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Into what format do I need to reformat my External HardDrive for use in Mac OS X, Windows, Linux.

Also, can I have the differences of each partition format, I mean the advantages and disadvantages of each type of format over the others?

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Without any additional software, Windows is your limiting factor. Windows can only do FAT, NTFS, exFAT for PC use. Of them, the fastest and best performance is NTFS which is the what the most Windows based file systems have. FAT32/64 is good for small drives like flash but hard drives in general are all NTFS. For more on this, please refer to File Systems. Also to be noted, all modern Linux and Mac systems can read all of the above formats while, as I mentioned, Windows natively is limited (which could be on purpose)

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  • Thanks for the reply, but if you're in my shoes. I have a Macbook Pro, my computer in office is Windows, and at my friends place, she has Linux where I usually need to transfer files back and forth when I'm there. So which type of format should I choose? (Apollo MB 2-Terabytes external drive and RiData 1-Terabyte)
    – Selin Peck
    Nov 10, 2014 at 23:22
  • For a hard disk that size, I would go with NTFS only. FAT is good for small sizes like 4-64 GB. NTFS is the preferred option because it writes and reads better on Windows. If it was Linux or Mac only, I would say ext4 but because its Windows, NTFS. Check this article out. pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2421454,00.asp
    – Hououin Kyouma
    Nov 11, 2014 at 0:40
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Based on your comment, I would recommend FAT32! You can format external hard drives that are 2TB or less into one FAT32 partition. FAT32 should be recognized on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Also, to better answer your question, one advantage of NTFS is that it supports volumes larger than 2TB. However, NTFS volumes are read-only on Mac (you will not be able to write to them). I have a 2TB Western Digital external drive that I have reformatted to FAT32 for use with Windows and Mac.

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  • But we have files to interchangeable transfer between work and home, and some of those are larger than 4-gig each, usually 6-7 gig each. It cannot be save in Fat32 format. Would you go in ExFat or buy 3rd-party drivers to read and write to files?
    – Selin Peck
    Nov 10, 2014 at 23:44
  • I am not too familiar with exFAT but this source states that it is supported natively in new versions of Mac OS X and Windows: link. It also mentions Paragon NTFS should you decide to go with NTFS. Good luck!
    – BunnyFairy
    Nov 10, 2014 at 23:56
  • I favour the FAT32 recommendation, because of its universal support, and you could use a splitter for files over 4GB. But I would also consider the open-source ext2/3/4 Windows driver, which supports writing; I use it regularly for reading a live alternative-boot Ubuntu system and it works well, but I have not tried it with write enabled. I would happily use it for a transfer disc though, since no data will be lost if it becomes unreadable.
    – AFH
    Nov 11, 2014 at 0:06
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First of all refer to this site to see the major differences between NTFS and FAT http://www.guidingtech.com/11205/difference-between-ntfs-and-fat-32-file-systems/

Second of all please be aware that MacOS doesn't support write on NTFS partition so you need to use FAT32 for Mac writing.

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