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Op onal Forma ng and Par
oning
Seagate Mobile Drive is preformatted exFAT for compatibility with Chrome OS, Windows, and macOS.
Chrome OS supports a number of file systems for external storage devices. It can read and write to the
NTFS file system used by Windows, as well as cross-platform formats such as exFAT and FAT32. Chrome
OS can read (but not write to) the HFS+ file system used by macOS.
If you use Mobile Drive with both Chrome OS and Windows (but not with macOS), you can optimize file
copy performance between Mobile Drive and Windows by formatting the drive for NTFS. Formatting
Mobile Drive for NTFS should be executed using your Windows PC. (Your Chromebook will format Mobile
Drive for FAT32, which is not recommended.)
About file system formats
NTFS—The native file system for Windows. Chrome OS can read and write to NTFS volumes. macOS can
read NTFS volumes but cannot natively write to them.
Mac OS Extended (HFS+)—The native hard drive file system for macOS. Chrome OS can read HFS+
(journaled) volumes but can't natively write to them. Windows cannot natively read or write to HFS+
(journaled) volumes.
APFS (Apple File System)—An Apple file system optimized for solid state drives (SSDs) and flash-based
storage systems. Chrome OS and Windows cannot natively read or write to APFS volumes.
exFAT—Compatible with Chrome OS, Windows, and macOS. exFAT is not a journaled file system which
means it can be more susceptible to data corruption when errors occur or the drive is not disconnected
properly from the computer.
FAT32—Compatible with Chrome OS, Windows, and macOS. However, FAT32 is a legacy file system
designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating
systems. A FAT32 partition can reach up to 32GB when formatted on a Windows PC. File sizes are limited
to 4GB.
Manual forma ng
Use the steps below to manually format and partition a storage device in Windows.
Seagate Mo bile Drive
8/9/19
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