how to install windows on mac on external drive

Paragon HFS+ allows read/write access to Mac-formatted drives from your Windows PC.

However, if you want to write to it, there are some paid tools available such as Paragon HFS+. Again, this tool is great if you want to use it only to get read access to Mac formatted drives. Now your selected files will be copied to the location specified.

Finally, choose a ‘destination’ to save your files.

Choose the ‘files/folders’ you wish to retrieve and click ‘ Extract’.

This will identify the connected drive and display its contents.

Click on ‘ File’ menu and select ‘ Load File System from device’.

Once the software is installed and the drive is connected, launch the application and follow the steps below. Then connect the external hard drive from which you would like to retrieve files. The pre-requisite of this software is that you have Java on your system. Since it is read-only, you’ll not have to worry about the software causing damage to files on the drive.Īs a first step, download and install ‘HFS Explorer’ on your Windows PC. There are two main advantages of using HFS Explorer, one is that it is free to use and secondly, it is a read-only tool. HFSExplorer is a simple third-party tool to read a Mac formatted drive and copy files from it. Option 1: Use ‘HFS Explorer’ to read a Mac formatted drive Now we’ll walk you through various options to read a Mac formatted drive from a Windows PC. However, if you’re sure that you don’t have to retrieve any files from the drive, you can proceed with formatting. At this stage, please do not proceed with formatting, as this will erase all contents of the drive.

However, if you want to use the same drive with Windows, it’s possible with the aid of third-party tools, which is the main focus of this article.īy default, Windows cannot read Mac formatted drives, so as soon as you connect the drive to a PC, you will receive a message ‘format the drive before you can use it’. If you’re using an external hard drive with your Mac, it is likely to be formatted using HFS+ file system which only Mac’s can read.

How to install windows on mac on external drive