#External usb format for mac on pc for mac os x

Enter a name to help you identify this USB drive from others and click вЂњErase.вЂќ Before removing the drive, click the вЂњEjectвЂќ button beside the USB drive in Finder, or drag its icon from the desktop onto the вЂњEjectвЂќ button in the Dock.

Drag the security slider from вЂњFastestвЂќ to вЂњMost Secure.вЂќ As with a Windows Quick Format, data deleted with a fast erase may be recoverable by someone with basic file recovery software. Just be aware that the Mac-only formats are typically not readable by Windows machines without some third party software on the PC.Д¬lick the вЂњSecurity OptionsвЂќ button if you donвЂ™t want to use a fast format.

#External usb format for mac on pc for mac os x

If you only intend on using the drive on a Mac itвЂ™s recommended toВ format for Mac OS X use onlyВ using the journaled file system. This is less than ideal for most users however, so while NTFS is compatible with a Mac and Windows PC, if you want to do heavy file sharing between the two with a lot of reading and writing, you may be better off formatting a drive as FAT32 as discussed above.

Mac users can mount and read NTFS formatted Windows drives, making NTFS compatible with the Mac on the reading and mounting front, but writing to an NTFS drive requires using either third party software orВ enabling NTFS write support on the MacВ using an experimental functionality bundled on the Mac. The NTFS file system is another option to use for Windows formatted drives and volumes, but it has limited compatibility with Mac OS by default.