Want to use one external drive for both your Windows PC and your Mac machine? One hurdle you'll face is that, by default, these platforms use different filesystems. Windows uses NTFS while Mac OS uses HFS, and they're incompatible with each other. However, you can format the drive to work with both Windows and Mac by using the exFAT filesystem. Here's how.
In this guide, we're using exFAT instead of FAT32, another filesystem that both Windows and Mac can read and write to, because FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit whereas exFAT can work with files as large as 16EB (exabytes). exFAT also performs better than FAT32.
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External hard drives are handy for transferring data between computers or as additional backup space. But if you try to use an external hard drive that's been formatted for Mac OS, you'll find that it will not work on your PC. To convert an external hard drive from Apple to PC you'll have to format the drive so that it can be read by the Windows operating system -- a process simplified through the built-in disk management tools of Windows.
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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.If you have an NTFS formatted disk, you must use another method to transfer the data from the Mac computer to the NTFS formatted external drive.
Some Seagate external drives, such as the FreeAgent Go for Mac and FreeAgent Desk for Mac, come formatted in MacOS Extended format, which is supported by Mac OS 8.1 and later.Others, which come formatted in NTFS, need to be reformatted in MacOS before you attempt to store data on the drive. See Document ID: 207851 for instructions. When you format your external hard drive, it should be formatted for Mac OS Extended. If you are transferring data from an OS 10 system to an OS 9 computer, or trying to access the data through OS 9 (with a drive formatted through OS 10), you will need to have installed OS 9 driverswhen you erase the drive. Otherwise, transferring data between OS 10 operating systems should work.
HFSExplorer is completely free. You can use it to access Mac file systems from Windows without paying a dime. The developer hasn't updated it since October 2015 due to the arrival of APFS, but it still works on older systems.
If you have a Mac drive lying around and you no longer have a Mac, you're not stuck with the Mac file system forever. 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.
If you need to work with Mac-formatted drives on a regular basis and you want the operating system integration, speed, and write access, Paragon HFS+ is a great choice and will be worth it for you. But, if you just need to get some files off a Mac-formatted drive occasionally, this is overkill and you can save $20 by sticking with HFSExplorer.
Paragon does offer a 10-day free trial of HFS+ for Windows, so you can give it a try and see if it works for you. And, if you just need to get files off of a Mac-formatted drive once, you can just use the trial and be done with the application by the time it expires.
yes I could, but I don't have working DVD drive on that PC. And since I am using MacBook Pro myself I thought I could use its spare HDD, install Windows on it and then just put that HDD in a PC since it's the same type. Not sure if that's doable tho..
If there are no important files kept on the drive, you can move on to know how to format external hard drive for Mac and PC, choose a file format that works on either Mac, PC, or both.
Among all the 10 formats (file systems) you can select in macOS 10.13 or above the APFS is the suggested one, because it has the most recent features to work with the best performance and data management. However, it is only compatible with macOS. If your goal is to format drive for Mac and PC, you have to choose FAT or exFAT, compatible file formats for Mac and Windows. And finally, all the other file formats are only used for Mac.
2. Then set the disk information in the Format Partition screen, including allocation unit size, volume label, and format. If you want an interchangeable drive to use on both macOS and Windows, you must choose FAT or exFAT, the format works on Mac and PC.
If you want to use the same disk on both Mac and Windows computers, you need to choose a format compatible with Mac and Windows, be it the FAT32 or the exFAT. But if you prefer to use the external drive on only one of the operating systems, you can choose APFS (Apple file system) for Mac and NTFS for Windows to work to the utmost extent. To enjoy the features of NTFS on Mac or APFS on Windows, you need the help of a third-party program.
Instead of having the whole external drive formatted, you can also partition a Mac hard drive into two partitions to make the disk work on Mac and PC. One is formatted with a macOS-supported file system, another with a Windows-supported file system conversely. By this means, you can use all the advantages each format has on the respective system with the same drive.
By creating two separate partitions, you can use this external drive on Mac and Windows. You won't be able to write to the Mac partition from your Windows PC, and vice versa. Thus, it's a good solution for people who need to swap the same drive between two operating systems but with separate work.
In conclusion, it is easy to format the external hard drive for Mac and Windows. You can either choose to format the whole disk as exFAT/FAT, or you can create two separate partitions of Mac OS Extended and NTFS if you prefer. Anyway if you have more than one external hard drive containing important files and want them to be interchangeable between PC and Mac computers, it's much easier to have a solution that allows your computer to work in any of them. For example, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a better and more feasible solution.
An external hard drive that supports both Windows and Mac operating systems can be extremely helpful to users who work on both the operating systems. However, Windows was mainly optimized for NTFS (New Technology file system) format, on the other hand, APFS was created for the Mac OS.
This solution is a little different than the previous two because instead of having one hard drive that works with both machines, you're splitting your HD into two sections, each dedicated to a different OS. For example, if you have a 1TB hard drive, 500GB of storage can be used with your Windows computer, and 500 will be dedicated to your Mac computer.
Is there an external hard drive that works for both Mac and PC? Yes, all brands of external hard drives can work for both Mac and PCs with a suitable file system format that both Windows and macOS support. Follow this page, and you'll get a complete guide allowing all Windows and Mac users to successfully make their external hard drives interchangeable for Mac and PC. Let's get started here.
To make your external hard drive work on both Mac and PC, it's essential that you set a file system format that is compatible with both Windows and macOS operating systems. So which format is the best for your external hard drive? Check the detailed information of standard file system format, and you'll learn which is the best for your external hard drive:
As a secondary hard disk space, external hard drives are considered to be one of the most portable devices that store data and frees up a humongous amount of space in your system. Here are the few steps that'll help you to attach and fetch data from your external hard drive to your PC if you are working on Windows:
When you attach your external hard drive to Mac, it should be ready to use. However, you might want to take some precautionary steps before mounting your drive for expected results. There are certain things that you'll have to keep in account, such as the drive you are using is pre-formatted to FAT32 since it is readable and writable on both Windows and OS X systems. This way, the drive can work on multiple platforms without being interrupted. A disadvantage that has been seen in FAT32 drives is that with the Master Boot Record partition scheme, this device is not capable of working with Apple's Core Storage routines, not allowing OS-supported encryption of the external hard drive.
This article was co-authored by Jeremy Mercer. Jeremy Mercer is the Manager and Head Technician at MacPro-LA in Los Angeles, CA. He has over ten years of experience working in electronics repair, as well as retail stores that specialize in both Mac and PC. This article has been viewed 463,544 times.
macOS requires applications like Drive for desktop to ask for permission to access certain folders and devices including your Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folders, removable and network volumes, and your Photos library. 2ff7e9595c
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