proper format for external hard drive time machine

…you connect the storage device to Mac computers, and you don’t need to allow a Windows computer to read or write to the disk. NTFS is not recommended for connections to compatible Android mobile devices. …you connect the storage device to Windows computers, and you don’t need to allow a Mac to write to the disk. A FAT32 partition can reach up to 32GB when formatted on a Windows PC. However, FAT32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating systems. exFAT is not a journaled file system, which means it can be more susceptible to data corruption when errors occur or the drive is not disconnected properly from the computer.įAT32-Compatible with macOS and Windows.

APFS is not recommended for connections to compatible Android mobile devices.ĮxFAT-Compatible with macOS and Windows.APFS is only supported on macOS 10.13 or later.Format Seagate Ultra Touch to HFS+ if you intend to use it with Time Machine. You cannot use an APFS-formatted disk as your Time Machine backup drive.HFS+ is not recommended for connections to compatible Android mobile devices.ĪPFS (Apple File System)-An Apple file system optimized for solid state drives (SSDs) and flash-based storage systems. Windows cannot natively read or write to HFS+ (journaled) volumes. This file system remains the best option for external hard drives and is the only format compatible with Time Machine. Mac OS Extended (HFS+)-An Apple file system optimized for macOS 10.12 and earlier.

macOS can read NTFS volumes but cannot natively write to them. I f you also use the drive with Android, make certain to use a compatible format such as exFAT. If you use the drive with only one type of computer, you can optimize file copy performance by formatting the drive in the native file system for your operating system-NTFS for Windows or HFS+ for macOS. Seagate Ultra Touch is preformatted exFAT for compatibility with both PC/Mac computers and Android mobile devices.

Proper format for external hard drive time machine