- #Format to use for mac and windows mac os#
- #Format to use for mac and windows software#
- #Format to use for mac and windows Pc#
- #Format to use for mac and windows ps3#
On the Partition palette, follow the numbers. Once your disk is selected, make sure to switch to the Partition palette, which is highlighted in Figure A. If you want to make sure that the FAT32 disks you create with your Mac are completely Windows compatible, follow these steps: But then I would have missed out on a valuable learning experience, right? If I had not wanted to change the disk format my drive was using, I wouldn’t have encountered this issue. I ran into this problem because I was jumping between formatting schemes on my disk.
#Format to use for mac and windows Pc#
So, when I tried to mount the disk on my PC and my PS3, both of which are devices that require an MBR to get their file system information, I was out of luck.Įditing a partition table is a separate administrative task in Mac OS, distinct from merely erasing a volume, which is probably pretty smart. It did not, however, create a Master Boot Record to replace the Apple Partition Map on the disk. When I used the Erase tool on my HFS+ formatted drive, which carried an Apple Partition Map, Disk Utility obediently erased the HFS+ file system and replaced it with the FAT32 file system I asked for. The Erase pane does not allow you to change your drive’s partition map. Two of these palettes, “Erase” and “Partition,” appear to accomplish the same thing, but there is a very significant difference. Only after investigation did I discover that I had greatly misunderstood how I should have been using Apple’s Disk Utility.ĭisk Utility displays a number of action palettes when you select a storage device from its left-hand pane. The drive wouldn’t mount on my Windows machine, either. When I took my drive over to my PS3, I discovered it wouldn’t mount.
#Format to use for mac and windows ps3#
The PS3 will mount only FAT32 drives, so I thought I’d erase my drive and quickly reformat the volume. The USB drive had some old Mac backups on it and was set up in the Apple-recommended HFS+ format. I needed to copy some files from my PlayStation 3, and I thought I would reformat an external HD for that purpose. Disk Utility was the obvious destination for me when I decided to format an old USB drive I had lying around. From that tool you can create partitions and disk images, format volumes, and mount files systems. The Disk Utility in MacOS version 10.5 is the nexus of file system management on your Apple computer.
Look into the Mac port of the NTFS-3G project if you need to write to NTFS disks from your Mac.
Apple machines can natively read NTFS volumes, but they can’t write to that file system without third-party software. * Microsoft recommends their NTFS format for large Windows-compatible disks. At least, it did until last week, when I discovered a quirk in the MacOS Disk Utility that allowed me to create a FAT32 volume that would not mount on Windows. I frequently use MacOS to format FAT32 volumes, and that feature has historically worked for me without a hitch.
#Format to use for mac and windows mac os#
In fact, when it comes to working with FAT32 partitions, Mac OS can do something natively that Windows cannot: MacOS can format FAT32 partitions larger than 32 GB. That feature helps keep my tool kit a little lighter and my life a little simpler.
#Format to use for mac and windows software#
Since Macs can read and write to FAT32 partitions, * I can keep software and utilities for both operating systems on a single drive. There are a few features in the MacOS that I rely on to make my double life a little easier, one of those being the built-in support Apple computers have for Windows volumes.
I support both Macs and Windows machines, so I spend a lot of time running between systems. Read on, support pros, and save yourselves from future headaches. Avoiding the same problem is easy once you have an understanding of how Apple's formatting tool works. A quirk in the Apple Disk Utility allowed me to create a FAT32 volume that would not mount in Windows.
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