Select Four. What file system formats are available in Disk Utility on a Mac

Disk Utility on macOS offers four primary file system formats for users when erasing and formatting a storage device. Apple File System (APFS) is the default for modern macOS installations. Mac OS Extended (HFS+) is provided for compatibility with older Mac systems. For cross-platform use, especially with Windows, Disk Utility includes ExFAT, which supports large file sizes and volumes, and MS-DOS (FAT), which offers broad compatibility with a wide range of devices. These options are directly available in the "Format" pop-up menu within the Erase function of Disk Utility.

B. NTFS: While macOS can read from NTFS-formatted drives, it cannot natively write to or format a drive as NTFS using the standard Disk Utility application.
E. GFS: This is a specialized file system (e.g., Global File System or Google File System) and is not a standard, user-selectable formatting option in macOS Disk Utility.

1. Apple Inc. (2023). File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac. Apple Support. Retrieved from support.apple.com.

Reference Details: The article explicitly lists "APFS (Apple File System)," "Mac OS Extended," "MS-DOS (FAT)," and "ExFAT" as the available formats. It also states, "With macOS, you can read from and write to FAT and ExFAT formatted disks. You can read NTFS formatted disks, but you can’t write to them."

2. Apple Inc. (2023). macOS User Guide: Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac. Apple Support. Retrieved from support.apple.com.

Reference Details: In the section "Choose a file system format," the guide details the use cases for APFS, Mac OS Extended, MS-DOS (FAT), and ExFAT, confirming these are the user-selectable options within the application's interface.