External Hard Drive Software For Mac On Pc
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For a Windows computer to be able to read a hard drive, it needs to have a file system format that is compatible with Windows. File systems compatible with Windows include FAT32 and NTFS.
Jun 22, 2018 But writing to that drive? Well, that's a little more complicated. This is due to the fact that NTFS, the file system utilized by Windows PCs, has limited support on Mac. While you can read files from these drives just fine, if you need to write to a PC-formatted hard drive, you'll need some third-party software to get the job done. May 14, 2019 This walkthrough works with any external/internal hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, or SSD, so you can apply the same process to any other storage device that is accepted by Mac & PC. How to format a Drive for Mac and Windows PC. To make a drive compatible with both Mac and PC, we need to format it to either FAT or ExFAT. Options For Having An External Hard Drive for Mac and PC Without Formatting. Use a Software Solution – You get a piece of software that sits on your Mac. Or one for your Windows PC. This software acts like a translator. It interprets what is on the external hard drive so that your Mac or PC can read and write to the drive. For non-GoFlex drives, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther or later works with local NTFS-formatted volumes, but the volume will be read-only. You will be able to copy data from, but not to, the external hard drive. With FAT32, it is recommended that the volume/partition size of the external hard drive not exceed 32 GB.
Why not?
A hard drive formatted for use in a Mac has either an HFS or HFS+ file system. For this reason, a Mac-formatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a Windows computer. The HFS and HFS+ file systems are not readable by Windows.
What are my options?
Using a third-party application, it may be possible for a Windows computer to read a Mac-formatted hard drive. A few of the more popular applications used by Windows to read a Mac hard drive are listed below.
- HFSExplorer - Free-to-use program and requires Java to be installed on the Windows computer. It allows for read-only access to files on the Mac hard drive. Updating or deleting files on the Mac hard drive from the Windows PC is not possible.
- MacDrive - Available as a 5-day free trial and can be purchased for $49.99, MacDrive allows users to view, update, and delete files on the Mac hard drive. MacDrive can integrate with Windows Explorer for easier browsing of the hard drive's files.
- Paragon HFS+ for Windows - This program is available as a 10-day free trial and can be purchased for $19.95. Like MacDrive, users can view, update, and delete files on the Mac hard drive. It also integrates with Windows Explorer.
Additional information
This post will teach you how to format an external hard drive or a USB flash disk so it can be used on both Mac and Windows PC.
If your hard drive is only working with Windows or Mac, then its file system is probably NTFS (Windows only) or APFS (Mac only). To make it compatible with both Mac and Windows PC, we need to convert the file system to FAT or ExFAT, which is accessible from both operating systems.
You may see a file system called FAT32, it’s just a variant of FAT. Actually, FAT32 is the only version of FAT that is still widely used.
Important note: formatting a drive deletes permanently all data stored in it. You should make a copy of your drive’s data on your computer before proceeding.
This walkthrough works with any external/internal hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, or SSD,… so you can apply the same process to any other storage device that is accepted by Mac & PC.
How to format a Drive for Mac and Windows PC
To make a drive compatible with both Mac and PC, we need to format it to either FAT or ExFAT. Before deciding which file system you should use, let me explain the differences between these two.
- FAT is the most widely compatible file system. It even works with video game consoles, Android USB expansions, and many other devices.
- ExFAT also works with all operating systems, but it may not work on older versions of Mac OS X, Windows, some Android devices and media players. The PC needs to run Windows XP and later, and the Mac needs to run Mac OS X 10.6.5 and later.
- FAT only supports files up to 4GB in size and your hard drive must be 8TB or less. If you have ever seen a dialog box saying “Your file is too large for the destination”, then FAT is what causes it.
- ExFAT has no limitations on file sizes or hard drive sizes.
- When it comes to writing and reading data, ExFAT is faster.
Most of you 001dwould choose ExFAT as it outperforms FAT in 001dmost aspects.
Here’s how to format your hard drive to FAT or ExFAT on Mac.
Step 1: Open Disk Utility on your Mac. You can quickly search for it in Spotlight Search or find it within the /Applications/
Step 2: Connect your external hard drive to the Mac. If you Mac
Step 3: Click the drive name, then click Erase. Click the pulldown menu alongside Format and select MS-DOS (FAT32) or ExFAT.
Step 4: Click the Erase button to start formatting the drive for Mac & PC.
After formatting, your drive will be compatible to work with both Mac and Windows PC.
The above process is performed on Mac. If you want to do it on Windows, here’s how:
Step 1: Plug in the drive and open Windows File Explorer.
Step 2: Go to This PC (aka Computer or My Computer).
Step 3: Find the drive and right-click on it, select Format…
Step 4: Click the drop-down menu beneath File system, and select your file system of choice (FAT or ExFAT).
Step 5: There is a checkbox for Quick Format under Format options. If you uncheck it, the computer performs a normal format – files are removed and the drive is scanned for bad sectors. If it’s checked, only the files are removed and no scan is performed.
Step 6: Click Start then OK to confirm that you want to format the drive.
Good External Hard Drive For Mac
Read & Write NTFS hard drive on Mac
NTFS is the default file system for drives on Windows. You’re able to mount and read NTFS formatted drives on a Mac. But if you want to write to them, you need to either use third-party software or enable NTFS writing on the Mac.
External Hard Drive Software For Mac On Pc Mac
If you need to use the external drive on the Mac and the PC just for a couple of times, you can go with that. Otherwise, you should choose FAT or ExFAT for long-term use.
External Hard Drive For Pc To Mac
Dan is a web developer, a digital nomad, and a lifelong Apple fan. At iPhonebyte, his job is to help you get the most out of your iOS and Mac devices. Read the story about him and the website here.
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