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# 10.6.5 brings ExFAT - makes sharing files between OSX and Windows easier!
- URL: https://tim.sodhis.org/10-6-5-brings-exfat-makes-sharing-files-between-osx-and-windows-easier/
- Published: 2010-11-11T09:02:53.000Z
- Updated: 2011-02-22T09:52:49.000Z
- Author: Tim Sodhi
- Tags: #wordpress, #Import 2026-01-11 22:49

**EDIT on 02/16/2011 – It works again! 10.6.6\.** Seems the bug was ironed out on 10.6.6\. Thanks all who reported it. I didn’t have the chance to test it out on a Win7 machine (as I was fresh out of one). 

**~~EDIT on 12/09/2010~~** ~~– As Clinton pointed out in the comments below, a partition formatted in OSX as exFAT will in fact not work on Windows 7\. You can however, format the partition in Windows 7 as exFAT to make it r/w on OSX. Sorry for this! I will update when I know more.~~

What a wonderful surprise last evening with the release of 10.6.5, especially for us dual-booters – support for [ExFAT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT?ref=tim.sodhis.org) in OSX! Windows 7 and Vista SP1 have supported it for months, as did the 27″ iMac (mid 2010), but with 10.6.5, this has been released for all. The possibilities are just mind-boggling.

For the first time ever, native support for reading/writing files on a partition by both OSX and Windows! This has been a pipe dream, that has worked dodgily at best. One has had to resort to [MacDrive](http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive?ref=tim.sodhis.org) on Windows to read/write OSX partitions, and poor OSX folk have had to wrestle with NTFS-3G drivers – don’t even get me started on how much I hate NTFS-3G. But with ExFAT, OSX and Windows 7 can work with the same partition with no extra software required. Wow. Just wow.

To get started, just format a partition on your drive, either on OSX or Windows 7 in ExFAT and watch the fireworks! Things like these bring out the geek in me. This alone is worth the update to 10.6.5\. GO GET IT!

[![](https://tim.sodhis.org/content/images/wordpress/2010/11/Screen_shot_2010-11-11_at_8-thumb.50.24_AM.png)](https://tim.sodhis.org/content/images/wordpress/2010/11/Screen%5Fshot%5F2010-11-11%5Fat%5F8.50.24%5FAM.png)