# MAC formatted External Hardrive Windows does not see it



## rentonhighlands (Aug 20, 2005)

I have a external USB hardrive that has been formated using a MAC with OS of Apple OS X and is HFS+. I want to read this hardrive using my PC that has Windows XP PRO (NTFS). When I plug the drive into my computer it sees it as a mass storage device but it does not show a drive letter in my computer. When I look under Computer Manager (disk management) is shows the drive but it has a black line and states the drive is unallocated. I right click on it but I do not get option to assign a drive letter. 
Any Suggestions
I did find this: 
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Macdrive is the only way you will be able to use a Mac formatted drive with Windows. Your only other option is to backup the files of the drive on the Mac, then format it FAT 32, then, and only then, will both platforms be able to read and write to the disk.


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