Jan062012

What is the best file system to work with both Windows and Mac?

ben asks:

why do you not recommend exFAT as a format for those who use both Mac and Windows? It has been very easy for me, using Snow Leopard and Windows 7 Professional.

Tagged: compatibility, file system, format hard drive, os x, os x snow leopard, windows 7

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4 Answers -

0 votes

Jeff Fabish

January 6, 2012

No, exFAT is still only widely supported on Microsoft Platforms. I suggest you stick with FAT32.

0 votes

FIDELIS

January 7, 2012

Hello, the only reason is that exFAT is not well supported yet. FAT32 is.

0 votes

Anonymous

January 7, 2012

FAT32 should do the trick unless everyone else opted for exFAT

0 votes

VictorGeis

August 28, 2012

I would suggest formatting NTFS and then installing a NTFS driver on your Mac. This way you avoid any limitations on FAT32 and exFAT. However, if you go to a Mac without NTFS on it, you will only see the files as read-only.