Best File System Mac OS Versions

A file system is required to determine the procedure of retrieval and storage of data on the storage media.

Each operating system has a different set of file systems that it supports.

While in earlier days the choice of the file system was limited, there are multiple options available to you nowadays.

Each file system available has its own strengths and benefits to offer you.

While some file systems are ideal for one type of hard drive, others are best suited for another hard drive type.

You can pick any of these file systems for your hard drive depending on its type.

While this file system is primarily designed and optimized for flash drives and SSDs (Solid State Drives), it can be used for hybrid or mechanical drive without encountering much trouble.

Best File System Mac OS Versions

It is also referred to as HFS or HFS Plus and is the default file system that is used by older Mac OS versions for any storage device.

The macOS High Sierra, however, only utilizes this file system for hybrid and mechanical drives.

It is thus a cross-platform file system that can be used for external drives either plugged to a Windows PC or a Mac with consummate ease.

The following are some tips on how you can choose the best file system for different types of storage media.

In fact, the macOS High Sierra uses it as the default file system for these two drives.

This new file system by Apple has considerable advantages over other file systems particularly Mac OS Extended.

For starters, it is much faster at copying and pasting folders than the older file systems and doesnt take much time in determining the space occupied by a folder on the drive.

Moreover, Apple has made extensive reliability improvements for this file system which ensures lesser instances of file corruption than in previous file systems.

For instance, you need to have the latest Mac OS, macOS High Sierra, in order to write to this file system.

Macs running on older versions of Mac OS wont be able to utilize this file system.

So, if you want the drive to be used on Macs which dont have macOS High Sierra then you should not format them using APFS.

Also, keep in mind that APFS isnt compatible with Windows so drives formatted with this file system cant be read by Windows PCs.

Even macOS High Sierra utilizes this file system as default for mechanical and hybrid drives.

The reason for this is that APFS is not optimized for those drives and doesnt offer the same benefits as it does for flash and solid-state drives.

Even when formatting external drives, it is a better option to go for Mac OS Extended than APFS.

Another advantage that this file system has over APFS is its compatibility with Time Machine.

Thus, Mac OS Extended is the most suitable file system to be used for formatting backup drives.

Best File System For Mac