I have an external drive - WD My Passport FOR MAC. I want to format it to work on both mac and windows. Which format do you think I should use? Will either one cause damage to the files on the hard drive?

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I have an external drive - WD My Passport FOR MAC. I want to format it to work on both mac and windows. Which format do you think I should use? Will either one cause damage to the files on the hard drive?

I have an external hard drive - WD My Passport FOR MAC. I want to format it to work on both mac and windows. I also want to be able to connect it to my TV and watch movies.

I read up and I think I am supposed to use exFAT or FAT32? I also saw MS-DOS. Which format should I should use? Will any of them cause damage to the files on the hard drive?

My little memory stick uses MS-DOS and it works on both mac and windows.

Please can you just tell me a little about each and suggest which one to use.

I know how to change it once you tell me so don't waste your time writing about changing it.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 29, 2014 6:49 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2014 8:49 AM in response to peterfromja

exFAT is probably your best bet because it doesn't have file size limitations that FAT32 does and is readable and writable by both Windows and the Mac OS. I have no idea what your TV wants; best to check the owners manual.

Those formats won't damage the files but I have seen quite a few comments that the exFAT formatting should be done on a Windows computer even though Disk Utility offers that option.

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Answer 2

Mar 30, 2014 11:05 AM in response to peterfromja

Fat32 or exFat will work on PCs and Apple computers. When you do the formatting all your data on the drive will be destroyed. So before formatting, copy the data off to another device or your computer.

You have to check what your TV requirements are. We have no idea.

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