RELATED: Why Does Windows Want to Format My Mac Drives? Before You Get Started: Back Up the USB Drive First This disk preparation setup process is called “ formatting.” Below, we’ll show you how to set up a USB drive as exFAT for both Windows and Mac. That file system is called exFAT, and it’s designed for flash media cross-platform compatibility. If you’re frequently using both Macs and PCs with the same drive, the ideal solution is to configure a USB drive with a file system that both operating systems can read. And likewise, if you format a USB drive as NTFS on Windows, Macs can read it but not write to it (although there are some ways around it). It also integrates with Windows Explorer.So here’s the problem: If you format a USB drive as APFS on a Mac, Windows 10 won’t read it without third-party tools (and will actually ask to format it). Like MacDrive, users can view, update, and delete files on the Mac hard drive. Paragon HFS+ for Windows - This program is available as a 10-day free trial and can be purchased for $19.95.MacDrive can integrate with Windows Explorer for easier browsing of the hard drive's files.

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.Updating or deleting files on the Mac hard drive from the Windows PC is not possible. It allows for read-only access to files on the Mac hard drive. HFSExplorer - Free-to-use program and requires Java to be installed on the Windows computer.

A few of the popular applications used by Windows to read a Mac hard drive are listed below. Using a third-party application, it may be possible for a Windows computer to read a Mac-formatted hard drive. The HFS and HFS+ file systems are not readable by Windows. For this reason, a Mac-formatted hard drive is not directly compatible, nor readable by a Windows computer. Why not?Ī hard drive formatted for use in a Mac has either an HFS or HFS+ file system. File systems compatible with Windows include FAT32 and NTFS. For a Windows computer to be able to read a hard drive, it needs to have a file system format compatible with Windows.

Disk format for windows and mac