SSD hardisk format.Which format fits for Fedora Linux, Macintosch and Windows

After formatting my SSD harddisk ( Samsung T7 1 TB ) at the disk utility tool at my Macbook pro 2013. I can not see the files or are able to write/read the files when connecting to my Fedora 34 Linux computer.

Which partiontype is the right one when do formatation in the Disks.
I need to1 read/Write on Linux, Macintosch and windows machines with the same harddisk as I want to share file betweent them.

At the image there is the image of the internal SSD where my OS Fedora 34 is installed. When I connect my external Samsung T7 SSD nothing shows it is connected by an image.

FAT. :grinning:

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But in this picture there is no disk at all (apart the one with Fedora Linux). Or am I wrong?

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That shows a 1 TB SSD.
I don’t understand the issue since you say you can’t see it but it is there.

You do realize that apple formats partition tables differently and that some tool cannot see those drives since they are protected by the apple format.

As stated, the only filesystem I know for sure is able to be seen/read by all 3 OSes is FAT. Windows and Linux can read/write ntfs but I don’t know about apple.

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ExFAT will work on all those OSes

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True! Only the the SSD in the Labtop where the Fedora OS is running. When I connect the external as I want to format. No image appear.

Sorry for not inform that the image contains the SSD internal with the Fedora OS. The SSD I talking about is an external which doesn’t shows up there.

But as it is the utilitytool for formating a new partion on a harddisk I found that image sutable.

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FAT for all :star_struck:

So what would you advice be. That I make different partions on the SSD. The issue is that I would work on different OS platforms for example with sound. I have sound files on this computer running Fedora 34 Linux OS. I will like to connect my T7 SSD and tranfere sound files ( .mp3 ) then I can connect it in my Macbook and tranfere the mp3 files and work in Ableton. Some times when I work with graphical images like Ink scape and Gimp. I will go to a Fab Lab where they only have Windows OS. Thats why the SSD harddisk need to be readable at different platforms.

Not sure what you’re referring to here. Apple’s Disk Utility will format a disk using standard GPT, and can also do MBR as an option. Partition tables have been standardized and cross-platform at least ever since OS X came out; I’ll have to look up what Mac OS 9 and below used, but even in that era, I could format floppy disks for PC use on a Mac.

The file system format itself (currently APFS by default, and HFS+ previously) are less Linux and Windows friendly, I’ll admit. But the partition table is not the issue.

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Having this problem when connecting

So the point is that the disk is not detected, not only the filesystem. Otherwise at least an unknown partition should be displayed. Isn’t it?

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Ah. OK.

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Looks like that partition is formatted with the APFS file system. Linux (and Windows) isn’t going to be able to use that out-of-the-box. You’ll have to reformat that partition as ExFAT.

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Ok I will do it in FAT. But I have fourth option called Other.

1: EXT4 for Linux system only.
2: NTFS for Windows system
3: FAT for all systems use.
4: Other ?

There is an option named Other. Do you know which filesystem it might format ?

Once you hit “Next”, it should give you more options. FYI - formatting will erase all your data on that partition, so if you have data on it now that you want to keep, make a backup first.

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Wouw thats a nice help you posted. There is also shown how to do it in the CLI. Thank you very much :jack_o_lantern:

True about the partition tables, but windows will not show a drive that has only a linux file system on it nor access it even if it has a gpt partition table. In the disk manager it can be seen and can be wiped out but cannot be accessed. That is what I was referring to, not the partitioning.

That is also what is shown in post 11 above.

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If you didn’t need Mac too, I would’ve said to pick NTFS over exFAT. NTFS is nowadays very well supported on Linux (have been using it for 5+ years as daily driver for data partitions), and should work fine on Mac too if they’re using Linux’s ntfs-3g driver. However it seems native NTFS support is still “experimental” on Mac for some reason, although there’s paid software that does the trick: How to use NTFS drives on a Mac | TechRadar

Technically you could also use the usual Linux ext4 format by installing (open source) ext2/3/4 drivers on Windows (ext2fsd) and Mac (fuse-ext2), but I haven’t tried that.

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Yes other you can use fat or exfat developed my microsoft
Xfs linux file system format is also there you can you that also.
And in the upcoming linux 5.15 kernel ntfs support has been improved significantly and it will be far far better once its out so you have to wait for.

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