External Disk Reader For Mac

Reader Steven Lange loves his new MacBook Air except for one little thing. The easiest option is to simply purchase an external USB DVD drive. To do that insert the disc in the other Mac.

Reader

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.

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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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Hi,

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

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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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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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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Using an external drive between Mac and Windows computers can be a hassle, since you constantly have to reformat it to fit which computer you're using it on. Instead of reformatting it all the time, just use the much more platform-independent exFAT and never format it again.

Windows' default NTFS is read-only on OS X, not read-and-write, and Windows computers can't even read Mac-formatted HFS+ drives. FAT32 works for both OSes, but has a 4GB size limit per file, so it isn't ideal. You can always install drivers for those other OSes, but that doesn't help when you're sharing files with your friends' computers. Besides, it's kind of a hassle. The exFAT file system is a much simpler option.

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exFAT has been around for awhile, but we've never really talked about it. Essentially, it's a file system that's both readable and writable on any modern Mac or Windows machine (sorry, Leopard users). All you need to do is format the drive on a Windows machine and you're good to go. Note that you can't format it on OS X, you have to format it on Windows for it to be compatible with both platforms (Update: A lot of you are noting that OS X formats these just fine, so your mileage may vary). To do so, just:

  1. Open up Windows Explorer and right-click on your drive in the sidebar. Choose 'Format'.
  2. In the 'File System' dropdown, choose exFAT instead of NTFS.
  3. Click Start and close this window when finished.

From then on, that drive should work fantastically between Mac and Windows machines. It won't work with Linux unless you install Linux's exFAT drivers, but for most people, exFAT is just about perfect.

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Guide: How to format an external drive to work seamlessly with Macs and PCs without third party software | MacTip via Reddit