For those who do not know, Personal Computers (PC) or desktop computers, laptop computers which are run by Windows or either Linux operating systems are simply not compatible with Macs, due to the differences between their operating systems.
One distinct difference is their file systems, and by default, Macs have a higher HFS (Hierarchical File System) since 2017 when the new Apple File System or the APFS was optimized for flash storage, while desktop computers are with New Technology File System or NTFS, so there is a common problem for a lot of users who are not that knowledgeable about the complex knowledge on computers that you cannot simply use your USB drive in both a Mac and a PC, because things can get very tricky here.
So what does this mean? If your disk was initially formatted to NTFS which is for PC or on the other hand HFS+ for Mac computer, most likely you will suffer from limitations, for example, the data on your USB drive cannot be read or written on one of these computers.
Before you get rid of your USB drives, there is actually a lot of solutions to this problem, fortunately. There is a file system which actually two of these files that you can format your flash drive in order for it to be compatible with both Mac and PC, or in other words you can freely access the drive and transfer the data without any constraints or hassles.
This file system is called the exFAT and the file system called FAT32 which are pretty much the same, however, with one major flaw. This is because exFAT is the only file system which works well with all the versions of the Windows and Mac operating systems and does not have any maximum file-size or any partition-size limits, which makes it perfect for a USB flash drive or an external disk especially if you need to save or write files which exceed four-gigabytes in size.
You should try and format your storage drive with the exFAT instead of FAT32 which is safe can be assumed that all the devices that you want to use the drive can be supported by the exFAT.
NTFS is usually marked to be partially under the compatibility with the Mac operating system if you notice it. This is because the NTFS-based drive can also be read by Mac computers, however, you cannot write data to the drive, it simply reads, and nothing more.
Now that you learn what exFAT is capable of when it comes to filing systems, so you should also know what are the current file systems that your flash drive is with, and how can you format your drives to exFAT.
So, how do you check a USB drive’s file system? The first step is, plug your flash drive into the USB port on your computer, and always make sure your device can also be detected and also recognized. If you are using a Mac computer, once your Lexar disk shows up on the desktop, you can right-click on the drive icon and select “get info”.
This is because, alternatively, in case the disk does not show up on your desktop, you can always use Finder which is located on the sidebar menu to locate your USB drive under the Devices by right-clicking and selecting “Get Info”.
In the new dialogue, you can start by locating the file folder through the General > Format, where it says “MS-DOS (FAT32” that means that the Lexar disk is formatted as a FAT32 file system.
If you are using a PC, you can go to “Devices and Drives”, and highlight the disk which represents your USB flash drive and right-click and select properties. In the new properties window, you can check General > File system and you will see what type of file system your flash drive is currently located with knowing that it is already formatted by the Lexar drive on the Mac, it shows exFAT.
Unfortunately, the majority of USB flash drives that you can purchase are going to come in two formats which are FAT32 and NTFS which are both not compatible with the Mac operating system.
However, the new versions of the Mac operating systems nowadays are fully compatible with the FAT32 file system, though with some little drawbacks. If the drive comes as an NTFC format which is usually the default file system for the Windows, you are going to re-format the drive considering that Mac operating systems cannot write files to NTFS-formatted volumes, or at least not without a bunch of extra work that needs some expertise regarding this matter.
So, how can you tell which format your newly purchased USB flash drive has? You can easily insert it to your PC or Mac. If you are using a Mac computer, launch the disk utility application that is located in your utility folder under the applications folder. Your new USB flash drive should be appearing in the page’s left-hand column. Once you located the USB flash drive, you can click the partition tab which brings up the full information of the drive that includes the current format.
If your USB flash drive’s format comes up as an MS-DOS (FAT), or an exFAT, you can simply leave the drive as-is because it is fully compatible with your Mac computer which means it can read and write files to the flash drive without any hassles.