We’re taking a little break from Cryptocurrency in this edition of Tech Tails. But fear not, fellow investors! We’ll get back to it next edition.
Lately, I’ve been fielding a lot of customer questions regarding APFS, Apple’s latest file system format so let’s talk about format types.
APFS is the latest file system format Apple released this past year. When you install macOS High Sierra on the Mac volume of a solid-state- drive, that volume is automatically converted to APFS. Fusion Drives, traditional hard disk drives (HDD’s), and non-Mac volumes are not converted. APFS carries a huge advantage as the format type can replace all of the existing file systems Apple currently uses across its platforms. APFS is suitable for macOS, iOS, tvOS and even watchOS.
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the default file system format for Mac OS drives. Formatting a drive with this will give you full interoperability with Macs. You can even set up a macOS startup drive if you have the right files, the know-how, and a large enough drive. The downside to this format is the compatibility between Mac and PC. A drive formatted as Mac OS Extended can be read by a PC, but the user will be unable to write data onto the drive. If you’re transferring files from Mac to PC this won’t be an issue, but going from PC to Mac in this format won’t work.
MS-DOS (FAT) is Disk Utility’s name for the FAT32 file system. FAT32 offers near-universal interoperability with every computing system. A drive formatted this way can easily transfer files between Mac and PC. The drawback to this format is FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB.
ExFAT essentially carries the advantages of FAT32, and bolsters this by supporting files larger than 4 GB. If transferring large files between Mac and PC, this format is for you.