Why format in OS X (journaled)?

[johneaston]

I have a Humax PVR which can read video and audio files from a USB drive or stick, but only in MSDOS (FAT32) format.

But I've also noticed that my Mac also seems to be quite happy using an external drive formatted in FAT32.

So why bother formatting external drives as OS X when I could leave them as FAT32 and use them with every other device in the world?

 

[Nermal]

FAT32's most notable limitation is its 4 GB file size limit. If that's not a problem then by all means continue using FAT32; as you say your Mac has no problems with it.

 

[miles01110]

FAT32 only supports file sizes up to around 4 GB. If you don't have files that large and don't use your drive for Time Machine or something like that, there's no reason not to format it as FAT32.

 

[johneaston]

Oh right. That's easy then!