1. MacBooks are partially compatible with the New Technology File System. MacBooks can read data stored on NTFS-formatted storage devices, but are unable to write data to NTFS.
2. Format NTFS to Enable NTFS Writing on Mac. The basic reason for not writing to NTFS on Mac is.

EaseUS Partition Master is your optimal choice to format the USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS in Windows 10/8/7:

How to format FAT32 drive on Mac Step 1. Now here is how to format your FAT32 external drive on Mac. Go finder window on you Mac then click on Applications the image right. From there, you need to open disk utility. Therefore, scroll down until you see a folder Utilities Double click on it. Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software provides blazing fast, unlimited read/write access to Microsoft NTFS hard drives, SSDs or thumb drives formatted for Windows computers! Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software is a great upgrade to an exceptional cross-platform utility that’s easily worth the money, especially if you own the.

As a tiny, portable and somewhat capacious removable storage media, the USB flash drive, thumb drive or USB stick seems to be seen everywhere among modern computer users. What are the purposes of owning a flash drive? In general, we use a USB drive mainly for transferring files across operating systems and different devices, or making a bootable USB drive for booting up a failed or crashed computer.

In order to make full use of a USB drive's capacity and performance, it's essential to format it with an appropriate, compatible and efficient file system. Do you know what is the best file system for a USB drive? Should you choose FAT32 or NTFS while formatting the USB flash drive? Here we will explain reasons and give answers to whether you should format USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS with the best USB format tool.

What are file systems?

A file system can be interpreted as an index or database containing physical location of every piece of data on a storage drive. The structure and logic rules used to manage the groups of data and their names is called a file system.

A Windows computer, Mac, smartphone, Xbox and any place that stores data must adopt particular kinds of file systems to read, write, store and organize data on various storage media, including a flash drive, memory card, pen drive, hard drive, HDD or SSD. In simple terms, without a matched file system, the media will be totally useless as it cannot be recognized at all by your certain device.

There are many different kinds of file systems. Each one has different structure and logic, properties of speed, flexibility, security, size, etc. Following examples are the most commonly acknowledged and used file systems on popular operating systems.

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NTFS: (NT File System) It's the default file system for all Windows versions.

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HFS+: (Hierarchical File System) It's the default file system for macOS versions.

APFS: (Proprietary Apple File System) It's developed as a replacement for HFS+ since the release of iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.13.

FAT32: (File Allocation Table 32) It's an older standard Windows file system before NTFS.

exFAT: (extended File Allocation Table) It's developed based on FAT32 and offers a lightweight system without all the overhead of NTFS.
EXT2, 3 & 4: (Extend File System) It's initially created specifically for Linux.

FAT32 vs. NTFS: What's the difference?

Now you should have a basic understanding of a variety of file systems in prevalence. When it comes to the final selection for a USB flash drive between FAT32 or NTFS, which one will you choose?

Following is an overall explanation of each.

FAT32 is compatible with all operating systems since it's a simple file system and has been around for a really long time. In contrast, NTFS is more robust and effective than FAT as it adopts advanced data structures to improve reliability, disk space utilization and overall performance. The application of NTFS has grown but FAT32 is still more universal.

What's more, FAT32 can be converted to NTFS but it's getting hard to convert NTFS back to FAT, due to the facts that NTFS has great security, file by file compression, quotas and file encryption.

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FAT32 or NTFS? Which one should you choose?

If you're looking to decide which file system to use when formatting a USB drive, most of all, you should consider two of the most important aspects: portability and file size limits when made your own decision.

As you can judge from the comparison table, FAT32 is almost supported by all operating systems, only to notice that it cannot transfer or store a single file larger than 4GB & max partition size should be under 2TB in size. However, NTFS seems to have no limit in dealing with extremely large files and partition sizes.

In one word, it's a good idea to choose your own format like this:

If you'd like to use the USB on older computers, or non-PC systems like digital picture frames, TV sets, printers or projectors, choose FAT32 because it is universally supported; In addition, if you're using multiple different operating systems in one same computer, FAT32 is also a nice choice.

While if you're using the USB drive as a Windows computer backup drive, to store high-definition videos, movies, pictures and any other large files, at the same time, asking for a high security, choose NTFS.

What's the best USB format tool?

Once made your own decision as above guided, it's time to format your USB drive a desired file system. No matter it's a newly bought flash drive or a used one, you can directly use a capable USB format tool to format the USB drive to FAT32 or NTFS.

As a matter of fact, in Windows OS for example, there are many accessible ways for users to format a disk. The most familiar ones are Windows File Explorer, Windows Disk Management and Windows Command Prompt. Here we introduce none of them. Instead, we show you a third-party Windows USB format program - EaseUS Partition Master Free, which will greatly ease your worry of encountering the problem of 'Format option is greyed out', 'Windows cannot complete the format', etc. What's more, the third-party software is free, user-friendly, powerful and be able to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data, which the aforementioned programs cannot handle that.

Guide: format USB to FAT 32 & NTFS

Step 1: Select the USB drive to format.

Connect the USB drive or pen drive to your computer. Download and launch EaseUS partition software. Right-click the USB drive you intend to format and choose 'Format'.

Step 2: Set the drive letter and file system.

Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.

Step 3: Check the warning box.

Click 'OK' if you see the Warning window. If you have important data on it, back up the data in advance.

Step 4: Apply the changes.

Click the 'Execute operation' button first, and then click 'Apply' to format the USB drive.

Guide: convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data

Step 1: Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master on your computer.

Step 2: Select a FAT32 partition, right-click on it and select 'Convert to NTFS'. If you need to convert a storage device such as SD card or USB flash drive to NTFS, insert it into your PC first and repeat the previous operation.

Step 3: Click 'OK' on the pop-up dialog box to continue.

Step 4: Go to the upper left corner, click the 'Execute 1 Operation' button and you will see the operation details. Click 'Apply' and 'Finish' when the process completes.

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Nov 13, 2019

Windows-supported operating systems rely on one of two different types of file systems: File Allocation Table (FAT) or New Technology File System (NTFS).

While both file systems were created by Microsoft, each has different benefits and disadvantages related to compatibility, security, and flexibility.

In this article, we will break down what a FAT file system is, what an NTFS file system is and what the pros and cons are for each system.

What Is FAT?

Microsoft created the File Allocation Table file system in 1977 and is the simplest file system supported by Windows NT. It is the older of the two file systems and therefore isn’t as efficient or advanced. However, it does offer more compatibility with other operating systems and removable storage devices.

The FAT is used to describe the allocation status of the clusters (the basic units of logical storage on a hard drive) in a file system, as well as the link relationship between each. It acts as a Table of Contents for the operating system, indicating where directories and files are stored on the disk.

A FAT is often most used in removable storage devices, such as digital cameras, Smart TVs and other portable devices.

The file allocation table is a critical part of the FAT file system. If the FAT is damaged or lost, the data on the hard disk becomes unreadable.

There are several limitations to using a FAT32 file system:

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• FAT32 only supports files of up to 4GB in size and volumes of up to 2TB in size
• FAT32 isn’t a journaling file system, which means corruption can happen more easily
• FAT32 doesn’t support file permissions

What Is NTFS?

Microsoft created the New Technology File System in 1993, and it is now the most widely used file system in Windows.

It was introduced as a replacement for the FAT file system, designed to improve upon FAT by increasing performance, reliability and disk space.

NTFS supports:

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• Very large files
• Different file permissions and encryption
• Automatically restores consistency by using log file and checkpoint information
• File compression when running out of disk space
• Establishing disk quotas, limiting space users can use

FAT vs. NTFS

FAT is the more simple file system of the two, but NTFS offers different enhancements and offers increased security. Choosing the right operating system depends on your needs.

1. Fault Tolerance: NTFS automatically repairs files/folders in the case of power failures or errors. FAT32 maintains two different copies of the FAT in the case of damage.
2. Security: FAT32 only offers shared permissions, while NTFS allows you to set specific permissions to local files/folders.
3. Compression: FAT32 does not offer any compression option. NTFS does allow for individual compression of files and folders so you don’t slow down the system.
4. Compatibility: NTFS is compatible with operating systems back to Windows XP. For Mac OS users, however, NTFS systems can only be read by Mac, while FAT32 drives can be both read and written to by the Mac OS.

The biggest disadvantage of using the NTFS file system is compatibility:

• Many removable devices, such as Android smartphones don’t support NTFS
• While Mac OS X can read support for NTFS drives, but it can’t write to NTFS drives without third-party software
• Some media devices, including Smart TVs, media players, and printers, don’t support NTFS
• NTFS file systems are only compatible with Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows

When it comes to removable devices, it’s safer to use FAT32 so they can be used with almost any device.

Ntfs Or Fat For Mac Catalina

There is no clear winner when it comes to FAT vs. NTFS. Choosing the right file system depends on your individual needs and uses.