ExFAT formatting in DiskUtility causes drives to be unrecognizable on Windows/PS3

I've formatted several drives using DiskUtility (exFAT format) and many times, a PC device, or PS3 does not recognize the format. I take the drive and format it on a Windows PC (same deal, exFAT) and the drive works perfectly. Please explain to me why this happens, and how Apple is working to resolve this issue...This is my second iMac with the same issue, using a variety of falsh drives, USB 2.0, 3.0...This is simply ridiculous

Makes me consistently question my second purchase with Apple, and the overall degrading quality of Apple product development
Because Apple make it easy for you to run Microsoft Windows as well as its own OS. Because no Windows PC can run Apple OS.
But Apple are under no particular obligation to make you able to format hard drives in all the weird Windows formats around.

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How do i format an external hard drive for use on both windows and mac book air?

how do i format an external hard drive for use on both windows pc and mac book air?

Use exFAT on the PC.
(71374)

Not able to view exFAT format external hard drive in my macbook pro 10.8.2.

I have formatted my hard drive in exFAT format from a windows notebook. I am not sure what to do as I am not able to view my hard drive in my macbook.
Can somebody please help me out in this regard.?

Try connecting the exFAT drive back to the Windows notebook and use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in your Taskbar.
Run a updated malware scan and/or remove any original data and reformat the drive again.
Your issue doesn't appear to be widespread, so I'm leaning towards something that got messed up somehow.
Mac's can read/write MBR/GUID and FAT32/exFAT drives, only can read NTFS, so it shouldn't be having a problem.

Hello once again.. i have formatted my external Hard drive it using exFAT, now my windows cant detect my device, can u plzz help me the whole purpose is getting ruined, i use Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

hello once again.. i have formatted my external Hard drive it using exFAT, now my windows cant detect my device, can u plzz help me the whole purpose is getting ruined, i use Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit

This is a problem with the Mac OS X implementation of exFAT. I've had the same problem.
Best is to use a Windows box to format the drive exFAT. Then it can be read by both Windows and Mac OS.
But aren't Macs supposed to "Just Work"? Not in this case.

Can i use exfat format for my external western digital harddrive so that i can use in both windows and mac?

can i use exfat format for my external western digital harddrive so that i can use in both windows and mac?
thanks in advance.
<Email Edited by Host>

Yes you can. OS X version 10.6.6 and later can read/write exFAT. Windows XP SP3 and later can read/write exFAT. As posted by Radiation Mac, you can do it from Windows or from OS X.
However, I've noticed Windows to be somewhat picky about drives formatted on a Mac. So, if Windows can't read it, try formatting it on the Windows machine, and see how it works on the Mac.
Posting your email on a public forum isn't a very good idea. It will likely be harvested by spambots and used as the reply-to address for spam it sends out.
Also, most people are not going to send an email to you for similar reasons. Nobody knows who you are, so sending an email to you could be giving a spammer a valid email address.
The forum is set up to automatically notify you when there are responses to your questions. When you get one, you would log back into this forum and check to see what the answer was.

Best way to format my 16GB flash drive for Mac and PC transferring large power point files?

best way to format my 16GB flash drive for Mac and PC transferring large power point files?

format flash drive in Exfat for transferring files between Mac and Pc.
FORMAT TYPES
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
Maximum file size: 4GB.
Maximum volume size: 2TB
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
To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
Maximum file size: 16 TB
Maximum volume size: 256TB
You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT)))) (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
Maximum file size: 8EiB
Maximum volume size: 8EiB
You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
Maximum file size: 16 EiB
Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.

Is it possible to format an external hard drive on my mac?

I purchased a portable external hard drive to back up my former pc in the hopes of using it on my mac. Obviously, I did not research this seeing now that I can integrate my files and photos from my pc to my mac. It appears possible to format the external hard drive to my mac os, which should be done prior to downloading files from my pc to the hard drive. Has anyone dealt with this or am I the only idiot that purchased the external hard drive thinking that was the thing to do before my pc dies completely?

A HD formatted in EXFAT will transfer data between both PC and Mac.
However dont make the titanic error most do in having merely a single external HD backup of your data, thats a tragedy waiting to happen.
HD are cheap as dirt.
Ideal situation is 3 HD , 1 for Mac backups, 1 for data archives stored away safely and updated as needed / often.
and a 3rd HD in Exfat for data transfers (or a thumb drive for the same thing to save $$)

Which format for external hard drive to use with time machine backup and connect to windows laptop?

Hi! I have an external hard drive on which I have transferred my iTunes library (just mine - not others). I have also a folder containing just films (some but not all of which are in iTunes too) Everything has been working just fine until yesterday I noticed that Time Machine was not including the external hard drive in back up as it wasn't formatted. So I have moved everything back to the Mac hard drive and and ready to format the external hard drive - but understand that if I do the contents cannot be opened from a windows laptop ... is that right? Is there are format I could choose that would allow Time Machine to back up and allow Windows to open as well (the idea being that I take the external hard drive with me on holidays etc!!) Many thanks for any advice.

ok - I understand. I have managed so far to format the drive (on windows) to exFAT file system - which apparently works with both Windows and Mac - but you're correct - it will not be included in time machine backup as I have checked the back up files and Samsung is not showing. Reckon I'm onto having to buy yet another portable hard drive just for windows - or of course buy myself a new mac book!! Can I ask you please - does the drive have to be clear of everything before I change the format - or can I change it with the files still in there? Also, got any quick ways duplicating the files onto another External Hard drive (for use on the windows laptop) At the moment the files are taking 2/3 hours + to copy over! Thank you!

Formatting of External Hard Drive to be usable by both Windows and MBP?

Hello, I would appreciate some advice regarding the formatting of hard drive here as I'm pretty new to the whole Apple/Macbook Pro scene!
I am currently using a MBP (Retina) for about 2 months now.
I was previously using a Windows PC and had a external hard drive to back up information from it. However, the EHD can only be read by my MacBook Pro and I can't seem to transfer any information into the hard drive. I've been reading up online and it seems that I would have to reformat the external hard drive so that it can be both used by Windows and Macbook.
I have 2 questions here:
If I were to reformat it to FAT32 or exFAT, will I have to first backup all the data on the hard drive first on another drive? Or will my data be safe amidst the formatting?
Will this formatting of the hard drive allow it to be read by both Windows and PC?
I would really appreciate some advice on this from anyone who has some clue about this! Thank you!!

Timemachine
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427?viewlocale=en
Ok if you think about backing up over timemachine, your harddrive should have at least 3 times that size you want to back up. Because of incremental Backups over timeperiods.
So my suggestion, for exchange between Windows Mac --> exFat and for timemachine buy a new Harddrive that fits the specifications

Which format on a flash drive for large files for use by Mac and PC

I need to copy large files (9GB of movie file exported from iMovie of school graduation) onto 16GB flash drives so they can be used by school parents who may have Mac, PC or even TV.
My first attempt says the files are too large.
A lot of googling tells me this is a recognised problem but I am confursed by which advice to take.
I am on a 2012 iMac running OSX version 10.7.4.
Do I need to download some software to run NTFS. It all sounds so confusing!
I ended up in this predicament because the quality of my photo slideshows I copied to my DVD-R was so bad. Thought a flash drive would be easy. Ha, not at all.
Please answer in laymans terms - I could barely follow some of the advice I found.....

Format the flash drives with Disk Utility in ExFAT format.

EXFAT formatted USB stick - sharing permissions wrong - Read Only - Cannot Reformat - Help please!

EXFAT formatted USB stick - sharing permissions wrong - Read Only - Cannot Reformat - Help please!
Hi.
Having various problems with a USB stick that is formatted in EX-FAT.
It was working fine for a long period.
Yesterday I lent it to a friend to put some things on it.
Now when I try and work on it, I get messages like this.
Mac OS X can’t repair the disk “Disk Name"
You can still open or copy files on the disk, but you can’t save changes to files on the disk. Back up the disk and reformat it as soon as you can.
It will also randomly eject the drive.
I have tried to reformat it multiple times, in mac and windows.
[I have never used it in windows previous to this occasion of needing to reformat].
In windows, it crashes the disk when I attempt to format with disk manager [I attempted this due to advice in an internet article].
In Mac , I cannot even try to reformat it, because for some reason the permissions on the USB stick have been set to "read only" and I cannot find any way to change them to read-write, or full permissions, or whatever is appropriate.
I have tried "erase" disk in disk utility. I know how to do a full reformat, but it simply will not allow me to do so.
All the options are greyed out.
Does anybody have any information or links they can point me to?
I've been searching around.
Thanks very much in advance for any advice received.
Running latest mountain lion , 10.8.4, and windows 7 through VMware fusion.

Start over:
select the drive > select the Partition tab > select 1 Partition
select Option > select GUID Partition Table > select OK
name it > click the Apply button > then lastly click Partition

Is there any way to write-enable an NTFS-format WD external Hard Drive ?

I have a WD Elements external HD unit, 1TB previously formatted NTFS under Windows XP on a PC. I would like to use this HD unit to both read and write data using both the Windows PC and a MacBook Pro. But when connected to the MacBook Pro (USB), the HD unit shows up as Read Only.
Is there a way to write-enable the HD unit without losing, or having to backup/restore, the mass of data already saved there ?
I have tried installing NTFS-G3 on the MBP, as suggested elsewhere. Having done so, when I "get information" about the WD unit, the disc format shows as "Windows NT File System (NTFS)" and not NTFS-G3 as expected. Ran chkdsk on the WD under Windows to iron out any problems in the disc's file system. It ran for several hours before completing successfully, but there was no change at all - the unit is still read-only after re-connecting to the MBP.
Can anyone help out please?

Why would you expect it to say NTFS-3G? NTFS-3G is just a program that translates the NTFS to something the Mac OS can deal with. It doesn't change the format of the hard drive. The drive is formatted with the New Technology File System (NTFS), not the NTFS-3G file system.
Were you not able to write to the drive with NTFS-3G installed? Did you install the free version? If so, did you install MacFuse, also? It is required for the free version of NTFS-3G.
Edit:
I just plugged in an NTFS drive and I'm guessing what you were looking for was something to indicate what was doing the translation. On mine I get, "Windows NT File System (Tuxera)." So, I think I understand what you meant before. My guess is as I stated above. Make sure you also have MacFuse installed if you are using the free version of NTFS-3G.
Message was edited by: Barney-15E

I have my iMovies in QuickTime format on an external drive. Is there anyway to show them from the external drive without putting them into iTunes?

I havei my personal iMovies in QuickTime format on an external drive. I prefer not to have to import them into my iTunes library which is nearly 1GB already. Is there any way to play them from my MacBook Pro through Apple TV 2 without importing them into iTunes?

Just wanted to add a little to the excellent comments from those above... I have debated on adding the content to iTunes or just accessing the content through some folder structure.
What has worked best for me and my family:
use VideoDrive - http://www.aroona.net/VideoDrive/Home.html to import the videos/tvshows into iTunes and make them in the correct format for my iPad/iPhone/AppleTV devices in the house. This software is cheap and excellent and make the adding of content to iTunes (i everything) easy!
I store my videos on a usb 2tb drive and my tvshows on a different usb 2tb drive. And I swap a drive out every year or so and give old drive away to family/friends. That way my media drives are new(ish) and 1 drive is never older than 2 years.
for media that I don't want to add to iTunes I still use AirVideo as it is an excellent piece of software. I also use AirVideo to allow me to access content on my home network over the internet.
my "media server" is a simple 4 year old intel mac mini with 1 gig of ram best $700 I spent when I first flipped to all things mac. Family now have 2 mbp's, 2 iPads, 4 iphones and 1atv (2nd gen)
I'm working on a document that shows how I did my setup - if you want to read more please feel free to download my preview - https://files.me.com/lee.gaupp/aq0gst
Would enjoy feedback

Saving a Photoshop CC project from a Mac (in .PSD format) to a thumb drive and trying to transfer it to a Dell laptop with Photoshop CS6. Will not open...Error message: could not complete your request because it is not a valid photoshop document.

Saving a Photoshop CC project from a Mac (in .PSD format) to a thumb drive and trying to transfer it to a Dell laptop with Photoshop CS6. Will not open...Error message: could not complete your request because it is not a valid photoshop document.

The file was corrupted somewhere along the way (assuming it was still readable on the Macintosh).
The platforms don't matter, but you still need file transfer that doesn't corrupt files...

I accidentally formatted my portable hard drive when setting it up for time machine. Is there any way for me to get back my lost files?

I have an external hard drive of the brand Western Digital.
Before I got my iMac I moved a lot of my important files from my PC to the hard drive and today I went on and connected it to my iMac to move my files over to it.
When it had connected a window popped up that asked if I wanted to use this hard drive with the program Time Machine and create backups. Without thinking it trough enough and reading the warning properly (I'm stupid I know) I clicked "yes". I then realised how stupid it was and cancelled the formatting of the hard drive. But somehow the program still managed to delete all my important files and can't find any way to get them back. Neither can I connect the hard drive to my PC anymore so I can't check if the files are still there (which I doubt they are since I can't see them on my iMac either).
And now I wonder: is there any way for me to get back my lost files or are they lost forever?
Thank you in advance!
//Gina

A data recovery specialist or some data recovery programs should be able to help. Most format simply rewrite the directory tree saying no files are on this disk. The bits that represent the files are still flipped appropreiately so they still exists, you just don't have the location info to get at them. Secure formats and erases rewrite each bit to a zero or 1 or random so the data is then truely gone. This type of format takes a long time to complete.
I'm not making a recomendation of a particular program but here is one company that does what you ask:
http://www.remosoftware.com/mac-recovery The cost is pretty high but I'm sure they don't sell many copies and need to cover their development costs.
Good luck and don't write anything on the freshly formatted disk until you decide what to do.

ExFAT formatting in DiskUtility causes drives to be unrecognizable on Windows/PS3

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