk. Mistakes can be made due to human error or software, either way, it is good to be safe than sorry. Recovering lost file is expensive, time consuming and sometimes it is as good as impossible. Therefore, always backup everything in the hard drive. Without further ado, here are 5 Norton PartitionMagic alternatives for repartitioning your USB flash drive, SSD, hard disk, SD Card and more.
Alternative 2020 Article ➤ 8 Freeware To Check & Repair SSD Hard Disk With Bad Sectors
↓ 01 – Partition Manager Free Edition
The safest tool for hard drive partitioning! Fully supports Windows 10 now! Partitioning is not for amateurs. That is why millions of people have trusted their safe, stable technology and professional software solutions for over 20 years. Their latest 14 version easily organizes your hard drive and redistributes free space to enhance system performance. Works great on Microsoft’s Windows 10 and Apple’s macOS.
- Smart and reliable assistant: Easily distribute additional memory by sliding, zooming in and out of partitions
- Organize and optimize your hard disk with Create-, Resize-, Format- and Delete partition Wizards
- Paragon Hot Resize ™ technology to enlarge partitions without rebooting Windows
- Paragon Smart Partition ™ technology to securely perform partitioning operations
- Supports GPT / UEFI configurations
- New Intuitive user-friendly interface with predefined views
- A handy launcher to easily find and run the required tasks
- Converts HFS volumes to NTFS and vice versa without reformatting
- Comprehensive wizards to simplify even the most complex operations
↓ 02 – AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard
AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a FREE disk partition management software which has earned good reputation among worldwide users. It comes with so many powerful features that you can completely control your hard disk and partition. Safely partition your hard drive without data loss.
- Resize, move, merge, split, create, delete, format, recover and align partitions
- Quick partition – Perform partition operations from command prompt
- Disk copy and Partition copy
- Convert data disk between MBR and GPT partition styles
↓ 03 – MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard Free is the pioneer of free partition software. Unlike other free partition manager, MiniTool is a more in-depth and versatile program designed to optimize disk usage and to protect your data. Ability to manage disk partitions such as creating, deleting, and copying partitions, cloning disks and so much more.
- Support MBR & GPT disk, removable disk.
- Convert Disk Partition Table – Convert disk type between MBR and GPT without data loss to support 3TB or larger hard disks.
- Change File System – Capable of converting from FAT/FAT32 to NTFS without disk commands and capable of converting from NTFS to FAT32 without reformatting.
- Recover Partition and Rebuilt MBR – Recover lost or deleted partitions and rebuild your MBR table.
- Align Partition – Align partitions so you can optimize SSD I/O performance.
- Resize and Move Partition – Free yourself from the limitations of the built-in disk management system with the ability to extend or shrink partition sizes.
- Hard disk capacity maximum 8TB for free version.
↓ 04 – Microsoft Disk Management
All Microsoft Windows comes with Disk Management, if you are logged in as an administrator, you can repartition your hard disk by using the Shrink feature in Disk Management. You can shrink an existing partition or volume to create unallocated disk space, from which you can create a new partition or volume. (Note that the terms partition and volume are often used interchangeably.)
- Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer Management. Administrator permission required If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
- In the left pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.
- Right-click the volume you want to shrink, and then click Shrink Volume.
- Follow the instructions.
↓ 05 – Active Partition Manager
Active Partition Manager is a freeware application that helps you to manage storage devices and the logical drives or partitions that they contain. You may create, delete, format and name partitions on your computer without shutting down the system. Most configuration changes take effect immediately.
- Recognize volumes (partitions) with file systems: FAT, NTFS, NTFS + EFS, MacOS HFS+, Linux Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, Unix UFS, BtrFS
- Create a partition or logical drive (volume)
- Format a logical drive or partition (FAT, exFAT, NTFS)
- Resize logical drive (volume)
- Edit and synchronize boot sectors of FAT, exFAT, NTFS, UFS, HFS+, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 and Partition Table
- Initialize new disk as MBR or GPT or fix MBR (GPT) on damaged disk
- Convert MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR
- Rollback partition layout changes, such as createdeleteformat partition and disk initialization
- Assign or change partition attributes, drive letter etc.
- Format a Flash memory as NTFS
- Delete a partition or logical drive
- Create FAT32 partitions greater than 32GB in size (up to 1Tb)
- Mark partition as active
- Create several partitions on a USB flash memory device
↓ 06 – EaseUS Partition Master
Over 66,000,000 users’ choice, the most popular management software helps home, home office & business manage and resize partition on hard disk. When you add a new hard disk or SSD to your system, you must format and partition it before you can use it. The best tool for the job is a full-featured disk partition manager, which can not only format and partition drives but repartition them.
- Manage Partitions – Quickly resize, move, merge and split partitions without data loss to make better use of hard drive capacity.
- Copy Disk/Partition – Easily clone disk and volumes to protect data or upgrade disk, no Windows system reinstallation required.
- Recover Partitions – Recover deleted or lost partitions on unallocated space due to any hardware/software failure or virus attack.