External drives · Using drives with PCs, iPads and other Macs
Can a Windows PC read a Mac-formatted external drive?
Short answer: Not without extra software — Windows can't read APFS or Mac OS Extended and may offer to format the drive (decline). Use a separate exFAT drive or volume, a network share or the cloud to move files between a Mac and a PC.
Not natively. Windows doesn't read APFS or Mac OS Extended, so a Mac-formatted drive appears unreadable (and Windows may offer to format it — decline). Third-party apps can add read access on Windows.
Ways to move files between the two:
- Use a separate drive, or a separate volume, formatted as exFAT, which both read and write.
- Share over the network or through a cloud account.
Keep the drive Storage Studio moves things to in a Mac format; it relies on Mac-specific features exFAT lacks. See why exFAT gets a warning and splitting a drive for PC use.