If you asked me what is the perfect format for a removable drive, I would have to think about my answer and I would end up formulating another: Perfect for what? Surely you would answer me that to store data, but I mean in which computers that pendrive is going to be used. The problem is that there are Mac, Windows and Linux and not all of them can read or write in all formats. What there are are two universal formats: FAT and exFAT.
So what is my recommendation? I have it clear, but first we have to explain a little above what each of the formats is. If we are going to use a pendrive on any computer Regardless of your operating system, it would not make sense to format the drive in a format not supported by any of them. Below we will explain what each format is used for.
Format types
NTFS
The format NTFS (New Technology File System) was created by Microsoft in 1993 for its operating system. Without going into too much detail, we have to bear in mind that Mac OS X can read, but not write, on a drive formatted in NTFS. Without installing third-party tools, we will not even be able to format a pendrive in NTFS from a Mac and, if we want to use it on our computer without having to install software that is not necessary (as we will explain later), it is best not to format our pen drives in NTFS .
If you prefer to use the NTFS format, you have to know that there are third-party tools that give OS X the ability to read and write to NTFS, such as Paragon NTFS or Tuxera NTFS. But, I insist, it is not worth it if we take into account that there are more universal formats.
NTFS works well for hard drives on computers using Windows as the operating system.
Mac OS X Extended
To summarize, we could say that Mac OS X Extended It is the same as NTFS, but in this case everything is designed for Apple's desktop operating system. If we have a pendrive that we are also going to use in Windows, it is not worth formatting it in Mac OS X Plus because it will not be able to access its data. Better to use one of the following two options.
Mac OS X Extended it should be used only on hard drives on which OS X is to be installed.
FAT:
Created its first version in 1980 and the last (FAT32) in 1995, it could be said that FAT (File Allocation Table) is the most universal file system. It can be used even on devices such as consoles, mobiles, etc., but it has a big problem if we only want to use it on desktop computers: the maximum supported by FAT32 is 4GB. If, for example, we have a 5GB video and a FAT-formatted pendrive, we will have two options: either divide the file into two parts or leave it where it was because we will not be able to put it in our Pendrive.
As I said before, FAT, FAT16 and FAT32 should only be used on removable drives that we want to use, for example, in a Sony PSP or memories for cameras.
exFAT
Finally we have the format exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table), the evolution of FAT32. It was also created by Microsoft and is compatible from Snow Leopard onwards and from XP onwards, but there are important differences from the previous version, such as the maximum file size in exFAT which is 16EiB. Without a doubt this Is the best option If we want to use a pendrive on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, although the latter cannot be formatted without installing software.
We will use exFAT to format any external hard drive or pendrive that we want use in especially on Mac and Windows. If we have to use it on devices such as the aforementioned consoles or cameras, we will not use this format.
ExFAT or NTFS
If you hesitate between ExFAT or NTFS, based on what we just saw, the most logical thing is to format a pendrive or external memory unit in ExFAT format since it is the option that ensures the best compatibility, compatible with all current operating systems.
How to format pendrive in exFAT
Those of you who have never heard of this format, fear not. Formatting a hard drive, external or USB pendrive on Mac is very simple and the process does not change much if what we want is to format it in exFAT. But, to avoid confusion, I will detail the steps:
- We have to open the Disk utility. There are three different ways to access it: from the Launchpad, which is what you have in the screenshots, entering the Applications / Others / Disk Utility folder or, my favorite, from Spotlight, which I access by pressing it Time the CTRL + Spacebar buttons.
- Once in the disk utility, we will see an image like the one in the capture. We click on our unit. There is no clicking on what is inside the unit. That's the only partition there is, so more will appear if we have more partitions. Since what we want is to format everything, we select the root.
- Next, we click Delete, which is the equivalent of formatting in Windows.
- We unfold the menu and choose exFAT.
- Finally, we click on «Delete».
I have not formatted anything in NTFS for a long time. ExFAT is the format of all my external drives and now you can do the same yourself.