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

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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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 :confused: 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

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

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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..

4

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

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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?

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

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You can install Paragon NTFS for Mac.

Or Tuxera NTFS for Mac.

Works the charm.

Then you just have NTFS on your external HDD.

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

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

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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!

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Yeah, it should be in the drop-down list when you Format from My Computer.

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Nice one people. Didn’t want to muck it up lol.

What’s the maximum file size I can transfer it I choose exFAT? Like 30TB right?

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Mentioned it earlier, it’s 16x2^20 TB on the specs (about 17 million TB).

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Okay dude cheers, woah that’s a lot lol…

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Formatting for exFAT in PC

Hi,

I have a similar problem, would like to use my external drive for my PC and also for a Mac. I do have a PC, but need to bring my files to the Mac user - that works fine and from Mac to my PC - that doesn’t work. So, I assume I won’t be able to format my drive using the Mac, since I cannot save anything using the Mac. Can I format the drive for both using PC?
I found somewhere a tip to do it from the Disk Partition Manager, but I do not get the option I need (create new simple volume), so I’m stuck. Is there any other way to do it on my PC?

Cheers,

Ewa

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  1. Go to: Hard Disk > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility

  2. Select The Disk

  3. Select Erase

  4. Use the Following Options

Name = Whatever You like
Format = ExFat
Scheme = Master Boot Record

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Thanks

Thank you, I thought I needed some special trickery to do it, didn’t expect it’s so simple.

Ewa