If I am formatting a hard drive externally for backup use, what are the benefits of formatting in macOS journal or APFS over something like EXFAT? I would like to be able to use it on windows and Mac. So I’m wondering what is the downside of NOT formatting it macOS journaled?
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what are the benefits of external backup hard drive formatted APFS/Mac Journalled?
- Thread starter kofman13
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If you intend to use the external drive with Windows, you have no choice but to format EXFAT, as Windows does not read/write APFS... unless you plan to install special software/drivers which allows macOS or Windows to read/write filesystem type you target. I would not trust EXFAT filesystem for backups. macOS is notoriously finicking and flaky with EXFAT formatted drives. For backups of modern macOS systems, preferred filesystem is APFS. For Windows, preferred filesystem is NTFS.
What macOS backup software do you plan to use?
So i use SuperDuper! on my macs for incremental Smart backups to APFS/mac journalled smaller drives. its great. but i got a new really big 5TB drive that i wanna use for backing up my macs like i already do, but also other family member computers some are windows.
the drive is already Exfat. and has some windows images using Macrium Reflect which is great on windows. If i format exfat, i can then backup macs to it and then also the windows images too.
another workaround is backup windows to another exfat drive, keep the BIG ONE for my mac backups using Mac Journalled, and then manually move the windows images from the exfat drive to the main Journalled drive using my mac.
OR format the whole thing NTFS so i can use with windows but then id need to get Tuxera NTFS for mac but thats $15 which is okay id just rather not install an extra app or drivers
Sounds like a 5TB HDD. You could partition the drive into two 2.5TB partitions with GUID scheme. Format one partition with APFS (your Mac partition) and format the other as EXFAT (or NTFS) as your Windows partition. This way you will be using a filesystem which is optimal for each platform.
wow that sounds good. i ran into another issue. two of the external portable drives i wanted to clone/differential regular backup using Superduper to the main backup Hard drive we've been talking about are ExFat and Superduper only recognizes HFS/APFS, and i cant format them because i use them on windows and mac. So now my main issue is finding an app or a way to do regular differential backups of these drives. I know carbon copy cloner can do this but i'd rather not have to do pay $37 for the upgrade from my old version.
Basically i want to move files that are NEW and are missing from the backup, but also Delete files from the backup that are NOT in the source drive anymore. so basically keep everything up to date. I do this with my boot drives and APFS drives with SuperDuper! but i wont work with these drives, wondering if there is alternatives that are free or cheaper. if not, ill get CCC
OP wrote:
"i got a new really big 5TB drive that i wanna use for backing up my macs like i already do, but also other family member computers some are windows.
the drive is already Exfat. and has some windows images using Macrium Reflect which is great on windows. If i format exfat, i can then backup macs to it and then also the windows images too"
This isn't a good idea with your existing SuperDuper backup.
That backup should remain on its own, dedicated drive.
How many Macs do you have?
Does each now have its own backup drive?
If that's the case, might be best to "leave them as they are".
I STRONGLY suggest that you DO NOT "mix up" Mac formats like APFS or HFS+ with exfat on a single drive, even with "hard partitioning".
It's best not to use NTFS with a Mac at all. It can be done, but NTFS just doesn't play that well with the Mac OS.
Keep Mac drives "for Mac things".
Keep PC drives "for PC things".
Things will just go better that way.
My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.
"i got a new really big 5TB drive that i wanna use for backing up my macs like i already do, but also other family member computers some are windows.
the drive is already Exfat. and has some windows images using Macrium Reflect which is great on windows. If i format exfat, i can then backup macs to it and then also the windows images too"
This isn't a good idea with your existing SuperDuper backup.
That backup should remain on its own, dedicated drive.
How many Macs do you have?
Does each now have its own backup drive?
If that's the case, might be best to "leave them as they are".
I STRONGLY suggest that you DO NOT "mix up" Mac formats like APFS or HFS+ with exfat on a single drive, even with "hard partitioning".
It's best not to use NTFS with a Mac at all. It can be done, but NTFS just doesn't play that well with the Mac OS.
Keep Mac drives "for Mac things".
Keep PC drives "for PC things".
Things will just go better that way.
My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently.
Let me try to give you a simplified explanation:
Backup software works by tracking what has changed, and it creates incremental backups of the changes. If you have a 500 GB drive, with 300 GB of stuff, say, 20,000 files, then your first backup is 300 GB of 20,000 files. The next backup might be 2 GB of 100 files. You know this, right? The second backup doesn’t copy 20,000 files, just the 100 new or changed files.
Mac backup software uses the journaling features of the APFS file system to allow you to browse every single incremental backup. If you want a backup which can be restored to any point in time, with all of the correct file attributes and modification dates and correct file aliases, the best bet is to stick with apfs. Sorry, but at least drives are cheap.