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Which external hard disk format (fat32 or ntfs) is compatible with macbook pro ?

Hi . I just bought a macbook pro (13.3 inches) . As the internal storage is not much , i am thinking if buying an external hard disk . Please guide which format of external hard disk (fat32 or ntfs) is compatible with my mac.

Thanks .

OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Aug 4, 2014 12:01 PM

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11 replies

Aug 6, 2014 3:05 AM in response to Csound1

Fat32 is the most portable format. Can be read/written by just about anything.

Deals with medium to large volumes (2TB) and reasonably large files (2GB).


NTFS is the native format for Windows NT. It can deal with really large files and volumes.

It can be read by Macs, and if you install some special software, NTFS can be written by Macs.

HFS+ can only be read by Macs, but can store really large files and large volumes.


  • If the drive is for sharing - then Fat32 is the way to go.
  • If you only plan to use it on a mac - use HFS+ (native to Macs). If you plan to use it for Time Machine, use HFS+.
  • If you plan to share, and need to store really large files (e.g. videos > 2GB), then use NTFS.

Aug 6, 2014 4:34 AM in response to Csound1

Ouch! Bad day? 🙂.


Anyway - you are right. My bad. 😊

4GB is, of course, the max file size for Fat32.

I think my comments about sharing and FS types still hold.


One other option you might want to consider is exFat.
Its supported on Mac and Windows, and even my TV!

Its got very large file (128PB) and volume size support.


Doesn't work out of the box with linux - but support is only an

"apt-get" away.


Cheers.

Aug 6, 2014 4:43 AM in response to Paul-nz

Paul-nz wrote:


Ouch! Bad day? 🙂.


One other option you might want to consider is exFat.
Its supported on Mac and Windows, and even my TV!

Its got very large file (128PB) and volume size support.


Cheers.

Not again.


The OP wants this to use with a PS3, which does not support exFat. So that suggestion (while quite correct on its face) won't work.


Maybe this will help you.


  1. Check what the File System type is. Do this by going to Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Manager. Select the external drive and read the "File System" type. The file system type must be FAT32 in order for the PlayStation to recognize it.
  2. Split larger, high quality files into smaller files, if necessary. FAT32 has a limit of 3.9 Gigabytes per file, which means some high quality HD movies might have to be split into smaller files, and that makes it less than ideal for some HD content.


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Which external hard disk format (fat32 or ntfs) is compatible with macbook pro ?

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