Top 4 Best Flash Drive For Mac

. If you want to share your files with the most devices and none of the files are larger than 4 GB, choose FAT32. If you have files larger than 4 GB, but still want pretty good support across devices, choose exFAT. If you have files larger than 4 GB and mostly share with Windows PCs, choose NTFS. If you have files larger than 4 GB and mostly share with Macs, choose HFS+ are the sort of thing that many computer users take for granted. The most common file systems are on Windows, APFS and HFS+ on macOS, and EXT on Linux—though you may run into others on occasion. But it can be confusing understanding what devices and operating systems supports which file systems—especially when all you want to do is transfer some files or keep your collection readable by all the devices you use.

So, let’s take a look at the major file systems and hopefully, you can figure out the best solution for formatting your USB drive. Understanding File System Problems Different file systems offer different ways of organizing data on a disk. Since only binary data is actually written to disks, the file systems provide a way to translate the physical recordings on a disk to the format read by an OS. Since these file systems are key to the operating system making sense of the data, an OS cannot read data off of a disk without support for the file system with which the disk is formatted. When you format a disk, the file system you choose essentially governs which devices can read or write to the disk. Many businesses and households have multiple PCs of different types in their home—Windows, macOS, and Linux being the most common. And if you carry files to friends houses or when you travel, you never know what type of system you may want those files on.

Because of this variety, you need to format portable disks so that they can move easily between the different operating systems you expect to use. But to make that decision, you need to understand the two major factors that can affect your file system choice: portability and file size limits. We’re going to take a look at these two factors as they relate to the most common file systems:. NTFS: The NT File System (NTFS) is the file system that modern Windows versions use by default. HFS+: The Hierarchical File System (HFS+) is the file system modern macOS versions use by default. APFS: The proprietary Apple file system developed as a replacement for HFS+, with a focus on flash drives, SSDs, and encryption.

APFS was released with iOS 10.3 and macOS 10.13, and will become the mandatory file system for those operating systems. FAT32: The File Allocation Table 32 (FAT32) was the standard Windows file system before NTFS. exFAT: The extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) builds on FAT32 and offers a lightweight system without all the overhead of NTFS. EXT 2, 3, & 4: The extended file system (EXT) was the first file system created specifically for the Linux kernel. Portability You might think that modern operating systems would natively support each other’s file system, but they largely do not. For example, macOS can read—but not write to—disks formatted with NTFS. For the most part, Windows will not even recognize disks formatted with APFS or HFS+.

Many distros of Linux (like Ubuntu) are prepared to deal with this file system problem. Moving files from one file system to another is a routine process for Linux—many modern distros natively support NFTS and HFS+ or can get support with a quick download of free software packages. In addition to this, your home consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 4) only provide limited support for certain filesystems, and only provide read access to the USB drives. In order to better understand the best filesystem for your needs, take a look at this helpful chart.

File System Windows XP Windows 7/8/10 macOS (10.6.4 and earlier) macOS (10.6.5 and later) Ubuntu Linux Playstation 4 Xbox 360/One NTFS Yes Yes Read Only Read Only Yes No No/Yes FAT32 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes/Yes exFAT Yes Yes No Yes Yes (with ExFAT packages) Yes (with MBR, not GUID) No/Yes HFS+ No (read-only with ) Yes Yes Yes No Yes APFS No No No Yes (macOS 10.13 or greater) No No No EXT 2, 3, 4 No Yes (with third-party software) No No Yes No Yes Keep in mind that this chart chose the native abilities of each OS to use these file systems. Windows and macOS both have downloads that can help them read unsupported formats, but we’re really focusing on native ability here. The takeaway from this chart on portability is that FAT32 (having been around for so long) is supported on almost all devices. This makes it strong candidate for being the file system of choice for most USB drives, so long as you can live with FAT32’s file size limits—which we’ll go over next. File and Volume Size Limits FAT32 was developed many years ago, and was based on older FAT filesystems meant for DOS computers. The large disk sizes of today were only theoretical in those days, so it probably seemed ridiculous to the engineers that anyone would ever need a file larger than 4 GB. However, with today’s large file sizes of uncompressed and high-def video, many users are faced with that very challenge.

Today’s more modern file systems have upward limits that seem ridiculous by our modern standards, but one day may seem humdrum and ordinary. When stacked up against the competition, we see very quickly that FAT32 is showing its age in terms of file size limits.

Before you start, you’ll need a USB 3.0 flash drive with at least 8GB of storage. A USB-C flash drive might be best, especially if you’re a MacBook user. Here are a few USB-C-enabled flash drives found on Amazon:. Because this process will erase the contents of the drive, ensure that there is nothing stored on the drive that you need before beginning. A USB-C flash drive makes things easy for MacBook users How to create a bootable macOS Mojave 10.14 USB install drive Step 1: Download macOS Mojave. Once Mojave 10.14 officially launches, you’ll be able to download it straight from the Mac App Store. Until then, you’ll need to access the Mojave beta from, or (once available) via.

Step 2: Once macOS 10.14 Mojave is downloaded, close the installer that appears using Command (⌘)+Q. Video walkthrough Step 3: Open Finder → Applications and right-click on Install macOS 10.14 Beta and select Show Package Contents. Step 4: Open Contents → Resources.

Flash Drives Compatible With Mac

Step 5: Open a Terminal window via Applications → Utilities → Terminal. Step 6: In the Terminal window type sudo followed by a space. Step 7: Drag createinstallmedia to the Terminal window from the Finder location in Step 4. Step 8: Type -volume followed by a space. Step 9: Open Finder → Go → Go To Folder Step 10: In the Go to the folder box type /Volumes and click Go. Step 11: Connect your USB drive to your Mac, and it should appear in the Finder window.

Step 12: Drag the USB flash drive volume into the Terminal window. Step 13: Press Return on the Keyboard to submit the full command. Step 14: Type a ‘y’ to continue when prompted, and press return on the keyboard. Step 15: The install process will start by erasing the contents of your USB drive and copying the installer files to the drive. The entire process can take a while (around 20-30 minutes). You’ll need to exercise patience as the install process proceeds. Once the process is completed, you can use the USB flash drive to boot to the macOS Mojave 10.14 installer. Simply connect your USB flash drive, and restart your Mac while holding the Option (⌥) Key.

Select the macOS Mojave Installer to get started. What’s changed? The -applicationpath flag that was used in is now deprecated. Including the flag will show the following warning message prior to creating the boot disk: WARNING: '-applicationpath' is now deprecated.

Top 4 Best Flash Drive For Macbook

Note: you may see a dialogue menu inquiring about the SetFile command requiring command line developer tools. Choosing Not Now will not disrupt the creation of the USB install drive. For a hands-on look at what’s new in macOS Mojave, be sure to check out our walkthrough of over.