Top 5 Picks: How to Choose the Best External Hard Drive Format for Your Mac

When we refer to external hard drives in this article, we're talking about HDDs, SSDs, USB flash drives, memory cards, and any other removable disk drive.

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5 File System Formats Compatible with Mac External Hard Drives

File System Basics:

- Supports multiple file systems. - Handles how an operating system stores and retrieves data. - Different file systems have distinct structures, logic, and characteristics in terms of speed, flexibility, security, and size.

A file system is as important to a physical hard drive as an operating system is to a computer. Without the right file system configured on a storage drive, it will not show up on Mac.

In this regard, to store, copy, delete, or edit files on an external hard drive on Mac, the drive must be formatted with a recognizable file system. The file system format options compatible with macOS include NTFS, FAT, APFS, HFS+, or ExFAT. Out of these five different file system options, which is the best format for an external hard drive for Mac?

USB Flash Drive vs External Hard Drive - Everything You Should Know

USB flash drives and external hard drives are two terms that often cause confusion. What's the difference between them? Which one is better?

Since most of our readers are probably not techies, it wouldn't make sense for you to spend a lot of time studying the concepts and basics to find the answers yourself. Instead, let us do that work for you. We'll provide a very detailed guide that will help you make a quick decision based on your specific needs.

Solution 1: ExFAT

– so you can use the drive with multiple devices and operating systems.

Given that the advantage of an external drive is portability, this means you can unplug it from your Mac at any time and use it flexibly on another Mac or even a Windows machine. If that's your aim – to use the external drive on both macOS and Windows – then ExFAT is the preferred choice. Let me give you more examples to consider ExFAT as the best format for an external hard drive.

Compatible with both Windows and Mac computers Primarily uses external hard drives for file transfer or sharing files Has lower demands for data security and data recovery needs

Also, FAT32 is a backup plan. FAT32 is an older file system format than ExFAT and is mainly used for transferring files to older systems and devices. In short, FAT32 has the most compatibility with any device, old or new, but ExFAT doesn't fare too well with older devices like Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360. However, based on the comparison between ExFAT and FAT32, we still recommend choosing ExFAT as the go-to when formatting an external hard drive for Mac.

Differences Between ExFAT and FAT32

< li > FAT32 is an old file system that remains fast for reading and writing. < li > File names are limited to eight characters or less. < li > Individual file size is limited to 4 GB.

Solution 2: HFS+ vs APFS

Works only on Mac, ideal for Time Machine backups

While ExFAT is the ideal file format for an external hard drive, the standard Apple File System (APFS) and the older HFS+ are also good choices. Since both of these file systems are proprietary to Apple, they won't work on any other type of operating system. When you can't decide which file system to choose when formatting an external hard drive for your Mac, take a deep breath and ask yourself, “Will I need to use this drive on a second operating system?” If the answer is no, then it's best to stick with an Apple-native file system for better trust and encryption.

The choice between HFS+ and APFS ultimately comes down to how new your Mac is, since APFS is the successor to HFS+ and is only compatible with newer Mac models and versions of macOS.

Comparison between HFS+ and APFS

• Apple File System (APFS): The file system used by macOS 10.13 and later. • HFS+: The file system used by macOS 10.12 and earlier.

Solution 3: Use NTFS

Primarily on Windows, secondarily on a Mac.

You may wonder why we recommend using NTFS on a Mac when it's a file system exclusive to Windows. Well, when you connect an NTFS-formatted hard drive to your Mac, the external drive becomes read-only. This means that you can only open and view files on the disk, but cannot edit any of them.

If you want to back up Windows files to an external drive and use those backups on a Mac, NTFS is also a good choice.

Here's why you might choose NTFS over ExFAT on Windows and macOS:

• ExFAT lacks the security features found in NTFS, such as file encryption and permission settings.
• ExFAT does not support logging, which makes it more difficult to prevent data corruption.

How to Format an External Hard Drive as APFS, HFS+, or ExFAT on a Mac

NOTE:

1. You can only format an external hard drive to NTFS on Windows or with a third-party hard drive formatting tool.
2. Formatting a disk or volume will delete all of its data. Backup important files before you format.

Step 1: Search for the missing file

Connect the external hard drive to your Mac correctly. Launch the Data Recovery Wizard tool for Mac, and select the external hard drive. Then, click “Search Lost Files” to look for lost or deleted files on the external device.

Note: Before you recover data, it's recommended to click “Disk Backup” from the left sidebar and create a backup of the external hard drive to prevent further data loss. After backing up the external hard drive, the software can recover data from the backup of the external hard drive, and then you can safely unplug the external hard drive and use it again.

Select your external hard drive and click "Search for Lost Files"

Step 2: Filter and locate missing files

After the scan is complete, all file types will be displayed on the left. Select the file type and look for the needed files on the external device.

Step 3: Preview and recover

Preview the files and select the ones you wish to recover. Click on the “Recover” button to save your data to either your local drive or cloud storage.

Step 1: Connect the external drive to your Mac.

Step 2: Open the Disk Utility app on your Mac. Click View > Show All Devices. Locate your external drive, then click the Erase button in the toolbar.

Step 3: A pop-up window will appear with four available filesystem formats. Choose your preferred one, depending on the recommended solution.

• Apple File System (APFS): The file system used by macOS 10.13 or later. • Mac OS Extended: The file system used by macOS 10.12 or earlier. • MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT: File systems compatible with Windows.

Should you still have questions on how to choose the best format for an external hard drive for Mac after reading this article, feel free to contact the author. And, share more useful ideas with the tool, a trustworthy provider of data recovery software in the market, making it easier for people to manage hard drives and save important data.