I transferred all the files from my mac to my hard drive with the hope of transferring the files from the hard drive to my pc. However the hard drive does not show on my pc desktop and i found that you have to format the hard drive with the pc before transferring. However, this deletes all data on the hard drive. Is there anyway to transfer my files across to the pc from the hard drive without having to delete the files on it when formatting?
Hello armadilloalex,
As you transferred the data from Mac to your drive and not able to access the drive on windows, It seems the drive is formatted in Mac OS extended general file system (HFS+) due to which the drive is not accessible in windows.
In order to make the drive work on windows you would need to format the drive on a Mac system using ExFAT file system(Compatible to be used in both Mac and windows) and then re-transfer the data on the drive.
Also, formatting is a data destructive process. There is no way to save the files while formatting.
Thank you for answering my question. So you’re saying that if I were to
format it in this way, I could manually put the files back onto the hard
drive and then transfer them across to my pic?
Yes, if you format the drive in ExFAT file system you can use the drive on both Mac and Windows.
