How to format my External HD to use on my MacBook AND Windows PC...

Just got my new Samsung M3 1TB exHD, and i know i need to format it to run on my mac :/ but as it goes, I would like to format it to be able to work on a mac and my windows PC... I only use Mac atm, but want to store stuff on my PC and would just like to have it working on both...

How do i do this? I've heard that if i make it windows and mac formatted, i cna only transfer files of a 4GB maximum, is this true? If so then ill just leave it and format it to just mac... What option would i also need to just do this?

Thanks

exFAT is the best format for Windows and Mac compatibility. Max filesize is something like 2^20 TB :D

Okay cool! so i shoud go to Erase> format>> and choose exFAT and then i can use it on both mac and windows, and i havent really got a file size cap? My exHD is 1TB..

Sound right. exFAT works natively on both Windows and OSX without any 3rd party software.

I just tried and when i selected exFAT and clicked erase, it changed it MS-DOS FAT...!? I selected exFAT again and tried and it went back to MS_DOS again... Apparently i need to format it as exFAT if im running 10.7 lion or higher.. I'm running 10.6.8 ...

I need this hard drive to back up my macbook pro while i install 10.7 lion lol meh, can i jus leave it as MS-DOS FAT for now and once ive upgraded to lion, then format it again to exFAT?

10.6.8 should be able to format as exFAT, but apparently it works better if you format the drive using your Windows machine.

You can install Paragon NTFS for Mac.

www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

Or Tuxera NTFS for Mac.

www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/

Works the charm.

Then you just have NTFS on your external HDD.

No need for paid software - exFAT is free and works great.

Yep, format as exFAT on your PC, job done :)

Ah okay, it's on MS-DOS atm, ill plug it into my windows PC and then format it as exFAT then yeah? Nice one!