Transcend exFat file system unreadable in Mac Pro M2

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Level 1

4 points

Transcend exFat file system unreadable in Mac Pro M2

Hello! I need help. I am a first time Mac Pro user… I have a 2TB Transcend external drive which I have formatted previously to an exFat file system because I saw in google it’s compatible with Mac … And when I attached it to Mac Pro M2 chip which I bought just yesterday, a prompt says “The disk you attached is not readable by this computer”… I would really appreciate receiving your helpful advises on how can I fix this without erasing my files in my external drive. Thank you

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Sep 25, 2022 8:50 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

John Galt

Level 10

141,234 points

Sep 26, 2022 6:21 AM in response to 7117patricia

If your Mac cannot read that device then reformat it to a file system that your Mac can read. That erases the device, so copy the files on it to another device first.

File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

55,880 points

Sep 26, 2022 4:29 PM in response to 7117patricia

FYI, to make sure exFAT is compatible with your Mac you need to erase the whole physical drive using Disk Utility on the Mac. Erase the physical drive as GUID partition and exFAT. If you erase the drive using Windows, then macOS may not be able to read the drive because Windows may use a File Allocation size that macOS does not recognize.

exFAT is fine if you want to share the drive with Windows and macOS.

If you will only be using the drive with a Mac, then it is better to erase it as MacOS Extended (Journaled).

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Transcend exFat file system unreadable in Mac Pro M2

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