Cross-platform Nirvana with MacDrive 11

Why now? Why not MacDrive 10 or other third-party tools?

Before the release of MacDrive 11, the right tool didn’t exist. MacDrive 11 is the only solution that provides full read-and-write support for APFS volumes.

A little history: For the past five years, Apple has shipped every Mac with APFS, a modern file format optimized for SSDs. APFS replaced HFS+ as the default file format in macOS and provides better performance, reliability, security (encryption), and efficiency than previous file systems.

Simply put: APFS is the best choice for drive formats in mixed environments for most cases. Here's how things break down:

If you’re Mac only? APFS is the best drive format for 95% of video/audio/post-production workflows. Yes, there are exceptions (see below).

If you’re in mixed environments? Now is the time to migrate to APFS.

The workflows I embrace are consistently cross-platform, seamlessly integrating Macs and Windows systems. Up till now, I’ve been advocating mostly HFS+ on external storage. Not anymore.

Before MacDrive 11, there hasn’t been a tool that can:

• Support both APFS and HFS+ on Windows. Creatives in cross-platform workflows now just work and ignore what the drive was formatted.
• Fully support APFS read and write—even if the volume has duplicated files or has been backed up by Time Machine.
• Access SoftRAID and Apple RAID 0/1 volumes.
• Handle APFS snapshots and clones.
• Create APFS or HFS+ volumes on Windows.
• Have a Read-only option (great for forensic use or sensitive data work)

MacDrive 11 also offers crash protection and is the only solution that ensures if an APFS disk is unexpectedly unplugged from your Windows machine, existing files and data will be safe and won't be corrupted.

With the MacDrive 11 release, I’m migrating all my media drives (SSDs, RAIDS) to APFS. There are exceptions—if you’re using a single spinning disk? I’d still go HFS+.

APFS exceptions

There are a couple of situations where APFS isn’t the right choice.

• An all-Windows facility or a facility where the creatives use significantly more Windows systems than Macs. Then I’d pick NTFS (and a utility to give Mac NTFS write capability).

• Traditional spinning hard drives. (That said, I’d encourage you to upgrade your key spinning disk to an SSD if you can. Just time savings alone will pay for the upgrade.)

• A legacy Mac that needs/requires OSX 10.12 (Sierra) or earlier. If this is you, you know to be protective of that system.

Do you still hate exFAT?

Despite writing an article titled “ExFat is not your friend,” I do not harbor hatred towards exFat. I approach it cautiously due to my experiences with professional circumstances fraught with corruption and headaches that can be directly attributed to ExFat.

Quick Transfer? Fine. Everyday use/plugged in? I’d avoid it.

Aren’t there other utilities on the market?

Yes, several utilities are available on the market, but they all suffer from significant flaws when handling APFS.

These flaws include the inability to handle multiple volumes, difficulty dealing with encryption, the incapability of creating APFS or HFS+ volumes, and a lack of a true low-level driver.

Conclusion

There’s quite a bit more that I have to say on the topic (in an upcoming article), but here’s the summary:

If you’re in an All-Mac environment, I suggest switching your Media Drives to APFS.

If you are working in a Mixed Mac/Windows creative environment (more Macs than Windows), APFS & MacDrive 11 make Media Drive exchange invisible between the operating systems.

MacDrive 11 with APFS support is available now and you can get a five-day free trial by clicking here.