External Drive Format Question

[MDPLS]

Hopefully this is an okay place to post this question. I will shortly be getting my first mac. I have a lot to learn about this OS, but was wondering if you may be able to help me out? I have many pictures stored on a Toshiba external hard drive formatted in NTFS. Before I purchase the mac, should I copy all of the pictures back to the Windows PC and reformat the hard drive to FAT32 or some other format and move them back to the external? Is this the best format for mac OS to just be able to plug the drive in and have everything work? Sorry for the questions, but I really have no idea what would be best. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[GGJstudios]

Hopefully this is an okay place to post this question. I will shortly be getting my first mac. I have a lot to learn about this OS, but was wondering if you may be able to help me out? I have many pictures stored on a Toshiba external hard drive formatted in NTFS. Before I purchase the mac, should I copy all of the pictures back to the Windows PC and reformat the hard drive to FAT32 or some other format and move them back to the external? Is this the best format for mac OS to just be able to plug the drive in and have everything work? Sorry for the questions, but I really have no idea what would be best. Thanks for any help in advance.

OS X can read NTFS drives natively. You only need to consider if you want to write to NTFS drives.

Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)

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Choose the appropriate format:

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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 (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.

 

[MDPLS]

Thank you for the quick response... Lots to learn.

 

[Toltepeceno]

Just chiming in that I have been using Tuxera with yosemite and it's been working perfectly.