Is there such a thing as an adapter for Mac External hard drives to PCs?

I used to have a MacBook Pro. I had to buy a special external hard drive specifically for Macs to transfer files and projects over to. My Mac broke and I ended up buying s PC because that was what I could afford at the time. But now, my files and projects are stuck on my eternal hard drives because I can't open them to work off them on my PC. I do not want to buy another Mac just to get these things off. Does anyone know of a solution? Is there an adaptor I may be able to get or something to avoid buying another computer? Thanks in advance.

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krf336 · M

This is why I hate MAC. They are a pain In the ass to interface with anything else.

The answer is no, you dont need an adapter- Or I should say, there is No Adapter.

It depends on what happens when you plug the drives into your PC, if they dont show up at all it might just be a matter of mapping the drives.
If they show up but it says they are in the wrong format then you might be able to convert without losing any data, but that never works very well for me.

They are probably just saved in a different format than PC uses and you might be able to reformat the drives to PC but that might mean losing everything.

The geek squad at best buy or any computer savvy friend could help you.. I recommend buying a PC external drive and having the geek squad move it.
Or if you have a friend with a mac, openthem there and save them to a cloud account, then download them onto your PC drive.

Pain in the ass. Apple Blows.

sweetiepoo · 36-40, F

@krf336 Thank you!

krf336 · M

@sweetiepoo your welcome... hope it works out for you.
Apple makes good computers, I have 2 Mac Mini's but I only use them as an apple TV or to edit some pictures.
They are useless once their own software outgrows their hardware.

eMortal · M

You need someone with a Mac to copy all your data to their computer then format your external hard drive in FAT, after that copy your info back that to that external hard drive. Windows should be able to recognize it after that.

sweetiepoo · 36-40, F

@eMortal thank you.

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kentex35 · 100+, M

@geoam1 it seems even my phone has a Mac address just in case I thought. I'm a doofus in the tech would at times but thought there was an app just for this reason and others

sweetiepoo · 36-40, F

@geoam1 Thank you

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LucyFuhr · 56-60, F

I had the same problem about 10yrs ago and left it in a professional's hands when I couldn't figure it out for myself. It ended up costing me more than buying a new Mac LOL

Apparently, you can read a Mac drive on PC if you format it correctly. I still can't help with that but you'll find a lot of useful links if you Google, "How to Convert an External Hard Drive From Apple to PC".

The only thing I have left to add, is please make sure you back up LOL

sweetiepoo · 36-40, F

@LucyFuhr Thank you!

Crazychick · 36-40, F

No, because the word is "adaptor".

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sweetiepoo · 36-40, F

@Crazychick Oh I'm so sorry I spelled a word wrong when I asked a question 😲😜😂

Crazychick · 36-40, F

@sweetiepoo Apparently it wasn't wrong, it was a regional variation that I wasn't previously told about.

sweetiepoo · 36-40, F

@Crazychick It's cool. No biggie. 😃

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