Top 5 Ways to Read Mac-Formatted Drives on Windows

MAC format drives for iPhone/Ipad or macOS will not appear on Windows. So, if you want to transfer certain files from Windows machine to Apple product, there isn't any easy way to do it. This is because Apple uses a special file system on its system called HFS or a newer version of it called APFS (Apple File System) which is still not used natively in Windows. There are separate paid and free apps that bridge this technology gap and you can easily transfer important files from/to Apple devices.

Methods to read APFS on Windows

There are many ways to read the APFS file system on a Windows computer.

MacDrive

MacDrive is a paid file management tool that provides access to all Apple files on your computer. These are the main features of Macdrive -

1. It is very fast while keeping the protection of the drive intact.

2. It works with APFS and HFS drives, you can transfer files from Windows to MAC devices directly.

3. You can view APFS and HFS drives in File Explorer format.

This tool is free to try for 5 days, then you have to purchase the Standard or Professional version.

Paragon APFS for Windows

Paragon APFS is another tool that can be used to read/write APFS drives. But this does not support the old HFS support. Therefore, any older MAC drives or older iPads will not show up in Paragon.

This is a paid tool available in trial version and then you have to purchase it for further use.

You can download Paragon APFS directly from here.

UFS Explorer Standard Access

The UFS Explorer Standard Access tool can be used to read various files on your computer. This tool, like the other two, is paid.

A key advantage of this tool over Paragon is that it can also read/write HFS storage systems.

How to read only HFS drives

There are tools that can read/write HFS drives for free. Yes! If you have some older MAC devices, you can use some free tools to read them.

Read access only –

If you only need to read these files, just install the HFS driver for Windows.

Note - If you have MacDrive or Paragon installed on your computer, you cannot just install these drivers. In this case, you must uninstall these programs from your computer before you can install the driver.

1. Download the HFS driver package on your computer.

You can download the package using any given link.

2. Now, unzip the " Apple_HFS_Read_Only_Driver_v6.0.1.0" zip file to a location of your choice.

#3. Go to the location where the zip file was extracted.

4. Here, copy the

ApplsHFS.sys driver from here.

5. Now, reach this location –

C:\Windows\System32\drivers

6. Once you reach here,

Paste the driver.

After that, go back to the unzipped folder again.

7. This time, right-click the "

Add_AppleHFS" registry file and click "Show more options".

8. Now, click "Merge" to

merge the registry script with the system registry.

9. A warning message will appear on the screen. Click "

is

" to complete the process.

Next, close all windows you have opened so far and

restart

the system. After the device reboots, plug in the MAC device you have. If the drive is of HFS type it will automatically recognize it and you can see it in File Explorer.

HFSEExplorer

HFSExplorer can easily read MAC drives and files. You can read HFS, HFS, and HFSX from older MAC drives. This is a completely

free

tool that you can use. Although you need to install the Java SE runtime environment on your computer to use HFSExplorer. You can easily install Java in Windows 11.

Please follow the steps below to download and install HFSExplorer.

1. Visit the HFSExplorer website.

2. Here, click "Download

Installer for Microsoft Windows System" to download the installer.

3. Then, run “hfsexplorer-2021.10.9-setup” to start the installer.

4. Follow the on-screen steps and at the last step, click "Install" to install it on your computer.

After that, you can use HFSExplorer to load the MAC file.

This should help you resolve your issue.

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