Share this post

If you buy an external drive—such as one of our recommended desktop hard drives, portable hard drives, or USB 3.0 flash drives—you may need to reformat it to work with your operating system of choice, since different operating systems use different file systems to process data.

Although it’s true that any drive is compatible with both Windows and macOS, most drives come preformatted for Windows out of the box. If you use Windows, chances are good that you won’t need to reformat your external hard drive—unless you buy it secondhand, or you plan on switching between operating systems, your drive should come ready to use. If you use a Mac, the likelihood that you’ll have to reformat the drive is higher. But fear not: The process is simple.

Aug 29, 2016  Fat32: This is the old standby, and the file system that is usually pre-installed on any USB key you buy from the store. The reason for its ubiquity is that it will work on any PC you plug it into, including both Macs and PCs, Linux boxes, and vintage machines that use USB 2.0.

Choosing the right format for your drive

Non-Linux computers can use four main file systems: NTFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT. So what do those four file systems mean, and which one is right for you?

• If you plan to use your drive for File History backups on a Windows computer, and you use only Windows, stick to NTFS (New Technology File System). NTFS is native to Windows, and most hard drives are preformatted for this file system. macOS and Linux, however, can only read files stored on such a drive; they cannot write to an NTFS-formatted drive. NTFS has huge file and partition size limits that you won’t hit; that makes it a better choice than FAT32, which has a 4 GB size limit per file. Many backup archives and video files are larger than 4 GB.
• If you plan to use your drive for Time Machine backups on a Mac, and you use only macOS, use HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus, or macOS Extended). A drive formatted this way will not mount on a Windows computer without additional software. Like NTFS, the HFS+ file system has file and partition size limits that are much bigger and more suitable for modern use than those of FAT32.
• FAT32 (File Allocation Table 32) is an older file system that both Windows machines and Macs still support. FAT32 was introduced in Windows 95 in 1997, but it remains useful because nearly every system can use it. Unfortunately, it isn’t any good for storing movies and other large files: FAT32 has a size limit of 4 GB per file, so your files have to be small.
• If you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Mac and Windows computers, exFAT (extended File Allocation Table) is the best option, although it doesn’t work with File History or Time Machine. exFAT works on both macOS and Windows, and it doesn’t have the file size limit that FAT32 does, so you’ll be able to back up movies and other large files.
• If you want to use a single external hard drive to back up both File History and Time Machine, you can partition it so that some of the drive is NTFS and some is HFS+. First, partition the drive using Disk Utility with macOS, and (using our walkthrough below) format one part as HFS+ and the other as FAT32; then, plug the drive into Windows and reformat the FAT32 portion as NTFS. Now your computer will see your single drive as multiple, smaller drives. Make sure to leave plenty of room for future backups on both partitions. It’s possible, but tricky, to change the size of a partition later on in Windows and macOS; we recommend backing up the data on your drive before attempting the task, since it’s possible to wipe your drive doing this.

Now that you’ve figured out those differences, it’s time to reformat your hard drive. Reformatting will delete all the data stored on the drive, so if you need to reformat, do so as soon as you buy the drive. If you already have data stored on the drive, back that data up elsewhere, reformat the drive, and then put your data back on the drive.

Reformatting your drive in Windows

To reformat a drive on Windows:

1. Plug in the drive and open Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click the drive and choose Format from the drop-down menu.
3. Select the file system you want, give your drive a name under Volume label, and make sure the Quick Format box is checked.
4. Click Start, and the computer will reformat your drive.

When you’ve completed the process, you can open the external drive in Windows Explorer.

Reformatting your drive in macOS

To reformat your drive for macOS:

1. Plug in the drive and open the Finder.
2. Click the Go menu, select Utilities from the drop-down menu, and open Disk Utility.
3. Choose your external drive from the left sidebar, and click Erase.
4. Give your drive a name and select the file system you want from the Format drop-down.
5. Click Erase, and the system will reformat your drive.

When you’ve completed the process, you can open the external drive by clicking on the drive’s icon on the desktop of your Mac.

Note: Using the formatting options above on a drive that has data on it may not be enough to prevent some of that data from being recoverable. If you're formatting a drive in order to give it away, sell it, or recycle it, make sure to securely erase the drive to prevent data recovery.

Should you need to move content between the HTC Desire and a computer or Mac, then you’d need the HTC Desire USB Driver. Download HTC Desire Driver for Windows According to Wikipedia, in computing, a device driver (commonly referred to as a driver ) is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer. Driver Htc Desire Mac Freeware ToCA Race Driver 3 for Mac OS v.1.0 Mixes several different racing modes together to create an experience unlike anything else on the Mac with up to 21 vehicles per race. Htc one m8 mac file transfer.

Further reading

• How to Back Up Your Computer

  by Thorin Klosowski

  After hundreds of hours researching the best local storage and online backup services, we’ve put together a guide to backing up your Mac or Windows computer.

Have you ever ran into a problem where you’re trying to use a flash drive on both Windows and Mac? Here’s how to correctly format the drive to work on both.

Compatibility between OS X and Windows have never been better. Both use many of the same industry standards and technologies providing greater ease for users of both platforms. Examples of the increased compatibility include Boot Camp software for running Windows on a Mac and the Microsoft Office productivity suite. Unfortunately, both still maintain some legacy standards that don’t play nice with each other.

OS X uses the HFS+ file system, while Windows uses the NTFS file system that shares little in common. This makes it difficult to move data between the two unless you have them networked together. If you’re working in a mixed environment, where you might need to work on files between both systems, a handy solution is to use a thumb drive. Before you start, though, make sure your thumb drive is formatted so it can work on both Windows and OS X.

Prepare a Thumb Drive for Both Windows and OS X

On Windows, connect your thumb drive. Click Start > File Explorer > This PC. Right-click your flash drive and then select Format.

In the File System list box, choose exFAT, type in a Volume Label if you want, and then click Start.

Click OK to the format warning and wait until the process is complete.

Prepare Thumb Drive on OS X

If you only use a Mac computer, you can format your thumb drive so it can work on Windows systems.

Connect the thumb drive to your Mac. Launch Disk Utility, press Command+Space then type:disk utility. Select your thumb drive in the Disk Utility window then click the Erase tab. In the Format list box select ExFAT, enter a Volume Label if you want, then click Erase.

Now you’ll be able to save and copy files to your thumb drive on both Windows and OS X.

Microsoft introduced exFAT in 2006; it’s an optimized version of FAT providing better performance advantages over FAT32. It is also widely supported by memory storage technology companies and third-party operating systems like OS X and Linux.