Now that you've got me thinking about this, I'll probably time some identical transfers in HFS+ vs exFAT to see if there really is a speed difference. So because I'm all Mac, I'm always formatting them in HFS+ NTFS, exFAT, FAT32, ext4 File Systems Explained Utilize. If you're all Mac, use HFS+.Īt the end of the day I never really give anyone my cards to upload anyway, I just format an external hard drive into exFAT and dump the footage on that to give whoever needs it. Neither Windows or Mac OS has a native ext2 ext3 or ext4 support. If you need your cards to be uploaded to a PC, use exFAT. I feel like I get faster transfer speeds when uploading footage and I believe there is a bit less chance of card error. I use HFS+ when I know I will be handling the footage because I have all Macs.
I've personally seen no difference in performance while shooting on either format. (I believe Microsoft actually owns the patent for it) exFAT is pretty much USB drive format, playing well with PC and Mac.
Without going into super nerdy detail HFS+ is Mac format and will work well with Mac.
