HFS+: Macs use HFS+ for their internal partitions, and they like to format external drives with HFS+ too - this is required to use an external drive with Time Machine so file system attributes can be properly backed up, for example.External drives can be formatted with either FAT32 or NTFS. NTFS: Modern versions of Windows - since Windows XP - use the NTFS file system for their system partition.You’ll only want to use this with small storage devices or for compatibility with other devices like digital cameras, game consoles, set-top boxes, and other devices that just support FAT32 and not the newer NTFS file system. Larger external hard drives of 1 TB or so will likely come formatted with NTFS. FAT32: FAT32 is an older Windows file system, but it’s still used on removable media devices - just the smaller ones, though.It’s not exhaustive - there are many other different ones. Here’s a quick overview of some of the more common file systems you’ll encounter. For example, if you have a Linux or Mac-formatted drive, you can format it with NTFS or FAT32 in Windows to get a Windows-formatted drive. Instead, you’ll probably want to copy your important data off the partition first.Īfterward, giving the partition a new file system is simply a matter of “formatting” it with that file system in the operating system that supports it. You may sometimes be able to “convert” a partition to a different file system and keep the data on it, but this is rarely an ideal option. RELATED: Understanding Hard Drive Partitioning with Disk ManagementĮach partition is formatted with a file system.

RELATED: Why Do Removable Drives Still Use FAT32 Instead of NTFS? Switching File Systems There’s always room to tweak - and improve - how this is done. A file system specifies how files are laid out, organized, indexed, and how metadata is associated with them. A file system isn’t like a partition, which is simply a chunk of storage space. There’s a lot of work that goes into designing a file system, and it can be done in many different ways.

Ntfs on mac software