What's the format of this hard drive? I know that it's usually not the case for a portable hard drive to be used simultaneously on Windows and Mac systems. It seems that the Mac can only read but cannot write on the NTFS format, while Windows doesn't recognize HFS+ format. However, the FATs and exFATs all have their defects such as not supporting files over 4GB or not stable and something like that. I'm wondering how this hard drive can make it compatible on either systems and what's the format it is choosing. Thanks a lot.

Question

SteenDBean · Accepted Answer

Hi there, I use this with my Mac and I can read and write with it. I backup my work to time machine, I also save other files there and work off of it. So far it's been fine! When I bought it they told me if I had any trouble I could return it, but it worked fine. If you purchase this just speak with someone and make sure that you can return it if you have any issues. I hope that helps!

Answered by SteenDBean 9 years ago

Computer Guy · Answer

So Seagate has worked around this using onboard firmware in the shape of utilities that handle the file format switching. I didn't see a definitive list on the seagate website but as a newer model I'd suspect it does have the software. Whether or not it meets all of your requirements are another issue, so I'd honestly just grab it from the store and take advantage of the 15 day return policy if it doesn't work the way you want. At the current price (120) it's too good of a price not to try.

Answered by Computer Guy 9 years ago

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