Reformat external hd mac to windows how to#

Reformat external hd mac to windows how to#

How to Read Mac Drives on WindowsДЄlthough both operating systems are incompatible, you can still read APFS format files on Windows.

However, Windows by default canвЂ™t read these file systems. New Apple devices will be formatted with APFS while old Mac drives can use the HFS file system.

The best news is that most devices included Mac computers can read and write from FAT32 devices. USB drives and external hard drives use the Windows FAT32 to format for compatibility. Apple now uses APFS or the Apple File System and Windows uses the NTFS file system for its internal drives. Windows CanвЂ™t read Mac Drives as they both use different file systems. Unfortunately, itвЂ™s a simple process like connecting the drive to a computer using a USB and reading the files. Can You Read a Mac Formatted Drive on a Windows Computer? Although you can find third-party software to get Mac hard drives to work with NTFS, and windows to work with HFS, these cost money, and you may have to deal with bugs or request for permission to install the software.ДЇortunately, you donвЂ™t have to struggle anymore, hereвЂ™s a detailed guide on how to convert Mac hard drive to Windows without losing data. Windows uses NFTS file format while Mac drives use HFS, this means Macs canвЂ™t write to NTFS drives while Windows canвЂ™t read or write HFS. YouвЂ™ll need to convert your Mac hard drive to Windows. However, what happens when you get a mac hard drive that wonвЂ™t work with Windows? You may need to reformat it to work with both computers. If you donвЂ™t have a robust internal hard drive, investing in an external hard drive can help you quickly transfer files between computers.