Formatting with exFAT provides both read and write access to a drive from both OS X and Windows ( and Linux as well) and is ideal for removable USB flash drives, external hard drives, SD cards, etc. It was designed for use in environments where NTFS was not a feasible solution, such as on removable storage drives and embedded memory.Īpple added support for exFAT with 10.6 Snow Leopard and maintains this through the latest version of OS X Mountain Lion. exFAT File Format (OS X 10.6+/Windows XP+/Linux)ĮxFAT is a file format developed by Microsoft, created in 2006. They may even be combined to allow for multifaceted solutions, depending on the implementation required. Read below for a series of different solutions that can be used to tackle this particular problem. This may not be so bad on USB flash drives or for one-off file transfers under 4GB, but it’s certainly not a long-term solution with larger sized storage devices becoming more affordable, files sizes growing exponentially, and NTFS being the required format from Windows Vista and on.

While Apple has long supported reading NTFS, currently it only natively supports reading/writing to FAT32. This is true now more than ever in the BYOD landscape, as users bring in a variety of computers, smartphones and tablets to get their work done.Īs users bring in their Macs to work with company Windows boxes, writing to NTFS formatted drives is just one of the common problems that will continue to grow. But in the real world, seldom is an enterprise environment plugged in to just one brand. It is this walled garden that ensures everything works perfectly, homogeneously. It is this same belief that allows such ease of use and cross-pollination across all their product lines…but what if you must use an alternate device or operating system? The truth is that Apple’s tight control over all aspects – from production to UI – all stem from one of the company’s long held beliefs “ …believe in the simple, not the complex“. Its walled garden as it is commonly referred to, is both one of its best security enhancements and also one of the most scorned features. Here are several solutions for getting OSX and NTFS systems to work together.Īpple’s ecosystem is arguably, a wonderful thing. Solutions for writing to NTFS drives in OS X

Reading ntfs on mac