I have an external HDD that I've been using with my Apple laptop (OS X 10.6.8). When I plug it into my Windows 7 machine it appears under Device Manager but does not appear in My Computer and I have absolutely no idea how to access its files. Any help?
Windows will not recognize MAC formatted drives. It can see them but can't deal with the files in HFS+ format so it ignores the drive/partition.
I install MACDRIVE on PCs to do exactly what you are trying to do. It's not free, but cheap enough.
Mediafour - MacDrive 9 Standard and Pro |
I have been using MacDrive8 for some time, but lately the Windows computer will not recognize the drive. It shows in Drive Manager with an exclamation mark, and explanation code 28, device driver missing. I have spent many hours trying to figure out what has gone awry. Tried installing trial version of MacDrive9, but that has made no difference. Updated drivers, etc. using Gigabyte Updater. Still no good. Perhaps someone can help me here?
Sounds like the drive has died.
Your first step should be to check all the connections, use a different power connector, use a different SATA connector, and see if it works.
Second, download the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic program and run it.
If the connections are good and their diagnostic can't find the drive then it may be defective.
I have tried all those options. I can use all my Mac drives, irrespective of format, on my older XP PC with MacDrive9. I think the problem is within the Windows 7 PC. I have updated the USB controllers, etc. from Gigabyte website using their Download Center Tool, but the problem persists. I have tried two identical Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3 drives with no success. Both of them work perfectly on XP, and check out on Mac in Disk Utility as being troublefree. They contain a large archive of files, including MP3, DVD & CD disk images (.cdr & .toast), books in .pdf format, disc labels (.psd) and inserts (Word). Also tried three other portable drives, one with HFSJ format, another with HFS+. Both of those work. When I format a portable drive with Mac OS extended, the drive does not open, and is listed in Device Manager as having no driver (code 28), the same as the two Seagate drives. I have tried uninstalling MacDrive and reinstalling it. Can you suggest what else I might try? I believe this failure has only begun in the last couple of weeks.
Last edited by Bob Pickering; 01 Dec 2013 at 02:43.
Ah - missing information. Since the drives work on another computer then there is little reason to believe that there is a mechanical problem. So we can focus on the problem PC and the OS.
I know that Windows 7 will ignore drives and partitions that are 'foreign' formats and/or alternate operating systems. If a drive contains both HFS and NTFS partitions then Windows will see the drive but only the NTFS partition. Perhaps if the entire drive is HFS then the whole thing gets ignored in Windows 7 but not in XP. I have not tried this, so I don't know for sure.
Perhaps you could test this idea by creating a small NTFS partition on one of the problem drives and then see what happens.
Another test you can try - only to see if the problem lies in the PC or the OS - is to download a copy of UBUNTU for a USB stick. You do not have to install UBUNTU - you can run it straight off the stick. Then see if UBUNTU recognizes the drive and HFS partition.
If it does then the problem is in Windows. If it does not then the problem is in the PC.
Thanks TVeblen. I ran UBUNTU from a bootable CD (never used it before!). All drives are visible and data is accessible. Looks like it's a Windows 7 problem. Can you offer any suggestions to fix it. I tried a repair from the installation disk, but it wouldn't let me do it. I don't wish to make any modifications to the external drives, as they contain backup archives for a now closed organization (muny hundreds of CD & DVD images, labels and inserts, as well as .pdf of published books, lesson notes, etc.
It shows on the Mac as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I have just reformatted another drive in the same manner and the PC won't open it. Reformatted again as Mac OS extended (case sensitive Journaled), and still does not work. Tried as Ex-Fat, still not working.
On that test drive you are using, leave it formatted Mac OS extended (HFS+) but then shrink the partition about 100MB and then format that small partition NTFS. Then see if the drive is recognized in Windows 7.
My thinking is that once Windows recognizes the drive then you can use MacDrive to access the HFS+ stuff.
You will probably need to use Apple compatible software to shrink the HFS+ partition, and Windows compatible software to create the NTFS partition.
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