Best Format for external harddrives

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)

• Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
• Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac OS X system files.
  [*]To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
  [*]To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
• Maximum file size: 8EiB
• Maximum volume size: 8EiB
• Mac OS X: Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volume and file limits
• You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)

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 ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
  • For Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
  • 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), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
  • Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, 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.

 

Yes, as stated in the first bold bullet point in my post.

 

That is correct. Under Disk Utility, you will find this labeled as Mac OS Extended (Journaled); don't use case-sensitive.

 

It should be at least the same size as the drive or data that you're backing up. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a bootable backup of my entire drive onto a same-sized drive. If my internal drive ever fails, I can immediately boot up from the backup drive.

 

Yes, it's an exact clone of your drive, including the OS X Recovery Partition. It's not compressed in any way.

 

It runs in the background. After you have installed it, restart your Mac. Then when you go to Disk Utility and are selecting a drive format, you will now see NTFS as an option. Also, you can try writing to one of your existing NTFS drives, such as right-clicking within a drive in Finder and try creating a new folder.

You can also see it in System Preferences as this icon:

​

 

Excellent post. The vote up was not doing it for me, so I thought I would also comment.

I would also add if you are going to use iPhoto on an external drive or back up to an external drive doesn't it have to also be in the Mac OS Extended format?

 

Regarding backups, note the first bolded bullet point in my post.

 

Correct, but I was more looking outside of using a back up application, I have script that fires off and copies my iPhoto library to an external drive. I have a time machine setup on my NAS which is just the OS and Applications. I keep my iPhoto folder on another drive that is not covered by TM. That is all I was saying.

Thanks!

 

CCC is a full copy, so the same size as your original data but Time Machine (beyond the first synch) isn't.

Time Machine works in a similar way to rsynch, making a full backup up and then adding only changed data to it incrementally until it runs out of space, at which point it deletes the oldest data. So if you're using Time Machine, the larger the drive you use, the longer the history of it you can keep.

How fast you fill it up will depend on how often you change files and how large they are. If you are constantly adding and removing 4gb movie images for instance, you'll find your TM space disappearing rapidly.

OS X Mountain Lion introduced the ability to use multiple volumes simultaneously for Time Machine operations. When the user specifies more than one volume to use, OS X rotates among the desired volumes each time it does a backup.