Updated: by Computer Hope For a Windows computer to be able to read a hard drive, it needs to have a format that is compatible with Windows. File systems compatible with Windows include. A hard drive formatted for use in a Mac has either a 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 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. • - Free-to-use program and requires to be installed on the Windows computer.
It allows for access to files on the Mac hard drive. Updating or deleting files on the Mac hard drive from the Windows PC is not possible. • - 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 for easier browsing of the hard drive's files. • - This program is available as a 10-day free trial and can be purchased for $19.95. 2017 messages os x facebook. Like MacDrive, users can view, update, and delete files on the Mac hard drive. It also integrates with Windows Explorer.
![Windows Windows](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z2Yxs.png)
Possibly the best solution to using a hard drive with both Windows and Mac without the use of third-party software is creating two partitions on the drive, one for Windows and one for Mac.