Another option, for those who use both Windows and Mac OS regularly, is to partition your hard drive and have a portion of the drive formatted for each OS.

There are tools available to use NTFS on a Mac (Fuse) or HFS on PC (HFSExplorer). Windows will not detect this file system without a third party utility. Only use this option if the drive will only be used in Mac OS.

Mac OS Extended is the native solution for Mac users and has the max file size of any of them.It has a much larger max file size but is read-only on Mac OS X (unless you install a third party NTFS read/write utility). NTFS format is the file system Windows likes to use by default for internal drives running the operating system or used as a secondary storage drive.Older operating systems might require an update to properly read and write to a USB drive with an exFAT file system. APFS (Case-sensitive): Uses the APFS format and is case-sensitive to file and folder.

APFS (Encrypted): Uses the APFS format and encrypts the volume. Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive format. It doesn’t have the 4GB file size limit and it’s compatible with most Windows and Mac operating systems. Choose one of the following APFS formats for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later. exFAT is the ideal file system for USB flash drives.It is the most compatible file system for older/modern computers (PC and Mac) plus gaming consoles and other devices with a USB port. Most USB flash drives will have a FAT32 file system out-of-box. FAT32 is a common option you’ll hear because it’s recognised by both Mac and Windows operating systems, but it offers no security and caps files at 4GB in size.The file systems most commonly used in USB flash drives are: If you need to back up any information on the drive, first connect your drive to a computer that does recognize the drive and transfer the data to a new storage device.When formatting your drive, it’s important to understand the different formatting options available for your ideal use. Choose 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' to use the default Mac file system format. Click the 'Format' drop-down menu and select the format you want to use. Select your hard drive from the list and click the 'Erase' tab. Restart 'Disk Utility' if you had to restart your computer to perform a repair and you still don't see your drive. You may need to restart your computer and follow the prompts to complete the repair.Ĭlick the 'Finder' icon in the Dock and look for your drive in the sidebar. If the operating system already mounted the drive, an 'Unmount' button displays instead.Ĭlick the 'First Aid' tab and select 'Repair Disk,' if available. Select your hard drive, optical drive or other attached drive in the sidebar. Click 'Go' and select 'Utilities' from the drop-down list.

Click the background to bring up the Finder menu in the the top bar.

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