The Best Format for External Hard Drive Mac

Are you looking for the best way to format your external hard drive to make it compatible with both your Mac and Windows PC? You're in luck! In this article, we'll show you how to format your external hard drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, a free partition format tool that supports multiple file systems.

Before we dive into the steps, let's quickly discuss why formatting your external hard drive is important. If you don't format it correctly, you may run into compatibility issues when trying to use it on both your Mac and Windows PC. For example, if you format your drive using Diskpart, there's a risk of causing irreparable damage with just one wrong command.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a user-friendly tool that allows you to format your external hard drive to Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, and more. It supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP.

To start, connect your external hard drive to your Windows PC. Then, follow these steps:

1. Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard on your Windows PC.

2. Launch the software and select the disk management tool from the main menu.

3. Right-click on the external hard drive partition or unallocated space you want to format and select 'New Simple Volume.'

4. Follow the prompts to specify the volume size, assign a drive letter and path, and choose the file system (in this case, exFAT).

5. Click 'OK' to confirm your changes.

Alternatively, if you prefer to use Windows' built-in tool to format your external hard drive, follow these steps:

1. Connect your external hard drive to your Windows PC.

2. Open the Disk Management tool by right-clicking on 'This PC' and selecting 'Manage' > 'Disk Management.'

3. Find the external hard drive in the list of disks and select it.

4. Right-click on the disk and select 'New Simple Volume.'

5. Follow the prompts to specify the volume size, assign a drive letter and path, and choose the file system (in this case, exFAT).

It's worth noting that while you can format your external hard drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard or Windows' built-in tool, formatting it with Diskpart is not recommended due to the risk of causing irreparable damage.

When choosing a file system for your external hard drive, consider the compatibility requirements of both your Mac and Windows PC. Both FAT32 and exFAT can be used on both platforms, but keep in mind that FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit, while exFAT can handle files as large as 16EB.

By following these steps and choosing the right file system, you'll be able to use your external hard drive seamlessly with both your Mac and Windows PC. Happy formatting!

Best format for external hard drive mac