--- title: "What to know about exFAT drives" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/exfat-drives category: "External drives" tags: ["external drive", "glossary", "data parking"] summary: "exFAT drives work with Storage Studio, with warnings. exFAT can't hold some things Macs rely on, so access lists and some file flags are left out when you move folders there. For a drive you use only with your Mac, APFS is the better choice." updated: 2026-10-01T05:34:22.000Z --- # What to know about exFAT drives exFAT drives work with Storage Studio, with warnings. exFAT can't hold some things Macs rely on, so access lists and some file flags are left out when you move folders there. For a drive you use only with your Mac, APFS is the better choice. Some external drives come formatted as **exFAT**, because Macs and Windows PCs can both read it. Storage Studio lets you use an exFAT drive, but marks it **Compatibility: usable with warnings**: exFAT can't hold some of the things a Mac stores alongside its files. ## What changes on an exFAT drive When you move a folder to an exFAT drive: - **Access lists are left out.** Before every copy, Storage Studio checks whether the drive can hold access lists. exFAT can't, so they're skipped on purpose — otherwise the whole move would fail. - **File flags may be left out.** Finder's **Locked** flag and the hidden flag are copied where the drive can hold them; on a drive that can't, the move still finishes without them. - **Shortcuts and permissions** — Storage Studio's drive check warns that exFAT has known issues with both on macOS. Everything else in [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps) is attempted as usual, and every copy is still checked before your original is removed. But a folder that has spent time on exFAT may come back without some of these details. Everyday documents and media rarely carry an access list or a lock, so for them the difference is usually small. For folders where those details matter, or for a drive you'll keep apps and relocated folders on, use APFS. ```mermaid %% caption: Moving a folder to an exFAT drive flowchart TD A[Move a folder to an exFAT drive] --> B[Contents, names and dates are copied] B --> C[Access lists skipped - exFAT cannot hold them] C --> D[The copy is checked] D --> E{Can the drive hold the Locked and hidden flags?} E -->|Yes| F[Flags copied] E -->|No| G[Flags left out, move still finishes] F --> H[Original removed] G --> H ``` *Flowchart — Moving a folder to an exFAT drive. Outline:* - Move a folder to an exFAT drive - leads to Contents, names and dates are copied - Contents, names and dates are copied - leads to Access lists skipped - exFAT cannot hold them - Access lists skipped - exFAT cannot hold them - leads to The copy is checked - The copy is checked - leads to Can the drive hold the Locked and hidden flags? - Can the drive hold the Locked and hidden flags? - Yes: leads to Flags copied - No: leads to Flags left out, move still finishes - Flags copied - leads to Original removed - Flags left out, move still finishes - leads to Original removed ## Should you reformat? If the drive is only for your Mac, reformatting it as **APFS** gives you the best results. Keep exFAT only if you also need to plug the drive into a Windows PC. Reformatting **erases the drive**, so do it carefully: 1. If Storage Studio already uses the drive, bring your folders back to your Mac first ([Moving a folder back](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/moving-a-folder-back)) and move any apps back from the [Apps window](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-apps-window) — or move everything to another drive with [Transfer to a New Drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/transfer-drive-and-backup-drive). 2. Copy anything else on the drive somewhere safe. 3. In macOS's **Disk Utility**, select the drive and use **Erase**, choosing APFS. 4. Set the drive up again in Storage Studio — see [Setting up your drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/setting-up-your-drive). See also: [Drive formats](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-formats), [exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat), [Access list](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-access-list), [File ownership on external drives](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/file-ownership-on-external-drives). - **How do I move apps to an external drive on a Mac and still launch them?** Dragging an app to another drive can break it, because macOS expects it in /Applications. Storage Studio relocates the app to your external drive and leaves a shortcut in place, so it still launches normally from Launchpad, Spotlight, and the Dock — and you can move it back in one click. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I use an external SSD as extra storage on a MacBook?** Plug in a USB-C or Thunderbolt SSD and let Storage Studio pair it with your internal drive as one workspace. It moves big folders, libraries, and apps to the SSD with a shortcut left behind, so your MacBook behaves like it has a much bigger disk — fast enough to work directly off the external drive. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Can I move my Photos or Final Cut library to an external drive?** Yes — large Photos, Final Cut, and iMovie libraries are common space hogs. Storage Studio relocates them to an external drive while keeping them usable, leaving a shortcut so your apps still find them. Moving a folder to your fast drive keeps its files' modified and created dates, permissions,… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Will moving files to another drive break my apps or Spotlight?** Not the way Storage Studio does it. It leaves a shortcut (symlink) at the original location, so apps, Finder, and Spotlight resolve everything as if it never moved — and the move is fully reversible. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) ## What links here - [Access list (ACL)](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-access-list) - [Choosing an external drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/choosing-an-external-drive) - [Drive formats: APFS, Mac OS Extended and exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/drive-formats) - [File ownership on external drives](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/file-ownership-on-external-drives) - [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps) - [exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat)