05-10-2021

Summary :

If you connect a drive formatted in Mac to a Windows PC, you’ll be prompted to format it before use. That is to say, you are not allowed to view anything saved on it before formatting. But the question is: if you click Format disk, your data will be ruined. This post from MiniTool will introduce several useful ways to help you with that; please read carefully.

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Can You Read Mac Drive on Windows

Many people doubt that whether they can read Mac drive on Windows. Some took action: they removed the drive from Mac and connected it to a Windows PC properly. But after connecting the Mac-formatted drive to Windows, a prompt window will pop up automatically on the screen, saying that they need to format the disk before use.

Don’t Format the Drive

You should click Cancel instead of Format disk when seeing this prompt. Why? That is simply because the formatting action will damage your data saved on that drive. Is there any other way to read a Mac-formatted drive on Windows? Sure, it is; some effective ways used by other users will be shown to you later on this page.

What Does Formatting a Hard Drive Do

Some users said they clicked on the Format disk button by mistake when seeing the prompt window mentioned above; they were wondering if there’s any way to help them recover a formatted hard drive. Luckily, the answer is yes.

What does disk formatting mean?

Formatting a hard disk/drive refers to delete all the file & folders save on a drive and set a certain file system for it. The formatting action is performed to prepare a data storage device (including hard disk drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, and SD card) for initial use. Two of the most obvious results of formatting a hard disk are: deleting data and changing file system.

Besides, there are also other benefits of disk formatting:

  • Get more space on disk.
  • Solve disk problems caused by soft failure.
  • Improve disk/system performance greatly.
  • And so on.

Do you know how to improve Windows 10 performance effectively?

It’s necessary to improve Windows 10 performance effectively since various problems will occur inevitably on a system that has been used for a long time.

Recover Formatted Hard Drive

Mac Os File Manager Free

The first and the most important thing to do after formatting a hard drive is to recover precious data from hard drive. MiniTool Power Data Recovery can be a good data recovery assistant: it’s clean, safe, and professional. Please free download the trial edition to experience this data recovery tool first before you decide to buy it; after that, double click on the setup program to finish installing the software on your Windows computer, on which the Mac hard drives are formatted.

Follow this guide to recover data from Mac formatted external hard drives:

  1. Click Start now at the end of installation to launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery. You can also open it by double clicking on the software icon.
  2. Wait for a few seconds until the disk loading process is finished automatically.
  3. Select Devices from the top of the software pane.
  4. Choose the formatted Mac drive under it.
  5. Double click on the target drive directly or click on the Scan button.
  6. The full scan will be started at once; more and more files and folders will be found during the scan. Please make sure the Mac hard drive is always connected to your computer.
  7. Browse the found items carefully to decide which files are needed and which are not; add a checkmark into the square box in from of all the files you want to recover. If you can’t confirm, go to view the content before recovery by clicking Preview.
  8. Click on the Save button in the lower right corner.
  9. Select a storage path in the pop-up window to store the files waiting to be recovered; please make sure it has enough free space left. (You shouldn’t select the original Mac-formatted drive as the storage location in order to avoid secondary damage.)
  10. Click on the OK button in the same window to confirm your selection.
  11. Then, wait until all the files saved on Mac hard drive have been recovered successfully to appointed place. A prompt window will show up to inform you of the recovery result.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery is also a great tool for recovering formatted SD card or broken/corrupted USB stick.

After the data recovery process has been completed, you may transfer back the recovered files to the formatted disk as long as you can confirm that you’ve got back all the files you need.

What about Windows 10 read Mac drive? Please read the following sections.

Can a Mac external drive be read on a PC?

A lot of people are wondering whether they can read Mac drive on Windows 10 with freeware. In fact, there is both free and paid software to help people read Mac drive on PC easily, without formatting the disk. I’ll introduce some of the useful software you can use on Windows 10 to read files and folders from Mac-formatted drive.

Note: Choice 1 ~ 3 is suitable for reading HFS & HFS+; choice 4 ~ 5 is used to read APFS on Windows.

Choice 1: HFSExplorer

HFSExplorer is completely free; it’s a basic application designed to help users read Mac-formatted hard disks and disk images. HFSExplorer gives support to various file systems: HFS (the Standard file system on Mac), HFS+ (the Extended file system on Mac OS), HFSX (the Extended Mac OS file system with case sensitive file names), etc.

What Does HFSExplorer Allow You to Do

  • Browse volumes on Mac by using a graphical file system browser.
  • Check the volume related information.
  • Extract files you need (copy files to Windows hard disk free).
  • Mount & read disk images like .dmg and .sparsebundle.
  • Create disk images from the volume on Mac.

The partition schemes including Master Boot Record, GUID Partition Table, and Apple Partition Map are supported by HFSExplorer.

Attention!

You need to install Java first if you don’t have it on your PC since it’s required (Sun's Java SE runtime environment version 5.0 or greater in which OpenJDK works fine).

HFSExplorer: Launch error

No Java runtime environment found. HFSExplorer cannot function without Java.

Press “OK” to open up http://www.java.com where you can download a Java runtime environment for your system.

You should just click OK as prompted to download & install proper runtime environment when seeing the window above.

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How to Use HFSExplorer to Read Mac Hard Drive on Windows

HFSExplorer is a good tool to help you read your Mac-formatted drive on your Windows PC.

  1. Connect the Mac-formatted drive to Windows 10 PC.
  2. Run HFSExplorer as administrator.
  3. Select File from the menu bar.
  4. Choose Load file system from device
  5. Click Autodetect to load the connected hard drive.
  6. Choose the files & folders you want to view in the HFS+ drive.
  7. Click Extract in the graphical window.
  8. Select a folder as the destination.
  9. Expand the folder to read Mac drive files on a Windows 10 PC.

Attention:

  • HFS/HFS+/HSFX partitions can all be detected by using HFSExplorer.
  • You can also Select a device or Specify device name manually in step 5.

Apple File Manager

If the connected external hard drive is not showing up on PC, you can’t detect it in step 5. You must make it appear in Windows first.

Is there any other hard drive reader for Windows? Of course, yes; please move on.

Choice 2: Apple HFS+ Drivers

Another way to access HFS + files in Windows 10 for free is installing Apple HFS + drivers.

Tip: The Apple HFS + drivers only give you read access to the files in Mac-formatted drives.

Steps to Read Mac Drives on PC with Apple HFS + Drivers

First, you should make sure you don’t have Paragon or MacDrive (the hard drive readers I will talk about later) on your Windows computer. If you do, please remove them now.

Second, you should download the correct Windows driver package to your local drive.

Third, you should configure your Windows as follow.

  1. Go to the default download path (Downloads folder) to extract the downloaded zip file.
  2. Find AppleHFS.sys and AppleMNT.sys files.
  3. Copy them by pressing Ctrl + C (you can also do it by right clicking & choosing Copy).
  4. Go to this path: C:WindowsSystem32drivers.
  5. Copy them by pressing Ctrl + V (you can also right click on any blank area & choose Paste).
  6. Navigate to the downloaded folder to find Add_AppleHFS.reg file.
  7. Open the .reg file to bring up a Registry Editor prompt window.
  8. Click on the Yes button and then click OK.
  9. Restart your computer to make changes take effect.
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Fourth, you should connect the Mac-formatted drive to your PC -> open File Explorer (also called Windows Explorer) -> locate that drive under This PC -> access files you want.

Tip: You may find the File Explorer has stopped working or not responding when trying to open it; please don’t be nervous since this problem can be fixed.

Choice 3: HFS+ for Windows

Though the Paragon HFS+ for Windows is a paid hard driver reader, you’ll love it after using.

What Can Paragon HFS+ for Windows Do for You

  • The speed is fast and the performance is stable.
  • The Mac file systems are integrated into Windows File Explorer.
  • It provides full read and write access to Mac drives formatted with HFS, HFS +, and HFSX (just like other drives in Windows).
  • It allows Windows programs to read from or write to the Mac-formatted drive on Windows.
  • There are additional features that worth the cost.

How Much Does It Cost

The Paragon HFS+ for Windows is sold on the official website for $19.95 with a single seat license; $49.95 with one license worked on 3 PCs.

If you don’t want to spend money in reading Mac drive on Windows, you should download the trial edition; it is free for use for 10 days. You can access, copy files from or to the Mac drive during this period; it’s enough.

Choice 4: MacDrive

If your Mac drive is formatted with APFS (Apple File System), you won’t be able to read Mac hard drive on Windows because there are no free apps designed for it. But you have many choices of paid applications to access & edit Mac drive files on Windows; MacDrive is a popular one designed by Mediafour.

Merits of MacDrive

  • It is used to help users read data from and write data to Mac disks from Windows directly.
  • You can read both APFS and HFS+ drives in File Explorer.
  • It allows you to create and partition Mac disks on your Windows.
  • A graphical interface is offered for Mac-formatted drives verification, format, and repair.
  • It’s a trusted solution which can date back to 1996.

The only drawback of MacDrive seems to be the selling price is higher than some similar tools. You need to pay $49.99 for the Standard version or $69.99 for the Pro version.

Is it worth the price? Yes, if you have such needs; it also includes unique features like support for Mac-formatted RAID disks.

Choice 5: Paragon APFS for Windows

Paragon also designed an APFS for Windows app for reading APFS Mac drive on Windows; it is considered as one of the main competitors of MacDrive.

Features of Paragon APFS for Windows

  • It provides read and write access to Mac drives formatted with APFS.
  • It also allows you to access and edit compressed and cloned files (you can only access the encrypted volumes without making any changes).
  • It gives support to auto-mounting at start-up; the partition tools of MacDrive are not included in this app.

The biggest disadvantage of Paragon APFS for Windows when compared to MacDrive is the HFS+ support. The biggest advantage of Paragon APFS for Windows over MacDrive is the price – it costs only $49.95 for one license worked on 3 PCs.

Of course, there are many other tools available for you to read Mac drives on Windows (10/8/7, etc.).

Bonus Tip

You can format your Mac hard drive to exFAT, which supports both Windows and Mac OS X. In this way, you can get full read and write access to exFAT drives on Windows without any additional third-party software.

The only thing you need to worry is that the data on Mac drives will be removed. So you need to turn to MiniTool Power Data Recovery as mentioned in part 1 to recover the files you need after formatting.

Manager

How to format a hard drive? Basically, there are three ways.

  • Right click on the drive in File Explorer -> choose Format.
  • OpenDisk Management -> right click on the target drive -> choose Format.
  • Format Partition with MiniTool Partition Wizard – a professional disk manager.

Final Thoughts

Though you can’t access a Mac-formatted drive on a Windows computer directly, there are useful ways and tools to help you read Mac drive on Windows easily. Please just follow the steps mentioned above and choose the tool depending on your needs.

/Mac Cleaner /Top 17 Mac File Explorers to Quickly Locate Files in 2021

Originally file explorer is made available for windows users, that is before called as Windows Explorer, if you would like to have the same Mac file explorer, we have listed some alternatives for you. If you would like to browse on your files on your Mac then file explorer can be a great help for you, since it was designed for application management.

Locating your files on your Mac can be troublesome, you have to go folder by folder or utilize the terminal and run in some commands just to get to the file that you need. If you would like to locate files that can be easier then these apps can help you, there are various options that you may choose from as we go on this article.

Article GuidePart 1. Importance of a Mac File Explorer or ManagerPart 2. Best Selections for Mac File ExplorerPart 3. Conclusion

Part 1. Importance of a Mac File Explorer or Manager

There are several benefits of having a Mac file explorer on your Machine and here is the list of the reasons why it is a must-have on your Mac.

  • You can avoid losing files accidentally
  • Organization for easy decluttering the storage of your disk space
  • Keeps you updated what are the files that you have stored on your Mac
  • It can also improve your productivity by eliminating one of the forms of waste which are trying to find the files that you need to work on or to deliver
  • It also allows you to take full control of the documents in which who can access some high-level files in case that you are working on a shared computer or shared storage

Part 2. Best Selections for Mac File Explorer

For your convenience, we included the description of the apps for Mac file explorer that you may use and even included their advantages and disadvantages so you can choose for yourself.

iMyMac PowerMyMac

iMyMac PowerMyMac is a great all in one application to manage and declutter your files. It scans through your Mac fast and could identify the Junk Files that you may get rid of.

Plus, it locates files that are large in size and old files so you can make a review and remove those to free up some space on your Mac. This also allows you to remove or uninstall applications with its related files because uninstalling apps and moving them to trash will not get rid of its related data on your folders.

Scans on most of the types of Junk Files such as iTunes Junk, Mail Junk, and System Junks. These kinds of junks could not be found easily on your folders and iMyMac PowerMyMac can locate them for you. Since you can view and remove files, also it has a dashboard that lets you see the status of your Mac this is one of the best Mac file explorers.

Path Finder

Most of its features and functionality are alike with OS X’s Finder in terms of management of files, It also includes command line, text editor, and utilities for compression. It also has some connections with Google, the Mail app, and even TeamViewer.

Advantages are it has a great main screen wherein it has info pane, shortcuts that are accessible on Mac and network. There are also sliding panes on the windows so you can access the most recent files, apps, and folders. Includes a dual window that. Other abilities are it can edit texts, the utility for terminals, and archiving files these are uncommon in Mac file explorer. Some of the disadvantages since it can hide the finder and trash, if it has been disabled it could cause some usage issues.

ForkLift on Mac

This has been designed by its developers mainly for its function and not the form, its user interface is quick and easy to understand for a Mac file explorer. Advisable for those who want to have less complicated apps and usually for beginners and should have fewer issues for FTP transfers or File Transfer Protocol by sending files or receiving.

The advantages of ForkLift have a modern interface that allows the users to quickly grasp the functions of its toolbars. Ease of connection since it has a button on its toolbar that you can use to set up the connection since most of the difficulty on FTP’s contains a lot of text boxes and options for file transfer. The only disadvantage though even they developed it as simple as they could, there are still some parts that users might need help with, and they do not have available support for it.

Disk Order on Mac

Mfmanager Mac

It is a double-file organizer that already includes FTP, if you are the type of person who works a lot with file works then this can be ideal for you. Also, if you used to use a PC before than Mac this could give you a good jumpstart, which can also be helpful for notebook users and it allows you to take control even just using the keyboard.

Some of the features it allows you to download and upload FTP’s, from the archive you can extract and browse files, make a preview, and even edit them.

muCommander

This app has a lot of capabilities compared to the basic ones, though since it contains a lot of features this may be advisable for advanced users only. It also supports FTP, HTTP, HDFS, NFS, S3, SMB, and SFTP though it has a prerequisite to have the latest Java on your Mac. It even allows you to modify some zip files without the need of recompressing, you can also edit and add some bookmarks, and added options on the toolbar for easier navigation.

Total Finder

Finder app on Mac lacks features that are convenient to users if you install Total Finder the Finder app will automatically be replaced on your Dock.

Its capabilities that can be useful is it allows you to launch a new tab within rather than opening a folder and lose the existing window. You can activate its dual-pane mode so you can easily manage, organize, and sort your files on your Mac. You can try it for 14 days for free though it would cost $18.00 for the full version as your Mac file explorer.

Flow

If you are the type of person who wants to be classy and elegant even in terms of having an application, then that is the reason Flow was created. It works as finder as well but brings you as well the best in terms of server files also to your folders, It allows you to work remotely as easy and natural with Finder.

Commander One

It has SFTP/FTP and WebDAV or Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning that allows you to connect to several servers and a dual-panel organizer for a Mac file explorer. Moving and Copying files using this tool made it easier because of its dual-panel feature, also it allows you to browse multiple tabs if you are decluttering and can locate files fast.

Supports cloud-based storage as well as OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive and you can add them on your Mac that serves as extra storage for your disk space. It also supports RAR, ZIP, TGZ, TBZ, and 7z for archives and you can access data from Android Services or iOS also Amazon 3 storage.

TagSpaces

This Mac file explorer could help you with organizing and managing your files by adding some tags on them, this allows you to add tags on your files so you can easily locate them. It also includes some basic operations for file management that make it like a file manager that mainly focuses on tagging.

Softtote Mac Free Data Recovery

It allows you to restore files that have JPEG, PNG, MP3, and BMP formats, the most recent update was just on April 23 of 2020. For unfortunate events, this could be your life savior since in case you have deleted files by accident or due to loss of power even by malware or virus attacks. It could also help to restore data files from external storage like Flash Drives, External Hard Drives, and SD cards, though for the free version some formats to recover are limited.

Disk Inventory X

If you would like to find out the status of your disk, and the percentage of files that are taking space on your Mac then you can use this Mac file explorer. It shows a summary of the report or like a dashboard of what is taking space on your Mac, per category has its color so you could identify immediately. It has also the ability to show you using charts, for example, a pie chart and the category for photos is color red and videos are color green. You can also get this app for free.

Putty

This is another FTP tool that you may use, it supports various networks like SSH, SCP, and telnet. If you use terminal for some connections it may not work as Putty does. It keeps the connection alive for FTP’s and that is the advantage of having a putty installed on your Mac.

IOTransfer

A tool that makes transfers between your Mac and iOS devices easier. You can also take full control of the contents of your iOS device on your Mac. For files like music, videos, books, photos, voice memos, and podcasts the transition will be smooth from a Mac device to iOS device seamlessly.

ShareIt

A sharing tool that allows you to share files with anyone who has the same app installed on their Mac or device. It can share files regardless of the size, all you have to do is to upload the file and you may copy-paste the link for download and attach it on your message. Its interface is easy to use, just needed some few clicks on its toolbar and you can share files.

Post Haste

A good app for file organization, its main function is to help you manage and organize folders within your preference. It is commonly used for project management, you can arrange folders by project name, the name of the client and add the dates.

It also has a template generator wherein it can be helpful on your files and even allows you to make some changes like editing. Good thing as well is you can share this with others, you can select the location of the template on a shared network or shared storage within your organization.

FE File Explorer

Another Mac file explorer that can be accessible on iOS, Android, and macOS. Its capability is not limited to your local storage you will have access to your Machine and cloud-based storage as well. It allows you to transfer files from one location to another, you can also stream videos and music into mobile devices or on your Mac. You can view and organize your documents, files, and photos without the need of downloading them.

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Moroshka

Free of charge app that has a feature of two windows management of files with a classy interface. It allows you to do some filtering and sorting of files for accessibility and convenience, it also supports UTF8 encoding and Windows. You can manage bookmarks so you can jump on one file to another, and lets you take a preview on files for photos, videos, and music. It also displays the size of the file and its specified location.

Part 3. Conclusion

Machine or device users need to have a Mac file explorer and manager on their system, the main objective is for the users to have the convenience. Another importance is it helps you keep your files organized so you would not be guessing where some files are has been saved.

Apple File Manager For Mac

Though some of the apps listed above have only one or two functions and having tons of apps installed on your Mac can take up some space on your disk space. The reason behind you can always get an all in one app that can-do various stuff for your Mac like iMyMac PowerMyMac, not only it allows you to manage your files but can also help you protect your privacy.

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