DataLocker Support

The DataLocker comes pre-formatted in the NTFS format due to its superior performance, support, and capabilities for high-capacity hard drives.

Windows Users:
If you require a drive that can be used on multiple operating systems, you may need to reformat the drive in the FAT32 format.

Microsoft has eliminated support for FAT32 formatting for drives over 32GB so you must use a third-party tool for formatting. We recommend Swiss Knife or Rufus for this purpose.

Mac Users:
Mac OS users can read files from an NTFS formatted drive but cannot write files to an NTFS formatted drive. Mac OS users must reformat the drive with the FAT32 format in order to read and write to the drive.

The native Mac HFS format is also supported. Choose this file system if you will only be using the DataLocker drive on a Mac system.

The exFAT filesystem also allows cross-platform compatibility and can be read and written by both Mac OS and newer Windows versions.

Linux Users:
Linux users may use the DataLocker without reformatting if they have an NTFS driver installed.

Here is an excellent tutorial explaining how to install the Linux NTFS driver:

http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_edgy_eft_ntfs_ntfs_3g

If you can not use NTFS drives you must reformat the drive using the FAT32 format.

Below is a summary of the key differences between NTFS and FAT32.

"Article reprinted with permission of www.NTFS.com"