What format to use USB drive on iPad Pro & Window PC?

[MrMister111]

I’m getting a dual USB-C and USB-A memory card and want to use it on both iPad Pro (with USB-C) and Windows PC’s. What format and limitations do I have? I may also use it on iPhone 13 with a lightning to USB-A adapter to.

I just want it for basic use copying and pasting between the different devices.

Does anyone have any experience on this? What should I format it to, on what device, is the a file size limit etc.

Thanks

 

[MrMister111]

Found this but which is best for what I want?

Connect external storage devices to iPad

On iPad, use files stored on USB storage devices and SD cards.

support.apple.com

Note: A USB drive must have only a single data partition, and it must be formatted as FAT, FAT32, exFAT (FAT64), or APFS. To change the formatting of a USB drive, use a Mac or PC

 

[Shirasaki]

Depending on how much you use PC and Mac, if you use Mac a lot, go with APFS. If you use Windows a lot, use NTFS. Use a third party utility in PC to access the other filesystem as needed. Don't use exFAT unless you very regularly backup files and never "move" files using your USB drive as exFAT is not very stable, same for FAT32.

 

[MrMister111]

Depending on how much you use PC and Mac, if you use Mac a lot, go with APFS. If you use Windows a lot, use NTFS. Use a third party utility in PC to access the other filesystem as needed. Don't use exFAT unless you very regularly backup files and never "move" files using your USB drive as exFAT is not very stable, same for FAT32.

It’s going to be a general purpose USB memory drive, so a spilt on all really.

I won’t be able to install a program on some Windows PCs so prefer for it to just work on all.

The stuff on won’t be super important just general day to day and copied back and forward.

On the above Apple support Doc NTFS isn’t listed, can iOS and iPadOS read NTFS now?

So with above which format should I use?

Thanks

 

[Shirasaki]

Apple does not support NFTS write so you can forget about it. If you think the data copied between computers aren't that important, you can use exFAT, which should be supported on any Windows PC running Windows 7 and above, or even some Windows XP PC assuming they installed all updates. FAT32 has serious filesystem limitations so not recommended.

 

[Slartibart]

I’m getting a dual USB-C and USB-A memory card and want to use it on both iPad Pro (with USB-C) and Windows PC’s. What format and limitations do I have? I may also use it on iPhone 13 with a lightning to USB-A adapter to.

I just want it for basic use copying and pasting between the different devices.

Does anyone have any experience on this? What should I format it to, on what device, is the a file size limit etc.

Thanks

ExFat is the filesystem of choice between iPadOS and Windows. I recommend strongly to get FileBrowser Go/Pro on the iPP to avoid a variety of problems Apple’s Files (still) has in iPadOS 15.

 

[MrMister111]

ExFat is the filesystem of choice between iPadOS and Windows. I recommend strongly to get FileBrowser Go/Pro on the iPP to avoid a variety of problems Apple’s Files (still) has in iPadOS 15.

So is exFAT ok, as above says it’s unstable?

I have FE File explorer which is good abs looks like FileBrowser Go so presume the same.

 

[Slartibart]

So is exFAT ok, as above says it’s unstable?

”unstable” is clearly overstated. There are certain technical differences between NTFS and ExFat and, yes, NTFS has some characteristics that allow much better reconstruction/recovery of the filesystem and its data in case of some destructive event.
But then again ExFat is virtually used on every photo camera on the planet to store and exchange photos and video - and while there are anecdotal references to dramatic disasters- it is reliable.

I have FE File explorer which is good abs looks like FileBrowser Go so presume the same.

I own FE FileExplorer too - I simply didn’t check wether it offers similar reliability when copying data for the latest releases because FB Pro works for me (but FE Explorer offers a much better replay of various common video formats IMHO).

While I have a variety of “dual” USB-sticks I switched to use ExFat-formatted SSDs to copy data between my iDevices and others - the main observation being, that USB-sticks vary greatly in transfer speeds when connected to iDevices (transfer times are generally significantly slower compared to lap- or desktops). I switched to Samsung T5 or T7, but SanDisk offers will surely suffice. ?

 

[MrMister111]

”unstable” is clearly overstated. There are certain technical differences between NTFS and ExFat and, yes, NTFS has some characteristics that allow much better reconstruction/recovery of the filesystem and its data in case of some destructive event.
But then again ExFat is virtually used on every photo camera on the planet to store and exchange photos and video - and while there are anecdotal references to dramatic disasters- it is reliable.

I own FE FileExplorer too - I simply didn’t check wether it offers similar reliability when copying data for the latest releases because FB Pro works for me (but FE Explorer offers a much better replay of various common video formats IMHO).

While I have a variety of “dual” USB-sticks I switched to use ExFat-formatted SSDs to copy data between my iDevices and others - the main observation being, that USB-sticks vary greatly in transfer speeds when connected to iDevices (transfer times are generally significantly slower compared to lap- or desktops). I switched to Samsung T5 or T7, but SanDisk offers will sure suffice.

Thanks, as say it’s not for mission critical stuff this one so happy then to go with exFAT for compatibility.

It’s a Sandisk dual type, rather than a no brand as well so hopefully decent.

Thanks for help