Working with Mac (HFS) drives (self.Windows10) submitted 3 years ago by SharpTenor I have a new Windows 10 machine, and a LaCie 2big external thunderbolt drive I need to access. Need to copy files from a Mac-formatted HFS hard disk on a Windows PC? We show you how to do it for free. It even works with Windows 7 64-bit.
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A number of Mac owners have installed Windows on their Macs for a variety of reasons. While some users have installed Windows on Mac without the Boot Camp Assistant software, most users have installed Windows using the native Boot Camp Assistant software.
If you have installed Windows 1o/8 on Mac with or without the help of Boot Camp, you probably are aware of the fact that one can’t write to Mac’s partition from Windows with default settings. That is, while you can open a file located on the Mac’s partition, you can’t edit and save a file located on Mac’s partition.
This also means that you can copy files from Mac partition to Windows but can’t copy or move a file to Mac partition while using Windows operating system. This is because Apple has included read-only HFS+ driver with Boot Camp and it lets you only copy and open files saved on Mac’s HFS+ partition.
Whenever you attempt to copy a file to Mac’s partition, you see Destination Folder Access Denied dialog box with “You need permission to perform this action” message. Even though this certainly provides a better security for Mac OS X, you can’t write to Mac’s partition without adding HFS+ write support to Windows.
There are plenty of applications out there to enable write support but most of them either don’t work and the programs that work aren’t free.
Paragon HFS+ driver for Windows 10 and 8.1
Mac users who have installed Windows 10/8.1 on their Macs can now download HFS+ driver for free of cost. Yes, Paragon Software has recently released free HFS+ driver for Windows 10/8.1 to help users easily copy and move files to Mac’s partition from Windows 10/8.1.
The good thing is that you can add HFS+ full support to Windows 10/8.1 by simply installing this HFS+ driver and don’t need to configure at all. Visit the download link mentioned at the end of this article, download HFS+ driver for Windows 8/8.1, and then install the same. Once installed, you’ll be asked to perform a reboot to add HFS+ support.
After installing HFS+ driver in Windows 10/8.1, you can copy and move files to and from your Mac’s drive without any errors and restrictions. Please note that HFS+ driver for Windows 10/8.1 doesn’t support Windows 7 and you need to purchase HFS+ driver for Windows 7, meaning Paragon HFS+ driver for Windows 7 isn’t free.
Download HFS+ driver
NOTE: Although HFS+ driver for Windows 10/8.1 from Paragon Software is free, you need to provide your email ID in order to receive free license key. While installing the HFS+ driver, you’ll see a screen asking product key and serial number. Simply click Get free serial button, type your email ID and click send button to receive serial number and serial number.
If you dual-boot your Hackintosh, you've probably noticed that Windows can't read hard drive partitions used by Mac OS X. Mac OS X uses the HFS+ hard drive format, which Windows doesn't support. Luckily, you can enable HFS+ support on Windows with the help of one or two Windows drivers (depending on your budget). Read past the break for a tutorial on how to access your Hackintosh's Mac OS X hard drive partition from Windows.Having read/write access for your Mac partition on Windows will come in handy if your Hackintosh becomes unbootable, because you'll be able to boot into Windows to recover your files (and possibly fix your Hackintosh's boot problem). On top of that, it's simply convenient.
LATEST UPDATE (January 26, 2013): Added Apple's Boot Camp Drivers to the article.
Free Hfs Reader For Windows
Paragon HFS+ ($20)Paragon HFS+ ($20) is a Windows application that mounts all of your Mac hard drives in Windows Explorer (a.k.a. My Computer) and gives you read and write access. There's a 10-day trial available. Paragon HFS+ runs in the background and automatically starts on bootup, so accessing your Mac drives will feel exactly like accessing normal Windows drives.
Paragon is the same company that makes NTFS+ for Mac OS X, my recommended solution for enabling NTFS write support on Mac OS X Lion. If you're looking for an alternative to Paragon HFS+, then you can also consider MacDrive ($50; 5-day trial), which is the solution that I'm currently using on my own Hackintosh. It has a higher price tag and doesn't offer much more than Paragon HFS+, but it's an option. If purchasing apps is not an option for you, check out the following section.
Mac Hfs Reader For Windows
Apple Boot Camp Drivers (Free)Apple's Boot Camp software is designed to help you run Windows on real Macs. Among other things, Boot Camp includes built-in HFS+ drivers for Windows. These drivers will mount your Mac hard drives in Windows Explorer and give you read access (but no write access). If you don't need to write any files to your Mac hard drives, using them is a free and relatively pain-free solution.
While the HFS+ drivers are normally packaged as part of Apple's Boot Camp Assistant software, you can download them separately below.
DOWNLOAD: HFS Driver v.4.0.2.0
The above download is a ZIP file; open the file in Windows by double-clicking it. Once opened, double-click the 'Add_AppleHFS.reg' file. This will add the Boot Camp drivers to your Windows registry.
Next, open either the 'For 32-bit Windows' or 'For 64-bit Windows' folder, depending on your copy of Windows. (To find out whether your copy of Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit, click on the Start Menu, and then right-click on 'My Computer' and go to 'Properties'.) Inside these folders are two device driver files. Copy these two files to C:WindowsSystem32drivers. This will install the actual drivers into Windows; reboot your computer afterwards. Once Windows has restarted, your Mac hard drives will be mounted, and you will be able to read files from them properly.
NOTES:
- This method has only been confirmed to work with Windows 7 and Windows 8.
- You must uninstall Paragon HFS+ or MacDrive from your computer before installing Apple's HFS+ drivers.
- To uninstall Apple's HFS+ drivers, delete the two driver files from C:WindowsSystem32drivers. Restart your computer. Then, double-click on the 'Remove_AppleHFS.reg' file to remove the drivers from your Windows registry.
SOURCE: Apple HFS+ Windows Driver (Download) [MacRumors]