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- Windows view files on a external hard drive apple format drivers#
- Windows view files on a external hard drive apple format mac#
- Windows view files on a external hard drive apple format windows#
If you see this message, it just means that Windows does not recognize the file system on the drive. When you connect a HFS+ formatted drive to Windows, you’ll get a message stating that the drive needs to be formatted in order to be used. The only other option is to format the hard drive and use the FAT32 format for the best compatibility. You can get Windows to do it, but you have to purchase third-party software. Windows is worse in the sense that it cannot even read or write to HFS+ formatted volumes by default. Now OS X can read and write to FAT32 formatted drives, but can only read NTFS volumes. When it comes to file formats, there are a couple of major formats that are used about 99% of the time: FAT32 and NTFS for Windows and HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) for Macs.
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Scroll down to the Not Showing Up section below. If the drive is not showing up in Disk Management or Disk Utility at all, you have some other type of problem. If the drive has a file system not recognized by OS X, you’ll need to erase it and the format it using FAT or HFS+.
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If the drive is showing here, but not on the OS X desktop, then click First Aid to try and repair the drive. If not, go to Disk Utility and check to see if it appears under the heading External. On Macs, the drive should automatically appear on the desktop. If the drive is showing, but you’re getting messages about the drive needing to be formatted, etc., then read the next section below. Pick a letter for your drive and you should be good to go. In Disk Management, just right-click on the disk and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. Normally, Windows does this automatically, but sometimes because of other connected devices, your external hard drive will be recognized, but not have any drive letter assigned to it. If the drive shows up here, but not in Windows Explorer, you might have to assign a drive letter to the disk. In order to figure out whether your problem is related to formatting or to not being recognized, go to Disk Management in Windows or Disk Utility on OS X and see if the drive shows up there.
Windows view files on a external hard drive apple format drivers#
This is usually a problem with drivers or hardware.
Windows view files on a external hard drive apple format mac#
The system disk must have the MBR partition style if you’re running a 32-bit version of Windows.The other main reason is that the drive simply is not being recognized by Windows or Mac and therefore won’t even show up on your system at all. The only disadvantage with GPT is that only 64-bit versions of Windows can be on the system disk (the hard drive that Windows is installed on). GPT (GUID Partition Table) is the newer partition style that has become commonplace with more modern computers, which use UEFI instead of BIOS to boot your system.The BIOS/UEFI is what loads all of the primary drivers, hard drives, as well as your Windows OS. While older Windows PC’s (that have a BIOS) run perfectly fine, it’s becoming obsolete on new PC’s (which use UEFI). MBR (Master Boot Record) is an older partition style that has been around for quite some time.While GPT is often used for hard drives with more than 2 TB of space, there are other advantages, as well. When you format a hard drive on Windows 10, you are prompted to choose GPT or MBR as the partition style. What’s the difference between GPT and MBR? Volume Label: Enter the name you wish to label the drive as.Select the Format of the drive volume with the following settings.Right-click the space that says Unallocated, select New Simple Volume…, and then follow the on-screen prompts.MBR for hard drives with a capacity of less than 2 TB.GPT for hard drives with a capacity larger than 2 TB.When assigning the drive letter, be sure that it’s different than that of hard drives that are currently in use.In these cases, they get formatted and are assigned a drive letter. Some external USB hard drives don’t have the option to be initialized.Right-click the disk that says Not Initialized or Offline, then select Initialize Disk or Online.Click the Windows icon, type Disk Management, then click Create and format hard drive partitions.