
- #BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS HOW TO#
- #BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS MAC OS X#
- #BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS MAC OS#
- #BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS WINDOWS#
#BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS HOW TO#
In this article, we will explain how to use same external USB or hard disk with Mac and Windows.
#BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS WINDOWS#
However, Mac and Windows use different file formatting systems that will not allow you to save files. Though there are many ways you can transfer data from Windows to Mac and vice versa, using USB or hard disk is the easier way.
#BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS MAC OS#
In this tutorial I’ve identified the cause of the “read only” error that Mac users may find when using external storage devices, and also how to easily fix the problem by reformatting your drive to a fully Mac OS compatible format.Data transfer is one of the problems while using Mac and Windows laptops together. But if you need to use your drive on Mac OS, or on both PCs and Mac OS, NTFS will unfortunately not be the best format to use. The NTFS file system format is a great format to use if you are using your drive solely on Windows based PCs. Showing the info of the newly formatted drive, you can see the disc is now set to read and write.

If you click on the drive and select get info you can now see that the permissions are set to read and write. You can rename the hard drive to whatever descriptive name you like then click erase and now the drive is formatted in a cross compatible filing system. If you wish to create a partition that is cross compatible with Mac computers as well as PCs, you can select either the MS-DOS Fils System format or the exFAT format. If you are just going to use your drive on Mac computers, you can select one of the Mac OS options. You will see two fields where you can choose a file system format and a field to name the new partition you are going to create. You can select a new file system format from the drop down below, and also name the new volume to be created. You can select the physical disc you want to reformat in the tree on the left-hand side of Disk Utility. Be sure to copy any and all file from the drive as all the data on the drive will be erased. You are about to format your storage device. Highlight the physical drive you wish to reformat and on the menu at the top to the right select erase. Each physical drive is shown with the partitions of that drive nested below. In the left-hand side inside of Disk Utility you will see a list of all the connected hard drives.
#BEST USB DRIVE FORMAT TO SHARE PC MAC AND WINDOWS MAC OS X#
You can reformat a hard drive on Mac OS X by using Disk Utility. This can be a simple task or a long undertaking depending on the size and usage of the storage device, but is a necessary and important step. However, making your storage device Mac compatible, and even cross compatible with Macs and PCs, is as simple as reformatting the drive.įirst and foremost before proceeding any further, you are about to format your storage device. Many storage devices such as USB drives and external hard disk drives come pre-formatted in NTFS because a larger number of consumers are using them on PCs. The cause of the "Read Only" behavior is due to the format of the file system.

While this file system is readable on Macs because OS X can rearrange the data as it is reading it, the way that NTFS writes the files to the storage device is not hence, you can read, but not write. The NTFS file system is a system specifically optimized for Windows in the way that it organizes the data on the drive.


If you look in the general twirl-down under format you can see that this drive is formatted in the windows NT file system. The cause of this is due to the filing system the storage device is formatted in. Looking in the info window you can see that the permissions for the drive only allow for reading. If you right click the drive and select Get Info, you can see at the bottom of the info window under the sharing and permissions twirl down, you only have permission to read from this drive and nothing else. Trying to copy a file to my USB drive gives an icon indicating that you cannot copy files to the volume. Something is obviously not right with the storage drive. If I try to delete a file, by pressing Command+Delete, nothing happens and, if I right click the file, the option to move it to the trash can is missing. But if I attempt to copy a file to the drive on my Mac, I get an icon telling me that I am not able to copy the file. I am able to open the drive and can even copy files from the drive. I have a USB drive that I purchased and use with various PCs at work and school. Quick Tip: Solving “Read Only” External Drive Problems on Your Mac Quick Tip: Solving "Read Only" External Drive Problems on Your Mac
