Table of Contents
Advertisement
Op onal Forma ng and Par
Seagate BarraCuda Fast SSD is preformatted exFAT for compatibility with both Mac and Windows
computers. If you use the drive with only one type of computer, you can optimize file copy performance by
formatting the drive in the native file system for your operating system.
About file system formats
NTFS—The native file system for Windows. macOS can read NTFS volumes but cannot natively write to
them.
Mac OS Extended (HFS+)—An Apple file system optimized for macOS 10.12 and earlier. This file system
remains the best option for external storage devices and is the only format compatible with Time Machine.
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. While APFS may benefit SSD performance, note the following restrictions:
You cannot use an APFS-formatted disk as your Time Machine backup drive. Format Seagate BarraCuda
Fast SSD to HFS+ if you intend to use it with Time Machine.
APFS is only supported on macOS 10.13 or later.
exFAT—Compatible with macOS and Windows. 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.
How to choose the file system format
Use NTFS if:
...you connect the storage device to Windows computers, and you don't need to allow a Mac to write to
the storage device.
Use HFS+ if:
...you connect the storage device to Mac computers, and you don't need to allow a Windows computer to
read or write to the disk. HFS+ is the only format compatible with Time Machine.
Use APFS if:
BarraCuda Fast SSD
12/13/19
oning
11
Advertisement
Table of Contents
