Macs format drives with Apple’s HFS+ file system, which Windows won’t recognize or access without third-party software. Macs may also create a protected EFI partition on these drives that you can’t delete with the usual disk-partitioning tools.

  • Reading a Mac drive on Windows PC quad777 Jan 14, 2014, 11:22 PM Hi Guys Need some help, i recently damaged my Apple Mac mainboard, the HDD is working,i need to read and copy the files from the.
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  • Looking to share an external hard drive between a Mac and PC? The best way to do it is with a drive formatted as FAT32. Though this format has some limitations, it enjoys nearly universal support.

A drive formatted in this fashion can be swapped between a Mac and Windows PC. However, you might choose instead a format you can use easily with OS X, Windows, and Linux. Once you have done with formatting, your external hard drive will be able to write and read files from both a PC and Mac. The resulting FAT32 file system will be compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, and Windows including Windows 10 back to 95.

Some drives are even sold as “Mac-formatted drives” — this just means they come with the Mac HFS+ file system instead of NTFS or FAT32. Macs can read NTFS drives, and can read and write to FAT32 drives.

Back Up the Drive’s Data First

First, back up the data on the Mac-formatted drive if you have anything important on it. This process won’t actually convert the file system. Instead, we’ll just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch. Any files on the drive will be erased.

If you have a Mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a Mac and back up the files. If you only have Windows systems available, you can use HFSExplorer to copy files from the drive onto your Windows system drive or another drive. HFSExplorer unfortunately requires you install Java to use it, but it’s the only free option here. You’ll probably want to uninstall Java when you’re done.

Erase the Mac Partitions, Including the EFI System Partition

RELATED:Understanding Hard Drive Partitioning with Disk Management

First, open the Windows Disk Management tool. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type diskmgmt.msc into the box, and press Enter to open it. This tool allows you to manage the partitions on drives connected to your computer — internal ones or external ones connected via USB.

Locate the Mac drive in the list of disks. Be sure you’ve identified the Mac drive — if you accidentally delete partitions from another drive, you could damage your Windows installation or lose your files.

If you’re lucky, you can just right-click each partition on the Mac drive and select Delete Volume to remove the partitions. You can then right-click in the empty space and select New Simple Volume to create a partition and format it with the Windows NTFS or FAT32 file systems.

The Mac drive may have an “EFI System Partition” on it. This partition is marked as protected, so you can’t just right-click and delete it — the delete option will be disabled.

To erase this partition, we’ll have to wipe the entire disk. This process erases everything on the disk, including its files and all its partitions. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. For example, in the screenshot below, the Mac-formatted drive is Disk 2.

Next, open a Command Prompt window as administrator. To do this on Windows 8 or Windows 7, press the Windows key once, type cmd , and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

Type diskpart into the Command Prompt window and press Enter.

Type list disk at the DISKPART prompt and press Enter to view a list of disks connected to your computer. Identify the number of your Mac disk in the list. It should be the same as the number of the disk in the Disk Management window.

Be sure to double-check this — you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here.

Type select disk # and press Enter to select the Mac disk, replacing # with the number of the Mac disk. For example, here we’d type select disk 2.

Finally, type clean and press Enter. This command erases the entire selected disk, including all its files and partitions — whether they’re protected or not. You’ll have an empty, uninitialized disk after you do this.

Close the Command Prompt window when you see a message saying “DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.”

Create an NTFS or FAT32 Partition

You can now open the Disk Management window again. If you’ve left it open, you may have to click Action > Rescan Disks to update the data.

Locate the Mac disk in the list. It will be completely empty and display a message saying “Not Initialized.” Right-click it and select Initialize Disk.

Select the MBR or GPT partition table format and click OK to create a partition table for the disk.

Right-click in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select New Simple Volume. Use the wizard to create a partition with the NTFS or FAT32 file system. The drive will now be formatted for use by Windows systems. There will be no space wasted by protected Mac partitions.

Some Mac functions require an HFS+ formatted drive. For example, Time Machine can only back up to HFS+ formatted drives.

Image Credit: Konstantinos Payavlas on Flickr

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Hello,

Thank you for posting the query on Microsoft Community. I am glad to assist you on this.

Unfortunately there is no such application in Windows to read MAC files on an external hard drive. However, I would suggest you to find any third party application using your favorite search engine and see if it helps.

DISCLAIMER

Using Third Party Software, including hardware drivers can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Third Party Software can be solved. Using Third Party Software is at your own risk.

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you need any further assistance.

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Thanks for the prompt reply but I can understand your reason for providing such a 'safe' reply. I continued to search and I'vre run into a program called Paragon HFS.. still haven't tried it yet.. will post results as soon as I can.

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Laptop Hard Drive Reader

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Hi,

We suggest you to try the software and reply with the results.

• Select Internal Memory Card Reader and look for the Speed entry. If you use a Mac desktop computer: • Select Hardware, then select Card Reader. If you use a Mac notebook: • Select Hardware, then select USB. To determine the maximum transfer speed of your Mac, you can use System Information. Speed reader for epub mac 10.5.8. Choose Apple () menu > About This Mac and then click System Report.

Note:

Using Third Party Software, including hardware drivers can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Third Party Software can be solved. Using Third Party Software is at your own risk.

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So the Paragon software was a waste of $20 bucks and it resolved nothing. RossmanRepairGroup.com repaired my MacBook Pro which I am using right now.. the ? remains.. How can i transfer my files from mac to PC? I borrowed my girlfriend's PC and I searched the net and I was able to download a program called Fat32Formatter.. very simple file you just unzip and run. it doesn't even install anything on your computer. The format of the external hard drive took 30 hours.. BUT.. I now have 1 TB of Fat32!! So it was well worth the wait.. just leave it running until it is done. I have transferred all my music, pics, etc to my external drive from the mac and i was able to access and USE those same files on my girl's PC (which is Windows 8 btw) ... In summary: I was never ab;e to get the PC to read from a Mac format HFS drive. I needed both the Mac and a PC to get the job done. Just get a hard drive formatted as FAT32 and you can plug it into a Mac, get your files and plug it into a PC.. and you're done. The tough step here is finding the Fat32Formatter that will format the whole drive THIS IS WHAT I USED: http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/ NOTE: This program only works on Windows/PC Good Luck everyone! #F*CKAPPLE

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Old Hard Drive Reader

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I don't get it. If you format the external drive, wouldn't you lose all the files in it?

Anyway, for anyone who is having the same issue, I was searching for this same issue (reading files in a Mac formatted drive from Windows 10) and found HFSExplorer.

Have not tried it yet, but description says it can read only (the files in you Mac formatted external hard drive).

This way, although not being able to edit or write, you can at least copy the files to Windows.

Just not sure about files inside Time Machine backups..

Hope it helps.

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View Mac Hard Drive On Pc

Thank you so much. I had the same issue, and with Time Machine backup files. HFSExplorer did the trick. Then I could extract all my Iphoto pictures and Itunes music to my new Windows computer without a problem.

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