Drives can be setup with various file systems and each file system has pros and cons. Here is a list that includes a few of these pros and cons.
| File Systems | |||||
| NTFS | Apple File System (APFS) | MacOS Extended Journaled (HFS+) | exFAT | FAT32 (MS-DOS) | |
| Pro(s): | Native to Windows | Native to macOS | Native to macOS | Can be used between Mac and Windows | Can be used between Mac and Windows |
| Supports Journaling | Keeps track of permissions | Supports Journaling | No longer limited to files 4 GB or less | ||
| Keeps track of permissions | Default file system for Time Machine for macOS 11 Big Sur and later. | Keeps track of permissions | |||
| Supported on older versions of macOS 10.6 to current. | |||||
| Default file system for Time Machine for macOS 10.15 Catalina and earlier. | |||||
| Con(s): | Write protected on Mac operating systems (can be overcome with NTFS driver) | Will not mount on Windows computer | Will not mount on Windows computer (can be overcome with HFS+ driver) | Does not see resource and data forks correctly (potential risk when going between Mac and Windows) | 4 GB size limit for single files |
| Does not work with Time Machine | Not supported on older versions of macOS. APFS is not supported on macOS 10.12 or earlier. | When used with Time Machine the drive becomes write protected (read-only). More information can be found in this article. | Does not work with File History or Time Machine | Does not see resource and data forks correctly (potential risk when going between Mac and Windows) | |
| When used with Time Machine the drive becomes read-only. | Requires driver for Windows XP | Does not work with File History or Time Machine | |||
| Does not keep track of file permissions | Does not keep track of file permissions | ||||
