. 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.

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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.

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. Jan 25, 2016  Step-by-Step instructions on How to Create a Bootable MAC OS X El Capitan USB Flash Drive. Step instructions on How to Create a Bootable MAC OS X El Capitan USB Flash Drive. Copy and Paste.

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.

Advertisement Linux has long been synonymous with bootable flash drives, whether it’s to fix some sort of problem with your primary OS, or for trialling and installing USB drives are great, not just for installing portable versions of Linux but for protecting your computer when things go awry. Here are the 5 most useful Linux distributions for installing on a USB drive. There are a few ways to get a create live USB sticks that will boot on your Mac. You can go the freeware route for an easy option, or put a little bit of time into creating the drive yourself using Terminal.

Today we’ll cover both these methods! First: Prepare Your USB Drive Make sure you choose the right USB drive for the job, and that it’s formatted correctly to avoid any problems. Some Linux variants may require larger volumes, so pay attention to the requirements when downloading. Others don’t have any strict requirements, but formatting to FAT beforehand is a good idea: Warning: Everything on your drive will be erased if you do this!. Insert your USB drive into your Mac and launch Disk Utility (under Applications Utilities, or Today we're going to share our favourite good Mac habits, while desperately trying to forget the bad ones.). Select your USB device in the menu on the left, then click Erase.

Give it a name (or not) and choose MS-DOS (FAT) under “Format” and GUID Partition Map under “Scheme.”. Hit Erase to apply the changes. If it fails, try again — sometimes the system doesn’t unmount the volume in time and the process will be unable to complete. Generally speaking anything above 4GB will do the job (I used an 8GB Lexar for this tutorial). If you have persistent problems, try another USB drive. Method 1: Create a Live USB Using Etcher (Easy) is a free open source tool for burning disc images onto USB and SD drives.

It’s a relatively recent addition to the When most people think open source, they think Linux. But Mac OS X has its share of quality open source programs as well — and a bunch of them aren't available for Linux or Windows., and it makes creating bootable devices completely foolproof:. Grab your desired Linux image, then and install it. Insert your USB stick, then launch Etcher. Click Select image and find the Linux image you downloaded — Etcher supports.IMG,.ISO and.ZIP among others. Ensure the correct USB device is selected — hit Change to see a list of connected devices.

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Finalize the process by clicking Flash! And wait for the process to complete. You’ll likely see an error message warning you that your USB drive isn’t compatible with your Mac. That’s normal — simply eject and go. Your bootable Linux USB drive is now ready, you can now skip to the Booting Your USB Drive section below. Method 2: Create a Live USB Using the Terminal (Moderate) If for some reason you don’t want to use Etcher (maybe you’re on an incompatible version of macOS), you can accomplish this task using the command line. This is possible using Terminal, your Mac’s built-in command line interface.

While this method requires a little more thought and patience on your part, it’s actually pretty straightforward. You might even learn a thing or two, plus you’ll feel smart afterwards. Assuming you’ve formatted your drive as per the instructions at the start of this tutorial, here’s how it works: 1. Convert Your.ISO Launch Terminal and take note of where your Linux disc image is stored in Finder. Convert your image (usually an.ISO) to an.IMG file using the hdiutil convert command: hdiutil convert /path/to/downloaded.iso -format UDRW -o /path/to/newimage Replace /path/to/downloaded.iso with the location of your own.ISO (you can drag and drop directly into the Terminal window if you want) and /path/to/newimage to wherever you want the new image file to be created. You’ll likely be able to identify the drive by its name, it’s format, and its size using a process of elimination.

Take a note of the listing under the IDENTIFIER column, then unmount the drive using the following command: diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX You’ll need to replace diskX with the corresponding number, e.g. Disk3 — if successful Terminal will report that the disk was unmounted.

If you’re having trouble unmounting a drive, you can launch Disk Utility, right click on a drive, then choose Unmount (don’t eject the drive, though). The final step is to write the image to your USB stick, using the dd command: sudo dd if=/path/to/newimage.dmg of=/dev/diskN bs=1m Replace /path/to/newimage.dmg with the path to the file we created in step 1 (again, drag and drop works best), and diskN with the location we identified earlier. You’ll need to authorize with your administrator password immediately afterwards, since we used the sudo command.

You’re done, and your drive is ready for booting. Booting Your USB Drive Assuming all went well, you’ll now have a USB drive that will let you boot Linux. You can plug it into the Mac you want to use it on, then shut down the computer.

In order to access your Mac’s boot menu, you’ll need to hold the option (alt) key while it boots. The best way to do this is to shut down, hold the option key, start your Mac, and wait. If you did it correctly you’ll see a few options including your built-in hard drive, and the USB device we created earlier titled “EFI Boot.” To boot into Linux, select the USB device and click the arrow (or double click). Depending on what you’re using, you may get another menu which acts as a bootloader for your particular flavor of Linux. If you have problems, or your USB drive won’t show up, try running the process again, try using an alternative method above, try a different USB stick or port, and consult your respective distro’s help documentation. The Best Way to Try Linux on Your Mac Assuming all went well, you now have Linux running on your Mac and you can test it out or install it outright if you’re tired of macOS. You still have an If you are looking to ditch macOS, you may want to delete your recovery partition for some extra disk space.

Later you also may want to restore it. Here's how to do both. which can be accessed by holding command+r while your machine boots. This can Need to restore your Mac to factory settings? Here's how to install a fresh copy of macOS and erase everything. Among other things if you decide to go back.

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There are other tools that claim to help you do this, but not all of them work, and some cost money. Is still a popular choice for Linux and Windows users, but it hasn’t been able to create Mac-bootable USB drives for years. I tested it again for this article, it failed miserably and was generally unpleasant to use. There’s also our old favorite, which is open source and actively maintained. It’ll cost you $5 for a pre-compiled binary, assuming you don’t want to download and compile it yourself. This low entry fee helps keep the project maintained, but it’s hard to justify paying for something Etcher or Terminal can do for free. Which technique do you prefer for burning Linux USB drives? And which flavors of Linux work best on your Mac? Talk about it in the comments, below.

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