TL;DR version
For Mac OS X to read-write exFAT formatted HDD, two options
For Mac OS X to read-write exFAT formatted HDD, two options
GParted is a well known disk partitioning program. It supports many partition formats such as FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, Ext4 and of course supports Mac OS Extended. We can use GParted to create Mac OS Extended partitions in just a few simple steps. GParted comes pre-installed on many Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint. Time Machine volumes must be HFS+ formatted, listed in Disk Utility as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”. Time Machine can only back up volumes formatted either as HFS+ or the newer APFS format. Mac OS Extended (Journaled or HFS+): Mac format. Consider using ExFat for generic PC and Mac storage or FAT for universal compatibility with most electronic devices.
- Format using Mac:
- Disk Utility ->
- Erase ->
- choose exFAT ->
- OK
- Format using Windows:
- My Computer ->
- Right Click HDD ->
- Format ->
- choose exFAT ->
- AUS 128 kilobytes->
- Start
Question: Q: External SSD ExFAT vs Mac OS Extended I have a WD My Passport SSD that I left it in the default ExFAT format that it ships with. I am moving a folder of 508 GB (according to Finder) of project files from a spinning disk encrypted external disk that is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Whether you use Disk Utility or WD’d Drive Utility, the key step to take is that you choose the correct file system in the “Format” drop-down options window. There are four “Mac OS Extended” to choose from as well as four “APFS” and one “ExFAT” and one 'MS-DOS (FAT).
![Exfat for mac Exfat for mac](/uploads/1/3/4/3/134381289/116360894.png)
![Exfat Exfat](/uploads/1/3/4/3/134381289/772290271.jpg)
Background
Turns out exFAT exists so that Mac and Windows can co-exist harmoniously. There are many forum discussions and how-toarticlesoutthererecommending exFAT if you want to share files between Mac and Windows.
Turns out exFAT exists so that Mac and Windows can co-exist harmoniously. There are many forum discussions and how-toarticlesoutthererecommending exFAT if you want to share files between Mac and Windows.
Exfat Mac Os
What most of them failed to mention is the correct allocation unit size / cluster size necessary for the harmonious relationship to work. Most of them talked about what the allocation unit size does, which might be misleading for the purpose of getting it up and running seamlessly.
My Story
I want to use an external HDD as the scratch disk for a video editing project on a Mac OS X 10.7.5. But my files are on my Windows 8.1 laptop HDD, which was formatted in NTFS. By default, Mac OS X can only read but not write to NTFS HDD. Of course there are NTFS read-write solutions out there for Mac. Among them Tuxera NTFS, Paragon NTFS, or NTFS-3G FUSE.
I want to use an external HDD as the scratch disk for a video editing project on a Mac OS X 10.7.5. But my files are on my Windows 8.1 laptop HDD, which was formatted in NTFS. By default, Mac OS X can only read but not write to NTFS HDD. Of course there are NTFS read-write solutions out there for Mac. Among them Tuxera NTFS, Paragon NTFS, or NTFS-3G FUSE.
Disclaimer: I have not tried Tuxera or Paragon. I used NTFS-3G FUSE from 2009-2013 on my Macbook Snow Leopard, so far so good. I have not tried it on later versions of Mac OS X. There is a high chance of it not working on OS X 10.7 and later (see Known Issues).
Then I found out that if I format the HDD in exFAT, it should work for both Windows and OS X. I figured that since most of my files are videos with BIG file sizes, I chose 4096 kilobytes for the AUS. It formatted nicely. But lo and behold, OS X doesn’t even recognize the HDD. I tried to force mount it but nope, it doesn’t work.
Can Mac Use Exfat
So I figured that if I use OS X’s Disk Utility to format, it should work for both Mac and Windows. This time it works! Turns out Disk Utility formatted the HDD with 128 kilobytes AUS (131072 bytes divide by 1024).
Just for kicks, I used Windows to format it again with AUS 128 kilobytes. Yeap, it works.
Conclusion
128 kilobytes is the harmonious constant between Windows and Mac OS X 10.7.5. Use 128 kilobytes AUS while formatting a HDD so that it works for both Windows and Mac OS X.
128 kilobytes is the harmonious constant between Windows and Mac OS X 10.7.5. Use 128 kilobytes AUS while formatting a HDD so that it works for both Windows and Mac OS X.