Best external HDD format for Mac OS & iPad (windows too if possible and if effitiant)

Joe94

Joe94

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Hi All,

What would be the best format to use on an external hard drive, that I wish to use with my iMac & iPad Pro for photo storage/transfer purposes. I undertand there is one that is supposed to work with windows too, but not sure which & if this is a good format to use?

Advice much appreciated :)
 
LongLensPhotography said:
exfat will work with everything.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I have since read that people talk of possible issue when using the dual compatibility format? & suggest that you should see if you can use a Mac only format as they work better?

Is this something you have come across?

Many thanks :)
 
Joe94 said:
Thank you, I have since read that people talk of possible issue when using the dual compatibility format? & suggest that you should see if you can use a Mac only format as they work better?

Is this something you have come across?

Many thanks :)
Click to expand...

I don't know the specifics. exfat is just an extension of the old FAT32 format and is pretty much what all your memory cards like SDs and USB flash drives will use. The good point it works with everything.

For mac I guess mac format is better in a few different ways, without getting technical. The only problem windows will not recognise it at all, and linux will read only. iPad likely will work, best to just try it if you have everything.
 
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LongLensPhotography said:
I don't know the specifics. exfat is just an extension of the old FAT32 format and is pretty much what all your memory cards like SDs and USB flash drives will use. The good point it works with everything.

For mac I guess mac format is better in a few different ways, without getting technical. The only problem windows will not recognise it at all, and linux will read only. iPad likely will work, best to just try it if you have everything.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for this, very much appreciated. And yeah I think your right just try out the different formats before I start using the drives properly & see what works best :)
 
Apfs is best for mac, Windows won't write by default but there's software for Windows like macdrive and I forget the other one which will also read/write.
 
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