Does Sierra read exfat format?

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Level 1

8 points

Does Sierra read exfat format?

Hi -

I have a mid-2012 MBP 13". Apple installed a new 1tb HD and formatted it to Mac Journaled. Now one of my external drives can't be read; it's formatted Exfat. I partitioned the main drive and tried to install another OS onto the partition, but Sierra won't allow it, saying that El Capitan is too old for this system. At the App Store, my Sierra purchase doesn't show up, so I can't install it on the new partition.

Any suggestions, please? Thanks.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012)

Posted on Nov 28, 2016 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

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Barney-15E

Level 10

112,542 points

Nov 28, 2016 8:26 PM in response to stickball

Yes, every OS back to Snow Leopard can read/write ExFAT.

I think that Sierra doesn't show up in Purchases, but you should be able to get it from the regular page in App Store.

I don't know if it will work, but I think the only way to install El Capitan on a partition would be to create a bootable installer of El Capitan and boot from it. Then install it on the partition.

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Lanny

Level 6

13,183 points

Nov 28, 2016 8:26 PM in response to stickball

An OS X version will only run the installers of current or higher versions, hence Barney-15E's suggestion to create a bootable installer.

However, there should be no reason why Sierra can't access an external ExFAT drive. If your need to install El Capitan is centered around being able to access an ExFAT external drive, then other solutions should be researched.

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