Windows – Which harddrive format do I use for both Mac and Windows to write/read

external hard drivefilesystemsmacoswindows

Is there a format for a hard drive that both Mac and Windows OS can read/write to?

I want an external hard drive that stores files they can both read/write, and use for backups, etc.

Best Answer

FAT32 is the best option since it works with all OSes. NTFS has drivers available, so you should also be able to use it with Linux, Mac and Windows. HFS would be a poor choice. FAT32 cannot handle files greater than 4 GB though.

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Macos – Read/WRITE/Verify disk diagnostic tool for Mac OS X

You might want to have a look at badblocks(8), a command-line tool from GNU/Linux. There is a port for Darwin, which you can get from MacPorts:

sudo port -v install e2fsprogs

Having a look at the manual, you can read the -n and -w options' paragraphs:

-n Use non-destructive read-write mode. By default only a non-destructive read-only test is done. This option must not be combined with the -w option, as they are mutually exclusive.

-w Use write-mode test. With this option, badblocks scans for bad blocks by writing some patterns (0xaa, 0x55, 0xff, 0x00) on every block of the device, reading every block and comparing the contents. This option may not be combined with the -n option, as they are mutually exclusive.

Hopefully this is what you are looking for.

Linux – File system format for both windows and linux use (besides fat32)

NTFS. Works natively in Windows, and well in Linux/OS X via NTFS-3g.

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Macos – Read/WRITE/Verify disk diagnostic tool for Mac OS X

Linux – File system format for both windows and linux use (besides fat32)

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