Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Pc

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Video editors will often find that they need to share files between a PC and a Mac. Use these steps to format external hard drives for both operating systems.

  • If you’re both Mac users, swell; with Mac and Windows in the mix, you might be tempted to pick FAT32 when formatting that thumb drive. But FAT32 is distinctly out of date. Designed for an earlier.
  • You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB. NTFS (Windows NT File System) Read/Write NTFS from native Windows. Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X.
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As a video editor or Digital Imaging Technician, you will often need to share files with others. Eventually you will find out that you may not be working on the same operating system (OS) as others. If you work solely on a Mac, but need to send files to someone working on a PC, your external hard drive needs to be set up for both operating systems. Let’s take a look at the different types of formats, and which are best for video production.

Formatting the Hard Drive

Best Format For External Hard Drive For Mac And PC? The best format when you want to share a hard drive between a Mac and a Windows PC is ExFAT. Both operating systems can read and write to that external hard drive format. You can share and watch the same videos and photos. Listen to the same MP3s.

A vast majority of video production will be done on a Mac or Windows operating system, so we aren’t going to cover Linux. Hard drives set up for use on Windows machines only will often use NTFS, while Macs will use HFS+. That said, if you are using both a PC and Mac in the workflow, you’ll need to use a different format.

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You may be using only Macs or PCs in your own office, but you will also need to take into account what type of machines your client is using. If you need to send them RAW files or an edited sequence, you will need to make sure the external hard drive is set up for both operating systems. To do this, you will need to use either exFAT or FAT32 formats. This will allow you to use the hard drive on both a Mac and PC.

FAT32 is often used among general users, but FAT32 has limitations that can affect filmmakers. FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 GB per file. The limitation affects both Mac and PC users. A single high resolution file can easily go over 4 GB, so Fat32 may not the best format. The best format for video production is exFAT. The maximum individual file size for exFAT is 16 EB. 1 EB, or exabyte, is 1 billion GB. That said, if you are using smaller file sizes — FAT32 can suffice.

Format Hard Drive (Mac)

1. Connect the external hard drive to the computer.

2. Click Go on the top tool bar, and select Utilities.

3. Open Disk Utility.

4. Select the external hard drive on the left-hand side.

5. Click the Partition tab.

6. Change the Partition Layout from Current to 1 Partition.

7. Click Options, Select Master Boot Record, and click OK.

8. Name the hard drive with a name of your choice.

9. Click the Format drop-down menu.

10. Select exFat (or MS-DOS FAT for a FAT32 format).

Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Pc Download

11. Hit Apply, then click on Partition.

Formatting Hard Drive (Windows)

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1. Epson xp 100 printer driver for mac. Right-Click on the Windows icon in the lower left-hand corner.

2. Select Disk Management.

3. Right-Click on the external hard drive in the Volume tab.

4. Click Format.

5. Name the hard drive.

6. Select exFAT (or FAT for FAT32).

7. Click OK.

Naming and Labelling Hard Drives

If you will be using multiple external hard drives on a project, you’ll want to make sure to keep them organized. This includes the way you name the drive and how you label it.

One of my personal tricks is naming all drives after an actor. For instance, one project had several external drives, all of which were named after different Will Ferrell characters — Mugatu, Megamind, Lord Business, and Ron Burgundy. Another project used Tom Hanks characters — Forrest and Woody.

Gmail account creator tool. Remember that external drives should be used temporarily — and all footage should be backed up elsewhere. Use checksum verification to make sure everything is copied correctly.

How To Format Hard Drive For Mac

There are plenty of ways you can label your drives. You can simply use some masking tape or gaff tape, and then write the name of the drive. You can also use hard drive labels, which are the awesome stickers featured above. You easily put them on your external drive to keep track of them.

If you are a parent, like myself, you can also use any stickers you have lying around the house. I recently had Kermit the Frog and Optimus Prime hard drives.

No matter how you label your hard drives, just make sure you keep track of them. You never know when you will need that footage from a three-year-old project.

Got any hard drive organizational tips to share with the community? Let us know in the comments below!

WARNING: Formatting will erase all data on the device. Back up all your data before proceeding.

Instructions below are for 10.11.x (El Capitan) and 10.12.x (Sierra)

Format flash drive for mac and pc 2017

1. Double-click on Macintosh HD - or in the Finder menu clickFile > New Finder Window
2. Click the Applications folder - if using a Finder Window Applicationswill be in the left side menu.
3. Click the Utilities folder.
4. Double-click Disk Utility.
5. On the left side of the window are the drives connected to the computer. Select the capacity of the drive respective to the one containing the device you wish to format then click the Erase tab.
Example: If the drive is called 'NO NAME', directly above that, you should see the drive capacity of 'XXXX'. Select this capacity.
6. Verify Volume Format is set to MS-DOS file system or exFAT, Scheme is set to “Master Boot Record” (Do NOT select GUID Partition Map) then click Erase.

Instructions below are for 10.13.x (High Sierra)

1. Open Disk Utility. Please See Answer 20985: How to access Disk Utility macOS
2. In the top menu bar, go to View, and choose Show All Devices


3. Select the upper level of the drive you would like to format and click the Erase button


4. Choose how you would like to format the drive

  • Enter a Name for your drive
  • Choose exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT) for the format
  • Choose Master Boot Record for the Scheme
  • Click Erase

Format Flash Drive For Mac And Pc 2018

5. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button

Ccproxy 8 keygen download. NOTE: exFAT is used on SDXC card (64GB and higher).

NOTE: exFAT can be used on flash drives or memory cards to transfer files larger than 4GB.

NOTE: MacOS 10.6.2 or higher is required for exFAT file system. Some older operating systems must have a patch installed before they can use the exFAT file system.

Format Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Pc

FormatFormat Thumb Drive For Both Mac And Pc

Format Flash Drive For Mac And Pc Large Files

NOTE: If the above steps do NOT resolve the problem or if the lock switch is missing or broken, please back up your data and request a replacement using our online web form.


Format Flash Drive For Mac And Pc 2017

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