You can also opt for Mac OS Extended (Encrypted) to password-protect the data on the drive - a great security feature for those dealing with sensitive data and/or travelling with an external drive. It’ll play nicely with your Mac, but like the above APFS, Mac OS Extended isn’t compatible with Windows or Linux PCs. If you’re running macOS Sierra or an earlier version of macOS/Mac OS X, Mac OS Extended is the default file format. With a focus on speed and reliability, it should come as no surprise that APFS is exclusive to SSDs and flash storage devices - if you’ve got a standard external hard drive, you’ll have to opt for another option. Introduced as a replacement to Mac OS Extended, the new file format offers improved efficiency and reliability, although it comes at a cost: APFS isn’t compatible with pre-High Sierra Macs, and it won’t work with Windows or Linux machines either. APFSĪPFS is Apple’s choice of file format for Macs running macOS High Sierra or later. The file format you select largely depends on what you’ll be doing with the external drive, and which operating systems you use on a daily basis. You see, there’s not one but several different file formats for you to choose from, offering various levels of compatibility between different operating systems. When it comes to reformatting an external hard drive, the biggest decision you’ll have to make is with regards to file format.
It’s easy to do on a Mac using Apple’s built-in Disk Utility, and here’s where we show you how. But unlike other electronics on the market, it’s possible to reformat an external drive to work with the operating system(s) of your choice. If you’ve just bought yourself a shiny new external drive and can’t get it to work on your Mac, it’s possible that the drive isn’t compatible with macOS.
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