Fat 32 vs ntfs when using for both Windows and Mac: If I reformat the drive from FAT 32 to NTFS, will I still be able to use this drive on a MAC?
900003
Edward, if you format the drive as NTFS, you would only be able to view its contents on a Mac. Writing to the drive would not be possible.
543721
Yes. Your Mac will ask how you want to format the drive. You choose the format that works best in your environment.
1565298
Hi, I'm Jewel with Kingston Technical Support and would like to address your question. All of our USB drives are formatted to FAT32 by default and do not require to be reformatted for use with any particular Operating System. FAT32 is an older file system that is compatible with all current operating systems.
163741
Depends on the format you want it on. If you need it to be compatible with both mac and PC, then no. Fat32 has a 4GB limit. However, if you are on a mac, you can format the drive as Journaled and put any size on it, but it will only work with mac computers. If PC, you can format it NTFS and it will take any size but only work on PCs.
1389637
My understanding is that NTFS provides more security and increases performance. Here is a link that will help understand the differences: http://www.diffen.com/difference/FAT32_vs_NTFS
2081754
I wrote you a response (which is below) but I realized you might be confused as to what this product is. This isn't an external hard drive. It's a hard drive enclosure, it's basically an empty shell that holds a hard drive. You have to buy the actual drive separately You should be good in that direction PC to Mac. Windows uses the NT File System on it's drives, Mac's can read those files and copy them to the mac, but mac's can't write to a NTFS drive. So you couldn't add or save anything on to the drive. A solution for this would be to make a partition that's FAT32 both mac and windows can read and write to that, it's the file system flash drives usually have. Sometimes there's a 32GB limit on FAT32 drives so you might not be able to turn the whole drive into it. But you can partition one drive into multiple parts.
23242
I use MacFuse to access my NTFS partition on Bootcamp. Am just ordering the drive now, will see if MacFuse+NTFS is any faster or slower than Fat32.
214659
Everyone is wrong to a degree. OS X can READ NTFS, it can't write to it, at least not natively. FAT32 is not really suitable for backups, so I wouldn't do that. Your two options are to either partition off the drive to have an NTFS partition and an HFS+ partition (Windows and Mac respectively), or you could make it NTFS and then download MacFUSE and NTFS-3G (google it) which will give the Mac the ability to write to windows drives (Abiet, very very slowly).
1747916
Well, I have a 250GB disk inside, formatted as exFAT. I use at home with my Win7 machine and at work with a MacBook (Mountain Lion) and both systems can read and write with not problems at all. If you are going to use only mac you can format it with Mac OS Extended, if you want both systems to use it then go for exFAT. Short answer: YES, it does support Mac.
1985365
Yes it can. Look it up online, (even before you get it) and you can figure it out. Basically using a PC format the drive to FAT or exFAT file system. This can be read on Mac and PC. I did this. Had a Mac, it broke and I switched to a PC, used this to transfer my backed up files afer formatting it correctly. I also have since used it to transfer docs between other's Mac's and my PC. Works great.
1204655
Hi Dianne! This unit s formatted for Mac OS 10.5 or later operating systems and requires reformatting for Windows operating system. Compatibility may vary depending on your hardware configuration and operating system. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use this unit with my Mac OS 10.8.5 operating system and sent it back after talking with the WD tech people. I ended up buying a G-Technology G-DRIVE for more money. Works really well. Costs twice as much, but is compatible with both Mac and Windows systems. Check out Amazon for the best prices! Hope this helps!!
2202175
Here is a quick tutorial for reformatting this drive to work on a Mac. Very easy and helpfulhttp://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/291/#exfatmac
26882
I also ended up using FAT32; I haven't seen any downside if you want to just store files... except the maximum file size. I don't know of any cross-platform format that has no file size limit, so my advice is FAT32 with the hope somebody else here knows of a better one! :)P.S: I have this exact product, and after a a few different attempts I found FAT32 to work for using it to move stuff from my windows 7 desktop to snow leopard macbook pro
469174
I don't have a Mac with me, so I'll just give you rough instructions. When you're on the desktop, at the top of your screen, one of the menu drop downs will take you to the disk utility. In there, you should see this disk listed somewhere in the left pane. Click the drive to highlight it, then on the right, you'll have an option to erase/format the disk. I believe you format it to extended journaled or something like that, don't pick case sensitive. After you do that, you should be able to use the drive with your Mac. I believe it's originally formatted to NTFS, which should be useable with OSX as well, but not as fully compatible, though it would also work with Windows. If you want good compatibility between the two operating systems, you can format it to FAT32, I believe those are better compatible. I haven't had much time with Macs, so not 100% sure on that, but you can give it a try. :)
489054
macs can read and write to pc hards drives but need to be formated in fat32 i think. i have a pc hard drive that is split for time machine and as a backup. my pc hard drives i can read them but cant write since they are in wrong format. but those hard drives if i wanted could be reformatted so i can write to them.
184551
FAT12 (never used): 16MBFAT16 (aka FAT): 2GBFAT32: 4GBexFAT: 128 PB (theoretical 16 EB if there were such large drives)NTFS: 16TBNTFS5: 16EBI personally use exFAT as it works great on linux and fully supported, probably same on Mac's but NTFS is obnoxious and barely supported on alternate OS's besides Windows.
301969
I re-read your question. It sounds like you want to use it on BOTH a MAC and a PC from interchangeably. One to do this which I am familiar with is to format the drive to FAT32. This makes it readable and writable by both mac and windows os...however there are file size limitations with FAT32...but as long as your files are smaller than a couple GB you should be good. There are other solutions....but would be best if you conduct the research yourself.