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‘Best’ format for Windows/Mac external drives?
Feb 8, 2018 13:15:45 #
londonfire
Loc: NY to NC
Hi, guys. I’ve researched the site for an answer to this but I want to put it out there as a simple poll. What format do you use for external drives that will allow read and write on Mac and PC? It seem that exFat is pretty popular. I’m setting up a new backup system and would like the flexibility of using either system.
Feb 8, 2018 13:19:06 #
Feb 8, 2018 13:37:34 #
burkphoto wrote:
ExFAT is cross-platform compatible.
Isn't ExFat the "only" cross platform format? Usable for both Apple and PC.....
Can ExFat be used on those two platforms AND LINUX.
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Feb 8, 2018 14:05:29 #
Feb 8, 2018 14:38:35 #
burkphoto wrote:
I don’t use Linux, so I don’t know.
Linux is the realm of Wizards.
Feb 8, 2018 15:37:56 #
ExFat is my preferred format. If I want to use native Windows formatting beyond 32-bit FAT, I have to choose NTFS. That means adding/buying translation software on the Mac.
ExFat has been problem-free for me.
(Incidentally, I believe ExFat stands for "Extended File Allocation Table). Your useless trivia of the day.
ExFat has been problem-free for me.
(Incidentally, I believe ExFat stands for "Extended File Allocation Table). Your useless trivia of the day.
Feb 8, 2018 16:08:39 #
rgrenaderphoto wrote:
Linux is the realm of Wizards.
It's good stuff, but a little too geeky and off the beaten path for me. I have a friend who runs servers with it. He's a huge fan. But then, he was a UNIX command-line junkie before UNIX, so he speaks in code.
Feb 9, 2018 10:04:48 #
burkphoto wrote:
ExFAT is cross-platform compatible.
From deep in the dredges of memory it seems that EX-FAT has a fairly limited file name length. Not absolutely sure though.
Feb 9, 2018 10:05:01 #
Thank you, rgrenaderphoto.
--Bob
--Bob
rgrenaderphoto wrote:
Linux is the realm of Wizards.
Feb 9, 2018 10:23:48 #
Kuzano wrote:
Isn't ExFat the "only" cross platform format? Usable for both Apple and PC.....
Can ExFat be used on those two platforms AND LINUX.
Can ExFat be used on those two platforms AND LINUX.
It is the only cross-platform format that will work without some third-party intermediary software. For example, I have an App on my iMac called "NTFS For Mac" by Paragon software that allows me to read and write to NTSF-formatted drives. It works very well.
Feb 9, 2018 10:45:10 #
Basil wrote:
It is the only cross-platform format that will work without some third-party intermediary software. For example, I have an App on my iMac called "NTFS For Mac" by Paragon software that allows me to read and write to NTSF-formatted drives. It works very well.
It does. I used it once a few years ago. It was seamless.
I do like ExFAT. I don't find it restrictive. A few older Smart TVs can't read it (They need FAT16 or FAT32), but that's a pretty arcane case.
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Feb 9, 2018 11:37:46 #
As I store most of my stuff on Synology NAS servers, I use their new, proprietary (?) Btrfs method. You can read about it on Synology's website. For anything directly connect to my iMac, I use whatever the latest version of IOS wants. Best of luck.
Feb 9, 2018 11:47:15 #
burkphoto wrote:
It's good stuff, but a little too geeky and off the beaten path for me. I have a friend who runs servers with it. He's a huge fan. But then, he was a UNIX command-line junkie before UNIX, so he speaks in code.
Fun Fact: Unix has (or had back in the 80's) a "sanity" track as opposed to a "FAT" This was before hard drives had head parking as a default. If the head crashed it was likely to be on the sanity track. When you went to boot up you would get the friendly notice : "SANITY FAILURE"
If you got that notice you sort of had to agree it was accurate in multiple ways.
Feb 9, 2018 13:34:02 #
dsmeltz wrote:
Fun Fact: Unix has (or had back in the 80's) a "sanity" track as opposed to a "FAT" This was before hard drives had head parking as a default. If the head crashed it was likely to be on the sanity track. When you went to boot up you would get the friendly notice : "SANITY FAILURE"
If you got that notice you sort of had to agree it was accurate in multiple ways.
If you got that notice you sort of had to agree it was accurate in multiple ways.
UNIX programmers tend to have a really cheeky sense of humor. For more geek humor (and links to even more), check out http://xkcd.com
Today's xkcd comic is particularly funny for those of us who've been on the Internet for decades.
Feb 9, 2018 13:52:42 #
burkphoto wrote:
UNIX programmers tend to have a really cheeky sense of humor. For more geek humor (and links to even more), check out http://xkcd.com
Today's xkcd comic is particularly funny for those of us who've been on the Internet for decades.
UNIX programmers tend to have a really cheeky sense of humor. For more geek humor (and links to even more), check out http://xkcd.com
Today's xkcd comic is particularly funny for those of us who've been on the Internet for decades.
Good stuff.
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