#Windows vs mac os 2017 how to#
#Windows vs mac os 2017 plus#

To be clear, you can use capital letters in file names either way. And unless you really know what you’re doing, and have a specific reason for wanting it, you shouldn’t use case sensitivity when formatting a drive.

#Windows vs mac os 2017 how to#

RELATED: How to Read a Mac-Formatted Drive on a Windows PC Case Sensitive: Avoid Unless You Know Why You Want ItĪPFS and Mac OS Extended both offer a “Case Sensitive” option, but macOS does not use this setting by default. So despite the disadvantages, ExFAT is your best option for cross-platform hard drives. Sure, you could read a Mac formatted drive on Windows or read a Windows formatted drive on a Mac, but both solutions either cost money or are unstable. It’s not a particularly optimized file format-it’s far more vulnerable to file fragmentation than APFS or Mac OS Extended, for one thing, and metadata and other features used by macOS aren’t present.īut formatting a drive with ExFAT offers one huge advantage: both Windows and macOS computers and both read and write to this format. The format dates back to 2006, and was made by Microsoft to provide some of the cross-platform compatibility of the older FAT32 format without the file and partition size limitations. ExFat: Best for External Drives Shared With Windows ComputersĮxFat should basically only be used on drives that need to work with both Windows and macOS computers. And any drive that needs to work with older Macs, running El Capitan or earlier, should absolutely be formatted with Mac OS Extended, because APFS is not compatible with those computers.ĪPFS also doesn’t work with Time Machine, so you should format any drive you want to use for backing up your Mac using Mac OS Extended. If you’ve got a mechanical hard drive, and you intend to use it only with Macs, it’s probably best to stick with Mac OS Extended. This is in part because the benefits of APFS aren’t as clear on mechanical drives. To this day, it remains the default file system for mechanical and hybrid hard drives, both while installing macOS and while formatting external drives. Mac OS Extended was the default file system used by every Mac from 1998 until 2017, when APFS replaced it. Mac OS Extended: Best for Mechanical Drives, Or Drives Used With Older macOS Versions Other than that, there’s probably no reason not to use APFS at this point, especially on solid state drives and flash memory. And forget about reading an APFS drive from Windows: there aren’t even third-party tools out there for that yet.ĪPFS also isn’t compatible with Time Machine at this time, so you’ll have to format backup drives as Mac OS Extended. If there’s an older Mac you need a drive to work with, APFS is a bad choice for that drive. 2016’s macOS Sierra was the first operating system capable of reading and writing to APFS systems, meaning any Mac using an older operating system will not be able to write to APFS-formatted drives. So what’s the catch? Reverse compatibility. Let’s dive into a bit more details about the top three choices below, and then explain a few of the sub-options. The other factors, like encryption and case sensitivity, aren’t something you should get too hung up on. Use this for an external drive that will plug into both kinds of computers.Ĭhoosing a file system is basically choosing between these three options.

ExFAT is the best cross platform option, designed to work on Windows and macOS systems.

On macOS High Sierra, it’s used on all mechanical and hybrid drives, and older versions of macOS used it by default for all drives.

#Windows vs mac os 2017 plus#

Mac OS Extended, also known as HFS Plus or HFS+, is the file system used on all Macs from 1998 until now.

It’s optimized for solid state drives (SSDs) and other all-flash storage devices, though it will also work on mechanical and hybrid drives.

APFS, or “Apple File System,” is one of the new features in macOS High Sierra.

RELATED: What's New in macOS 10.13 High Sierra, Available Now What does all this mean, and which should you choose? Basically there are three main options: The list is longer than you’d think, with terms like “APFS (Case-sensitive)” and “Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)” to choose from.

So you’re using Disk Utility to partition your new hard drive when you’re presented with a choice of potential file systems.