We do not recommend storing your libraries and content on an external drive to be used by both a Mac and Windows computer. It may cause performance issues.
What about exFAT?
Drives formatted as 'exFAT', which technically allows the drive to be used with both Mac and Windows computers, will cause issues such as:
- Slow library loading times in Kontakt, Komplete Kontrol and Maschine
- Playback can become glitchy
- More prone to corruption when data transfer is disturbed
What about Mounty / Paragon / Tuxera etc.?
There are some applications which allow you to connect a NTFS (Windows default format) drive to a Mac computer. But we have received many reports of problems using these applications over the years.
What are my options?
If using Native Instruments software on a Mac and Windows computer, we recommend using separate external drives specifically for each OS.
For best results, your external drive should be formatted the same as your operating system's native format. These are listed below:
| Operating System | Disk Format |
|
Windows |
NTFS |
|
Mac OS X 10.12 and earlier |
HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) |
|
macOS 10.13 and later |
Apple File System (APFS) |