The Windows drive in your Dell itself will be in NTFS format. As standard a Mac can read NTFS but cannot format or write to NTFS. I have no idea what format the Lacie will initially come as but for arguments sake lets say it will be HFS+ which is the standard format used by Macs. As standard Windows cannot read or write to HFS+ drives.
How to make external hard drive compatible with Mac and PC? You can format the drive from either the Mac or the Windows machine. However, if you want to use the Mac to format your external hard drive to exFAT, you'll face the problem that the external hard drive may not be compatible with the Windows PC. To make it compatible with both macOS and Windows, you need to reformat the external hard drive. Whether you are using an APFS/HFS+ or a Windows NTFS formatted external hard drive on Mac, you can reformat the external hard drives for both Mac and PC. Attach the drive you wish to format for dual compatibility to the Mac Click the drive name on the left side list in Disk Utility, and then click the Erase tab Then click the pulldown menu alongside Format and select MS-DOS (FAT) Give the drive a name (optional) and click the Erase button to format the drive.
It is possible to format a hard disk on a Mac (or a PC) as an ExFAT format. This format is both readable and writeable by both Mac and PCs. It cannot be used as a boot drive on either, nor can it be used as a Time Machine backup drive by a Mac. ExFAT is however fine for use as a transfer drive.
It is possible to get additional software for the Mac to allow it to format and read/write to NTFS volumes. See https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
It is possible to get additional software for Windows to allow it to format and read/write to HFS+ volumes. Seehttp://www.mediafour.com/software/macdrive/
Seagate a maker of hard disks have done a deal with Paragon Software as listed above. This deal means a Seagate drive comes already formatted as NTFS and includes a 'free' copy of the Paragon software to all your Mac to read and write to that NTFS drive. See http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/item/ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-maste r-dl/
I would be a little concerned over the above 'free' copy of the Paragon software in that a) is this still valid?, and b) is the version of the software up-to-date so that it still works in El Capitan on a Mac. Older versions of the software will not work in El Capitan.
A different approach you could consider is using Apple's 'Migration Assistant' software to transfer files over a computer network between the Mac and Windows PC. See Move your data from a Windows PC to a Mac - Apple Support and Windows Migration Assistant v1.0.5.7 the concern here is that this tool does not appear to have been updated for Windows 10, it may or may not work therefore in Windows 10.
Jun 22, 2016 5:21 AM
The Windows drive in your Dell itself will be in NTFS format. As standard a Mac can read NTFS but cannot format or write to NTFS. I have no idea what format the Lacie will initially come as but for arguments sake lets say it will be HFS+ which is the standard format used by Macs. As standard Windows cannot read or write to HFS+ drives.
It is possible to format a hard disk on a Mac (or a PC) as an ExFAT format. This format is both readable and writeable by both Mac and PCs. It cannot be used as a boot drive on either, nor can it be used as a Time Machine backup drive by a Mac. ExFAT is however fine for use as a transfer drive.
It is possible to get additional software for the Mac to allow it to format and read/write to NTFS volumes. See https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
It is possible to get additional software for Windows to allow it to format and read/write to HFS+ volumes. Seehttp://www.mediafour.com/software/macdrive/
Seagate a maker of hard disks have done a deal with Paragon Software as listed above. This deal means a Seagate drive comes already formatted as NTFS and includes a 'free' copy of the Paragon software to all your Mac to read and write to that NTFS drive. See http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/support/downloads/item/ntfs-driver-for-mac-os-maste r-dl/
I would be a little concerned over the above 'free' copy of the Paragon software in that a) is this still valid?, and b) is the version of the software up-to-date so that it still works in El Capitan on a Mac. Older versions of the software will not work in El Capitan.
How To Make A Hard Drive Compatible With Mac
A different approach you could consider is using Apple's 'Migration Assistant' software to transfer files over a computer network between the Mac and Windows PC. See Move your data from a Windows PC to a Mac - Apple Support and Windows Migration Assistant v1.0.5.7 the concern here is that this tool does not appear to have been updated for Windows 10, it may or may not work therefore in Windows 10.
How To Make A Hard Drive Compatible With Mac
Jun 22, 2016 5:21 AM
