Windows compatibility and transition notes

BestCrypt is fully compatible across all supported platforms (Windows, Linux and Mac) on the container file level. This means that your containers will work just the same on any other supported platform no matter where and when it was created. However, the platforms themselves are still different and it is useful to be aware of those differences to avoid common pitfalls. For the purpose of this guide let us concentrate on a particular case of transitioning your BestCrypt containers from Windows to Mac.

Filesystem compatibility

Although BestCrypt will open and mount your Windows containers on Mac there may be an issue with the filesystem your container is formatted with. Default file system on Windows is NTFS, however Mac OS X does not support writing to NTFS volumes. This means that you will be able to mount your NTFS container on Mac but OS X will only provide an access for reading it. This is absolutely the same situation you could have had with an ordinary flash drive formatted on Windows in NTFS and mounted on Mac. To avoid this problem either use FAT32 or ExFAT file systems for containers which you want to work on both Windows and Mac with or install a third-party support for writing to NTFS volumes on Mac. Some of those third-party solutions include:

Please note that Jetico, Oy does not take any responsibility for using third party software and any damage it may cause to your system.

The same applies both ways, i.e. Mac OS X will allow you to format new container in HFS filesystem which is not supported on Windows at all. On Windows you will not be able to access those containers even for reading without installing some third-party HFS implementation.

Private keys

If your container uses public/private key pair for authentication you will have to move your keyfiles from Windows to Mac to open your container. Please refer to BestCrypt Public Key Manager documentation for details.