thanks, but it won't be fast enough (video production) or at very high cost
Hi there.
It does depend on which read/write options you need. Remember a Mac can read FAT, exFAT
and NTFS drives without any outside help. If you need to write to NTFS then you may need a third-party driver if a NAS is too slow.
FAT32 is an old format and has a limited maximum file-size of 4GB which would be no good for video production.
exFAT is, as
@P1LGRIM says, a system specifically designed for USB Flash drives. It used to be very prone to corrupting data, not because it is inherently bad but because implementations of it varied. Microsoft licensed it to other manufacturers but only officially released the specification generally in late 2019.
You
can use it to share data on a hard/SSD drive BUT you need to scan/repair/first aid after each session. For example you might copy a Mac file to an exFAT drive and then try to view it in Windows only to find it is not visible. In that case you would right-click the drive, select Properties and then Scan the disk for errors. You will be told there are none, but perform the scan anyway and your file will magically appear in explorer's list. When you go back to Mac run First Aid from Disk Utility to ensure macOS is happy with the drive. Doing all this can preserve data but is still a bit of a gamble. And realistically, who wants to be doing this all the time?
For video production I am suprprised macOS can't provide all the support you need but if there is specific software you have on Windows that you can't do without then you have to make a compromise - speed over reliability.
As
@Ben42 says, Tuxera's NTFS driver always gets good reviews. There is also another cross-format utility by Paragon Software.
The latest crop of USB3.1 Gen2 USB-C external drive caddies do give very good performance and might be another option.
