Question

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rated 0 times [ 5] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 7488 / 2 Years ago, sat, september 17, 2022, 8:06:35

I want to share an external 2TB USB hard drive for backup data between my personal Mac and my work laptop which run Ubuntu.

I need to be able to read/write with both OS, even if I will use it mostly with my Mac.

I tried with exFAT but, on Ubuntu, I'm getting an error message when I try paste a file on, and with HDF+ it doesn't even let me.

What's the best file system I can use in this case?

EDIT: I didn't tried NTFS, I read it's unreliable to be used on Mac and Linux, the backup on this hard drive is quite important to me.

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Location: Solomon Islands

Member since Wed, Mar 29, 2023

1 Year ago

answered 2 Years ago byishted · Accepted Answer

Formatting in exFAT

Mac's and Ubuntu 20.10 and above, work well with exFAT.

Ubuntu 20.04 and less require the addition of exFAT support:

sudo add-apt-repository universe



sudo apt update



sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils

This worked well for me, exFAT drives now mount as soon as plugged in.

I have many files over 4GB so FAT32's limit does not work for me.

Upgrading Kernel

Kernel 5.4 and later can access the exFAT file system. A simple upgrade is probably better than a bandage.

NTFS works fine with Ubuntu but not with a MAC.