Question M1 Macbook Pro External drive... Paragon NTFS or exFAT

kirkdickinson

Distinguished
Jan 18, 2001
83
0
18,630
I have a brand new 4GB SSD external drive. My M1 Macbook Pro has Paragon NTFS installed on it. I need to be able to use the drive on PC's and my Macbook.

Paragon NTFS seems to work fine with the older NTFS drive that I have. Are there any advantages to using exFat over NTFS for formatting this new drive?
 

kirkdickinson

Distinguished
Jan 18, 2001
83
0
18,630
I was leaning toward NTFS. I asked Chat-GPT too. Here is what it said:

For compatibility between Mac and Windows systems, both exFAT and NTFS are viable options, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages:

exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table):
Advantages:
Supported by both macOS and Windows without needing additional software.
Allows for file sizes larger than 4GB, which can be useful for large media files.

[*]Disadvantages:
Limited compatibility with some older versions of Windows and macOS.
May not be as robust as NTFS in terms of handling permissions and metadata.

[*]NTFS (New Technology File System):
Advantages:

Supports advanced features such as file permissions, encryption, and compression.
Generally more robust and reliable compared to exFAT.

[*]Disadvantages:
Requires third-party software (like Paragon NTFS) on macOS to write to NTFS drives, which may incur additional costs.
Not as widely supported out of the box on macOS (although Paragon NTFS helps mitigate this).


Considering you already have Paragon NTFS installed on your Mac, NTFS might be the more convenient option for you. It offers better support for advanced features and compatibility with Windows systems, with the added benefit of being able to write to NTFS drives on your Mac. However, if you anticipate using the drive with older versions of macOS or Windows where exFAT support might be more consistent, exFAT could be a more straightforward choice. Ultimately, it depends on your specific needs and the systems you'll be interacting with most frequently.

Followup question...
Are there any difference between them in transfer speed?

Both exFAT and NTFS have similar performance characteristics in terms of transfer speed. The file system itself typically does not significantly impact transfer speeds; instead, factors such as the drive's hardware (e.g., its interface, rotational speed for HDDs, or type for SSDs) and the speed of the connection (e.g., USB 3.0, Thunderbolt) are more influential.
That said, NTFS may have a slight edge in terms of performance due to its more efficient handling of file metadata and larger file sizes, which can lead to marginally faster transfer speeds in some scenarios. However, the difference in transfer speed between exFAT and NTFS is generally negligible and may not be noticeable in everyday usage.
Ultimately, when it comes to transfer speed, the specific hardware components and connection protocols play a more significant role than the file system format.