Are hard drives must be formatted with FAT32 to be able recognized by OS?
242670
If you are working with Windows I recommend NTFS but FAT32 will be compatible with almost everything else. Hope this helps.--Ed
945956
You can format this drive to either FAT32, NTFS, ExFAT, or whatever. Will work for system backup or making a recovery disk.
577668
Yes, you could format it as a NTFS or FAT32. Mac (as well as Windows obviously) supports both.
361573
Mine came formatted with the FAT32 file system so I changed it to NTFS and it did it just fine!
1826648
All hard drives are "compatible" once you format them using the disk utility that is built into every version of osx. You might want to educate yourself on how hard drives work by using google. Most all external hard drives come formatted to be read by either Mac or windows but either way you should open "disk utility" and format the drive to " OS journaled (extended) which is the native Mac file system. If you can't figure that out try using GOOGLE.
1029923
Yes. It's blank. Usually installation of an OS (operating system like Windows, Linux, OSx) will format the drive. Different OS's may use different format parameters so the drive will work in many different computers and OS's.
1077459
yes...ofcourse I did... format FAT32 to NTFS...PERFECT...LIKE THIS...I USE ...
489158
It should work. What do you mean not recognized? Can you not see the drive in Disk Utilities in order to format the drive?
1038705
Yes. I am running my OS on this drive. I had to switch to legacy boot mode to get it to work.
668777
It completely depends on how you format the hard drive and from which computer you format it from (from Windows or Mac). You will have several options for formatting the drive in disk utility on a Mac, including MacOS extended (journaled) and MS-DOS file system (which will end up being FAT32). Windows AND Mac can read from FAT32 partitions, but *only* Mac can read from MacOS extended (which, if you are using the drive as a time machine, you need to format it as - note: unless you have a very specific application that needs it, choose the MacOS extended WITHOUT case sensitivity). To use the drive for both time machine and MS-Dos compatibility, just choose to make two partitions and choose one of each! You find this option in the pull down menu called "volume scheme". So, if you format from Mac and are not using the whole drive for Time Machine, make a second MS-DOS file system partition. That one will be readable by both. If you just want one that will transfer files between the two systems and don't use Time Machine, just make one that is MS-DOS file system. If instead you are formatting from Windows, choose ExFAT or FAT32 to make a cross-compatible drive. NTFS will be readable, but not natively write to it (you would need to procure another program that allows Mac to write to NTFS). Note that you won't be able to use Time Machine with either of these choices. Edit: If needed, you could also subsequently reformat the whole drive for windows usage, but you would lose all stored data. So be careful!
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.
2054819
Yes, it comes from the factory formatted with FAT32 but you can reformat it with NTFS if desired or most any other system.
298148
The format you use determines computer compatibility of any USB Flash or Hard Disc Device. Fat is universal as far as I know. Linux, Windows and Android can employ it. I believe MAC does too. If you want universal compatibility select Fat32 or NTFS from you MAC formating menu. NTFS and especially FAT are universal. If your Mac format menu has them as choices, MAC can use them.
1592527
The drive is formatted FAT32 out of the box so you can use it with Macs and Windows PCs equally.
1305684
Yes and no. It doesn't necessarily need formatted but the computer you are using it with will probably need the proper drivers, if you are using it as an external hard drive.
159549
Drives shouldn't have a problem functioning with either 32 bit or 64 bit. Programs are what cause incompatibility. If it doesn't work, reformat it (I'd recommend NTFS for Windows) and it should be fine.
633415
The drive must be formatted with the FAT file system and then it works. This mean nothing over 32GB.