Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Which format in harddisk partition do you think is the best for a Mac&Windows User?

greatwall9528

greatwall9528

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
29
0
I was told that only FAT32 and exFAT can be used for read and write in both Mac and Windows,I wonder if there is another format ,as I know ,the FAT32 is old and functional limited,the exFAT is better but it seems that this format may be much slower while transporting.
Have you faced this problem?Is there any solution?

PS:I've heard that this is a plugin called NTFS for Mac,it can let mac users write in the NTFS format,but you may face some problem for it is not stable,it may cause document lose.....:(
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
Not sure what you mean when you say that ExFAT is slower when transporting.

I've never had any problems with it. Just use ExFAT.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,137
15,602
California
jdechko said:
Not sure what you mean when you say that ExFAT is slower when transporting.

I've never had any problems with it. Just use ExFAT.
Click to expand...

I agree. OP> I don't see why ExFAT would not do the trick for you.

If for some reason you want to use NTFS, you can use something like Paragon NTFS on your Mac so it can read/write NTFS.
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
mattferg said:
FAT32 > exFAT.
Click to expand...

Curious why you say that FAT32 is better than ExFAT (unless it's a typo). Unless your system is really old, ExFAT is superior to FAT32 in every way.

Personally, I'll stay away from NTFS when possible, not because it's a bad File System, but because I'd rather not have to rely on kernel-level extensions (which may or may not break on some OS update).
 
M

mattferg

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2013
380
22
jdechko said:
Curious why you say that FAT32 is better than ExFAT (unless it's a typo). Unless your system is really old, ExFAT is superior to FAT32 in every way.

Personally, I'll stay away from NTFS when possible, not because it's a bad File System, but because I'd rather not have to rely on kernel-level extensions (which may or may not break on some OS update).
Click to expand...

If you're not going to use a better file system like NTFS or hfs+, and want one that works on everything, choose FAT32. It's guaranteed to work on everything.

As for NTFS, my plugins work great :)
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
mattferg said:
If you're not going to use a better file system like NTFS or hfs+, and want one that works on everything, choose FAT32. It's guaranteed to work on everything.

As for NTFS, my plugins work great :)
Click to expand...

Fair enough. In the end it all comes down to use cases. ExFAT works for me and I don't have to worry about file size limitations (now or in the mid-future), so I'll stick with that for my drives.
 
greatwall9528

greatwall9528

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 13, 2013
29
0
jdechko said:
Not sure what you mean when you say that ExFAT is slower when transporting.

I've never had any problems with it. Just use ExFAT.
Click to expand...

That means when you copying or moving the document from one HD to another.Is there any exact vocabulary?
 
J

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
greatwall9528 said:
That means when you copying or moving the document from one HD to another.Is there any exact vocabulary?
Click to expand...

Usually, that's referred to as "transfer speeds".

The effect that the file system has on transfer speeds is going to be negligible at best. More significant factors (in approximate order of impact) are going to be things like connection type, speed of the destination disk and speed of the source disk.
 
GGJstudios

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,545
943
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)
​
Choose the appropriate format:
​
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive) NTFS (Windows NT File System)
  • Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
  • Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X [*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
    • For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion and later)
    • For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
    • For 64-bit Snow Leopard, read this: MacFUSE for 64-bit Snow Leopard
    • Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36).
    • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
  • Maximum file size: 16 TB
  • Maximum volume size: 256TB
  • You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
exFAT (FAT64)
  • Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
  • Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
  • exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
  • AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
  • Maximum file size: 16 EiB
  • Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
  • You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
  • Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X. [*]Maximum file size: 4GB.
  • Maximum volume size: 2TB
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom