To extend my limited Macbook Pro storage I keep a 128 GB micro SD always mounted in the SD card reader (thanks to Nifty Minidrive). I use it for static files: music, photo and video files I need to refer to, but that don't change often.
The SD card is formatted in exFAT and from time to time it gets disconnected when I bump my Mac during my commute, and to fix the file system corruption I need to mount it on a Windows PC (since Disk Utility doesn't seem to be able to fix it).
Since I'll use this SD card only on my Mac, should I format it as HFS+ instead?
I've read that a journaled file system can cope better with this kind of problems, and Disk Utility could repair it if needed.
Is there any risk (i.e. excessive wear on the SD card) in formatting my micro SD in HFS+?
Will be HFS+ more reliable than exFAT?
Best Answer
I tried for myself, formatted the SD card in
GUID+HFS+, and after several months it seems more reliable thanexFATfor this use case.When the card is accidentally disconnected the OS shows a notification, but as I unplug and replug the card, the system checks it for defects, and run
fsckin the background if needed (it happens rarely, and it takes less than a minute).So this setup it's a good solution from my point of view.
It's worth remembering that you should use it only for static files, i.e. data that you read often, but write seldom.