External Hard Drives Formatted For Mac

Advertisement Updated by Tina Sieber. Windows and Mac OS X use What is a file system and why do they matter? Learn the differences between FAT32, NTFS, HPS+, EXT, and more. Windows uses the NTFS file system for its internal drives, while Macs use HFS+. External hard disks and USB drives are generally formatted with the Windows FAT32 file system for maximum compatibility — most devices, including Macs, can read and write from FAT32 devices.

Some Mac drives may be formatted with the HFS+ file system — some drives marketed to Mac users may even come pre-formatted with HFS+. Windows can’t read this file system by default, but there are ways to read that HFS+ drive from Windows. We show you how to access your Mac-formatted drive on Windows. Install Apple HFS+ Drivers If read access to the files is all you need, you can install the Apple HFS+ drivers for Windows.

Be sure to remove Paragon or MacDrive before proceeding. Download your, then follow these steps. You’ll probably want to use HFSExplorer for this. Unlike all the other options available here, HFSExplorer is completely free. You can use it to access Mac file systems from Windows without paying a dime. Note that you need to run it as Administrator in Windows.

HFSExplorer does require installed. We generally recommend against having Java installed, but it’s necessary here unless you want to spend money. Be sure to disable the Java browser plug-in after installing Java to stay as safe as possible. This tool is fairly simple to use. Connect your Mac-formatted drive to your Windows system, open HFSExplorer, and click File Load File System From Device. HFSExplorer can automatically locate any connected devices with HFS+ file systems and open them. You can then extract files from the HFSExplorer window to your Windows drive.

Note that HFSExplorer is read-only, so you can’t actually modify files stored on your Mac drive or delete them. It also doesn’t integrate with Windows Explorer or File Explorer — files are available in the HFSExplorer application and you must copy them elsewhere. Price: $20, 10-day free trial Paragon HFS+ for Windows is a paid application, but it distinguishes itself with additional features. Unlike HFSExplorer, Paragon HFS+ for Windows provides full read/write access to Mac drives and promises high performance. It even integrates HFS+ file systems with Windows Explorer or File Explorer on Windows. Any Windows program can read from or write to the Mac drive. This application does cost $20, but it also offers a 10-day free trial.

If you just need to recover files from a drive, 10 days is plenty of time to install this file system driver, copy your files over, and uninstall it. If you want to use Mac drives on Windows on an ongoing basis, paying $20 so you can use the drive properly is a pretty good deal. As a bonus, Paragon HFS+ doesn’t require you have the insecure Java installed. Readers noted that this cool caused them an inaccessiblebootdevice error. The fix appears to be to Inside the BIOS you can change basic computer settings, like the boot order. The exact key you need to strike depends on your hardware.

We have compiled a list of strategies & keys to enter., setting SATA mode to IDEA, Safe Mode is an inbuilt troubleshooting feature that allows you to fix issues at the root, without non-essential applications interfering. You can access Safe Mode in various ways, even if Windows 10 no longer boots., doing a System Restore, followed by switching SATA mode back to AHCI in the BIOS. Price: $50, 5-day free trial (trial appears to no longer work) MacDrive is another fairly popular option here. It’s a paid application and is both more expensive and has a shorter free trial than Paragon HFS+. Like Paragon HFS+, MacDrive offers full read/write access via Windows File Explorer fast performance. It also offers disk repair and partitioning tools for working with and creating Mac file systems. These are additional features, but you probably won’t need them.

This tool is a bit pricier than Paragon HFS+, so you’ll likely want to stick with Paragon HFS+ if you want a paid application. If Paragon HFS+ doesn’t work well for you for some reason, you may want to go with MacDrive. Luckily, thanks to the free trials, you can try it out to see if that extra $30 over Paragon HFS+ is actually worth it. Workaround: Linux Live USB Price: free The next best way to access and copy your Mac drive on a Windows system requires a little workaround called Linux Live CD / USB. The concept is simple: You run Linux from a Live CD or USB drive, which will recognize your Mac device. Now you can copy the files to your Windows computer. Use to create a Installing an operating system from a USB drive is quick and portable.

We test a few ISO to USB tools to find the best one for you. , then reboot your system — make sure your BIOS is set to Learn how to change the boot order of your computer. It's important for troubleshooting issues and tweaking settings, and it's a lot easier than you think. — and boot into Ubuntu, where you should be able to read your Mac-formatted drive.

Bonus: Format the Drive Let’s say you have a Mac drive lying around and you no longer have a Mac. You’re not stuck with the Mac file system forever.

External Hard Drive Format For Mac

After recovering the files from your drive with one of the tools above, you can then format the drive and convert it to a standard FAT32 partition that will work with most devices. Formatting will erase all the files on your drive, so be sure you’ve recovered your files first. To format the drive, just use the dialog that appears when you connect the drive to your computer. You can also Your external hard drive may not show up in Windows 10 due to partition, driver, or many other issues. We'll help you fix it! To erase the Mac partition and create a new partition.

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There's a piece of software you can get called HFSExplorer, it's free and available through cnet and straight from the developer It reads the mac drive and you can extract the files a little bit like with packer files. You'll need java for it to work and you can't write to the mac drive through the software but it's handy if all you need is to copy the files over to your windows system. Has a summery on it and lists two others you can choose from. Paragon’s HFS+ for Windows and Mediafour’s MacDrive, both enable the windows system to read the mac drive as a recognizable drive with read/write functions available.