But you can open HFSExplorer, read a Mac-formatted drive, and copy the files to your Windows PC without paying a dime. It can also mount Mac.dmg disk images to get at the files inside them. All-in-one system utility for mac. This application’s read-only nature isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In this guide we're using exFAT instead of FAT32, another filesystem that both Windows and Mac can read and write to, because FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit whereas exFAT can work with.

It's no surprise that PCs and Macs do not work well with each other, due to differences between the two operating systems (Windows vs macOS). One main difference is file system. By default, Macs are with HFS+ (since 2017 there's new Apple File System,, optimized for flash storage), while PCs are with NTFS. If you have a USB drive, and you plan to use it on both a Mac and PC, things can get a bit tricky here. What do I mean? If your disk was initially formatted to NTFS on a PC (or HFS+ on a Mac), most likely you'll suffer limitations, for example, the data on your drive can't be read or written on one of your computers. Fortunately, there is a file system (actually two, I'll explain) that you can format your flash drive in order to be fully compatible with Mac and PC.

In other words, you can access the drive and transfer data without any hassles. That file system is — exFAT. Note that there is another file system called FAT32 that pretty much does the same thing but with one major flaw. See the table below for more info. ​ Compatible with macOS? Compatible with Windows? File size Max.

Partition size HFS+ Yes No No limit No limit NTFS Partially Yes No limit No limit FAT32 Yes Yes 4GB 8GB exFAT Yes Yes No limit No limit As you can see, exFAT is the only file system that works with all versions of Windows and macOS and does not have any max file-size or partition-size limits. Therefore, it's perfect for a USB flash drive or external disk especially you need to save files more than 4GB in size. You should go ahead and format your storage drive with exFAT instead of FAT32, assuming that all devices you want to use the drive support exFAT. You may notice that in NTFS is marked 'Partially' under the Compatible with macOS column. This is because an NTFS-based drive can be read by Macs but you can't write data to the drive. Save pdf to one note is not an option in the drop-down menu for mac. Now that you've learned exFAT is the ideal file system to go.