Nov 21, 2015 this video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it. Whats the difference between fat32, exfat, and ntfs. Format drive to exfat in windows 10 so it is readandwrite in mac os as well. From the very start, exfat was designed as the goto format for data backup, storage, and transfer. Dec 15, 2012 hey folks, i just reformatted a 350gig external hard drive as exfat so as to be able to use it with both windows at home as well as mac s but now it seems my laptop does not read the drive ie i cant see it in mycomputer although i can still safely remove for some reason. For example, in windows xp my computer is equivalent to this pc on windows 10. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. Find answers to looking to exfat driver for win xp from the expert community at experts exchange. Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac. Microsoft has an exfat update for win xp if you need it for that. Itll split the drive, and create a fat32 partition for. Macyourself blog archive how to format a drive for mac and pc. How to use external hdd with windowsmaclinuxandroid. The file system architecture was made for the best external hard drives.
Fat32 is an older file system thats largely relegated to usb flash drives and other external drives. A window will pop up where you can choose the format ntfs, fat32, or exfat. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. Jan 29, 2009 windows xp exfat file system driver by martin brinkmann on january 29, 2009 in windows last update. However, like the scenario said, windows cant normally read macformatted drives. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd community. How to solve exfat drive not recognized in windows 10. In fact, some manufacturers sell mac drives preformatted with this maconly file system. Formatting a ssd as ntfs or exfat data backup spiceworks.
I reformatted again to exfat hurrah it is compatible with my mac book and my smart tv and i can transfer files greater than 4gb. Essentially, its a file system thats both readable and writable on any modern mac or windows machine sorry, leopard users. If you know youll be using computers running updated versions of these operating systems, exfat is the clear best choice. Format external hard drive for mac and pc with exfat. Diskinternals reader for total commander is a new easy way to do this.
But soon i found a serious problem, when i put too many files like 5m in the hard drive, os x cant mount it. Sdxc memory cards and 256gb compactflash cards are formatted natively in the exfat file system. You probably formatted it with exfat windows vista, 7, 8, mac. You can even format it that way in os x under snow leopard or later. If youre using such a drive and youd like to write new data. I can read fine when hooked up to windows xp pc i installed the exfat. Format a usb drive as exfat for mac and windows compatibility. Mar, 2009 exfat file system driver available for windows xp posted in tips and tricks. The following tutorials will teach users how to format an external hard drive for both mac and pc to exfat on mac osx and windows 10. I also have a samsung smart tv which i have used with friends hard drives to watch video files, so was eager to do this myself, i. Any mac that has an sd card slot and is running os x 10.
Windows vista or windows server 2008 with sp1 or higher. Fat32 is an older file system thats largely relegated to. Exfat is designed based on fat32 but exfat is not as limited as the old format. In this guide were using exfat instead of fat32, another filesystem that both windows and mac can read and write to, because fat32 has a maximum 4gb.
A file system is basically a set of rules used to decide how data is stored and fetched in a storage dev. Format a disk for windows computers in disk utility on mac apple. Choose this format if the size of the disk is over 32 gb. Looking to exfat driver for win xp solutions experts exchange. Windows xp sp3windowsexfat,windows xpkb955704exfat,linuxexfat,exfat. Im here to use a windows 10 based hp laptop to format my lexar drive. I believe macs can read data from drives formatted in ntfs but cant write to them. For a windows partition installed on a mac via boot camp, apple provides. Whether youre formatting an internal drive, external drive, usb flash drive, or sd card, windows will give you the choice of ntfs, fat32, and exfat. For those versions, they could read and write to an exfat drive that was created by windows, but if you created the exfat drive from the mac, you couldnt read or write from windows. If you format it on os x, a windows pc should be able to write on it without any problem. Hey folks, i just reformatted a 350gig external hard drive as exfat so as to be able to use it with both windows at home as well as macs but now it seems my laptop does not read the drive ie i cant see it in mycomputer although i can still safely remove for some reason.
The operating system must support the exfat file system in order for these devices to function properly. Thus, many users would prefer the exfat file system to compatible with both windows and mac. Limited support outside windows and mac os x operating systems as of 2012, when most consumer electronic devices could only handle fat12fat16fat32, rendering exfat and flash memory formats using it impractical as a universal exchange format. The exfat file system was introduced in 2006 and was added to older versions of windows with updates to windows xp and windows vista. At the same time i purchased a 3tb wd mybook essential for use as backup for both pc and mac and generally as network storage primarily movies, music and photos.
Linux kernel only added native support for exfat in the recent 5. My understanding is that exfat was designed specifically for usb drives, but that windows ntfs offers greater reliability. The format dialog in windows doesnt explain the difference, so we will. Exfat drive will not read in win7 microsoft community. Gateway fx530s winxp pro sp3 x86 machine that i still use as a dualboot. In the file system dropdown, choose exfat instead of ntfs. I have tried the hard drive on 2 macbooks so far and it doesnt come up on either one of them when i plug it in. The formatting was done on windows and there isnt any issue when i access it through windows. I cant get my windows xp machine to boot off of a usb drive. Oct 06, 2017 okay lets see why, fat32, ntfs and exfat are three different files systems used to store data in a storage device, created by microsoft. Compared with fat32, exfat doesnt have the limitations of fat32. Tech support scams are an industrywide issue where scammers trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services.
Also find out the difference between file system i. An xp exfat filesystem driver update is available, enabling windows xp. You can help protect yourself from scammers by verifying that the contact is a microsoft agent or microsoft employee and that the phone number is an official microsoft global customer service number. Microsoft added exfat compatibily to xp with sp2 and sp3. Today, we are sharing how to format your usb or external hard drive to fat32 or exfat on mac os x. Aug 26, 2019 if you formatted your drive in exfat with apples hfs plus, the exfat drive cannot be read by windows in default even though the exfat file system is compatible with both mac and windows. Macbook pro cant mount an exfat external hard drive when. The program provides for readonly access and does not allow you to make records in. Almost since exfat is fairly new, it isnt compatible with older macs and pcs. All updated versions of windows xp and later versions of windows support. Windows, mac, and android machines can read and write to exfat with no problem, as can many other modern devices. Operating systems that support the exfat file system. Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine.
Sep 12, 2019 format drive to exfat in windows 10 so it is readandwrite in mac os as well. Dec 29, 2015 in this guide were using exfat instead of fat32, another filesystem that both windows and mac can read and write to, because fat32 has a maximum 4gb file size limit whereas exfat can work with. May 10, 2011 microsoft added exfat compatibily to xp with sp2 and sp3. Jul 15, 2018 external drive used for windows and mac.
Make sure the allocation unit size is set to default and type in a volume label. In disk utility on your mac, format a disk that can be used with both windows computers. Note that, before erasing the external disk, you have to copy the files onto the internal disk, so you wont lose the files. November 28, 2012 23 comments microsoft has released an update for windows xp sp2 and sp3 system that adds exfat file system drivers to the operating system. For the mac, i think they tried to implement it with either 10. Format external driveusb exfat in windows 10 in simple steps.
Windows server 2003 kb955704 update 32bit edition windows server 2003 kb955704 update 64bit edition windows xp kb955704 update 64bit edition these were posted at microsoft download center on august 25, 2009, barely 7 months after releasing the kb955704 update for 32bit editions of windows xp. This tutorial explains how to format external hard driveusb flash drive exfat in windows 10. An xp exfat filesystem driver update is available, enabling windows xp systems to utilise the updated fattype. This video explains, why external hard drive does not work with every operating system and how to solve it. The exfat compatibility issue exfat extended fat file system. I can read write to the drive fine when connected to my macbook. While exfat is not quite as widely supported as fat32, its still compatible with many tvs, cameras and other similar devices. If so, should i use windows 10 disk management or the wd quick formatter. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it isnt ideal.
If you formatted your drive in exfat with apples hfs plus, the exfat drive cannot be read by windows in default even though the exfat file system is compatible with both mac and windows. Open up windows explorer and rightclick on your drive in the sidebar. X lion windows xp sp2 or later with an additional update for exfat support. May 26, 2019 exfat was first introduced in 2006, but it is still supported by windows xp and windows vista through updates. I recently purchased a 2 tb hard drive for my mac book pro osx v10.
This program plays the role of a bridge between your windows and ext2ext3ext4, hfs, reiserfs, exfat, fat and ntfs file systems. Dec 23, 2008 windows server 2003 kb955704 update 32bit edition windows server 2003 kb955704 update 64bit edition windows xp kb955704 update 64bit edition these were posted at microsoft download center on august 25, 2009, barely 7 months after releasing the kb955704 update for 32bit editions of windows xp. About the sd and sdxc card slot on your mac apple support. Diskinternals reader for total commander is absolutely free. Windows xp exfat file system driver ghacks tech news. This is the optimal file system format for flash memory.
Give the partition a name and select exfat for the format. Aug 05, 2010 microsoft windows xp, sp2 or sp3 with kb955704. Apple already supported fat32 and it added support for exfat in mac os. Using the xp disk management utility under computer management, select the disk, initialize the drive, but dont format. Book depository books with free delivery worldwide. But the iso you downloaded is on your xp machine, you can compress it and span the 4gb limit set by fat32 or, you can just install exfat support on windows xp using the download provided by microsoft themselves. Select your drive from the list and rightclick on it. Rightclick on the drive you want to format, click on format. My issue is, i intend to use my hard drive to store other types of files such as wordpages docs, powerpoint presentations and to back up my photographs. Windows default ntfs is only readable on os x, not writable, and windows. It is a file system that readonly allowed on mac os x. I need to share files between windows and mac, so i chose exfat as the file system for my external hard drive. Formatted external hd as exfat windows does not read drive.
Windows nt, 2000, and dos, and nonmicrosoft systems dont support exfat. Aug 14, 2017 i just purchased the new model my book 4 tb usb 3. No third party drivers necessary for either platform to both read and write data. Okay lets see why, fat32, ntfs and exfat are three different files systems used to store data in a storage device, created by microsoft. Use the mac os disk utility to format the drive to msdos fat32. Essentially, exfat is a file system thats both readable and writable on any modern mac or.
Windows xp exfat file system driver by martin brinkmann on january 29, 2009 in windows last update. How should i partition for windows xp, fat or ntfs. Select the new untitled partition so we can format it as exfat for use with both mac and windows. On the pc, use the western digital disk management utility to format the drive as raid1. From then on, that drive should work fantastically between mac.
Exfat a newer file format, supported in mac os x 10. Now that youve learned exfat is the ideal file system to go. Windows 7 rtm release to manufacturing earlier versions of windows ex. Then i have to delete them in the windows machine, after that it works well in mac.