
It is also widely supported by memory storage technology companies and third-party operating systems like OS X and Linux. Microsoft introduced exFAT in 2006 it’s an optimized version of FAT, providing better performance advantages over FAT32. Now you’ll be able to save and copy files to your thumb drive on both Windows and OS X. In the sidebar, select the disk you want to format to use with Windows computers. If Disk Utility isn’t open, click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, type Disk Utility in the Search field, then click the Disk Utility icon.

In the Format list box, select ExFAT, enter a Volume Label if you want, then click Erase. In the Disk Utility app on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices. Select your thumb drive in the Disk Utility window, then click the Erase tab. Launch Disk Utility press Command+Space then type: disk utility. If you only use a Mac computer, you can format your thumb drive to work on Windows systems.Ĭonnect the thumb drive to your Mac. In the File System list box, choose exFAT, type in a Volume Label if you want, and then click Start.Ĭlick OK to the format warning and wait until the process is complete.
#Reformat windows drive for mac Pc#
I work a lot with VMWare, so I need the LACIE to be able to connect to both PC and MAC. 2) If you format the Lacie in NTFS, you can only read from it when connected to Mac without other software. If you want to use the external hard drive on both Windows and Mac, you can choose to use one of these two file systems.

The differences are that FAT is used for a volume that is 32GB or less, while exFAT is used for a volume that exceeds 32GB.
#Reformat windows drive for mac software#
Right-click your flash drive and then select Format. 1) If you format the Lacie in Mac format, then you can't use it on a Windows machine without software eg MacDrive. Both FAT and exFAT are compatible with both Mac and Windows.

Prepare a Thumb Drive for Both Windows and OS X or macOS Before you start, though, make sure your thumb drive is formatted so it can work on both Windows and macOS. However, FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit whereas exFAT can work with files as large as 16EB. If you’re working in a mixed environment, where you might need to work on files between both systems, a handy solution is to use a thumb drive. Both FAT32 and exFAT can be used on Windows PC and Mac. This makes it difficult to move data between the two unless you have them networked together. MacOS uses the HFS+ file system, while Windows uses the NTFS file system that shares little in common.
