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Topic: Operating Systems

Mac HFS+ read-write support for Windows

Summary: Storage utility software vendor Paragon Software Group on Tuesday said it had tweeked its Universal File System Driver technology to support Mac volumes on Windows systems. The driver is in beta release.

David Morgenstern

By for The Apple Core |

Storage utility software vendor Paragon Software Group on Tuesday said it had tweaked its Universal File System Driver technology to support Mac volumes on Windows systems. The driver is in beta release.

The company said its Paragon HFS for Windows beta driver will support read-write functions for Mac OS X volumes; it will not support older Mac Classic volumes. In addition, there is no limits to maximum file/partition sizes (other than the usual Mac and Windows limits).

It is well known that Windows cannot read from and write to HFS+ partitions. This limits the ability to exchange or share files between Windows and Mac OS X file systems? Occasionally, users will rely on the services of FAT partitions which can be read and written to by both Windows and Mac OS X. FAT partitions have disadvantages and limitations as well (i.e. you can not store/create files greater than 4GB in size). Moreover, what if your data is already stored on Mac-formatted partitions but you don’t have time or tools to migrate to Windows-formatted partition (NTFS) to preserve the integrity of the data?

Paragon HFS for Windows is designed to provide full (read and write) access to HFS+ partitions. It can be installed on all versions of Windows, and eliminates the need to use complex processes on different platforms, thus reducing  your incurred costs.

Topics: Operating Systems, Apple, Hardware, Software, Windows

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22 comments
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  • Dataviz?..

    This capability has been available for years from Dataviz (of Maclinkplus and DocumentsToGo fame):

    http://www.dataviz.com/purchase/shopdvz/detail.html?prod_id=1136
    daftkey
    Reply Vote

    • Mediafour, not DataViz

      While MacDrive may be available for purchase through DataViz, it is developed and sold by Mediafour: http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

      Version 8 of MacDrive (with Windows 7 support among other features) has hit release candidate stage, according to their web site.
      rsfinn
      Reply Vote

      • Ack - you're absolutely right! Thanks! (nt)

        nt
        daftkey
        Reply Vote

      • Pedant.

        no one cares but you.
        Spiritusindomit@...
        Reply 1 Vote

  • Good Company

    That Paragon company is a good group, I recently got their hard disk manager software because I had some copy issues with all the other software I tried, like ghost and their software worked like a champ, I had to talk to their support couple times through the day and they provided me with excellent support.
    x21x
    Reply Vote

  • I gotta ask...

    ...how few Windows users even care about accessing Macintosh volumes from Windows? I'd bet even fewer than the arguably 4% of the personal computing market, which Macintosh represents.
    SteveMak
    Reply Vote

    • I gotta tell you...

      ...that anyone who's loaded Windows for dual-boot (Boot Camp) on their
      Mac would be highly interested in such a beast. Mac OS natively
      supports Fat16 & Fat32 read-write access and NTFS read-only, and
      unless equipped with MacDrive for the PC side their Windows install can't
      even read from their Mac partition. Any operation that has to support
      both platforms just got accessing files from external hard drives made a
      lot easier. There's a big enough market for this. Snow Leopard is
      rumored (it ain't out yet, thus it's a rumor) to support read-write NTFS
      file system access, which will be a nice addition as the MacFUSE NTFS
      that Google's been tinkering with works but is noticeably slow.
      kcsmith2
      Reply Vote

      • You make perfect sense!

        I didn't consider the angle of Mac users, running Windows, needing Mac disc compatability. I was only thinking of Windows users needing Mac disc compatability.

        What you said makes perfect sense, of course.
        SteveMak
        Reply Vote

    • Mac Market Share

      Your figure of "4%" is antiquated. Macintosh computers comprise 10-15%
      of the computer market these days...and gaining rapidly!

      EAR

      erapka@...
      Reply Vote

      • Can you provide a reference to support 10-15% Mac Share?

        Could you please post a link were I could verify your statement of world-wide Mac OS market share of 10 to 15%? I'm looking for verifiable data, rather than someone just making an assertion.

        That sounds REALLY high, but I adjust my opinion to conform to the facts. Thanks in advance.
        SteveMak
        Reply Vote

        • Dude have you been living under a rock.

          Macintosh market share is far above 4% . If we were to take into account
          for the iPhone & iPod, I'm sure it would be more than 15% also. After all
          these devices do run on a stripped down version of OS X.


          "In a world without walls & fences, who needs windows & gates?"
          AdventTech67
          Reply Vote

          • Please show me...

            I am just comparing Windows computers, desktop and laptops, to Apple computers, desktops and laptops. I am not including Windows mobile devices, like cell phones, GPSes, iDrive, etc, nor am I including similar Mac OS devices.

            Desktop and laptop stuff. Anyone have any verifiable data that puts Macs well above 5%? If my 4-5% is "old", then where is the new, verifiable data? Just curious.
            SteveMak
            Reply Vote

  • Apple supplied every other driver for Windows, why not the FS?


    OSX/Windows... whatever. It's all about drivers and each platform can extend support for new file systems.

    Apple should have developed and supplied a driver for their bootcamp users.
    croberts
    Reply Vote

    • Snow Leopard will have it...

      Snow Leopard will have it baked right in! I've been wanting this for a
      while too, and i'm so glad they finally got it together!
      earthserpent
      Reply Vote

  • Why the hell would we anyone want to do this?!

    I'm sorry, HFS+ is beyond antiquated, and can't handle
    file sizes > 2tb, is slower than dogshit, doesn't support
    journaling, reparsing or high level encryption.
    Spiritusindomit@...
    Reply Vote

    • journalling?

      What are you meaning when you say HFS+ doesn't handle journalling? I
      have my drive set with journalling enabled and the built-in desktop
      search called Spotlight finds things very quickly. Maybe you are thinking
      of something from the 90's?
      Mr_Dave
      Reply Vote

    • Your definition of HFS+ is antiquated.

      Seriously, these are all things that were
      overcome years ago.
      jmiller1978
      Reply Vote

    • You Miss the Obvious (obviously)

      I think the reason is that it enables the tinkertoy Windows OS to
      communicate properly with the modern MacOS. (Incidentally, Macs have
      been able to write to Windows volumes for ages now, while Windoz
      acts braindead when it meets a properly formatted Mac volume).

      EAR
      erapka@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Mac HFS read-write support for Windows

    I had a need to use the paragon driver two weeks ago - it works perfectly!
    As a MAC user from the 70's (AppleII, Lisa, Mac, Mac Plus) who then went to IBM's, and the years and years of waiting for a multitasking OS (Windows 3.0 was not - OS/2 was!). Returned to Apple with the 20" G5, then added a 24" Intel, and now added a MacBookPro - I would never go back. With Parallels/VMWare, any Win app I need to run functions perfectly on the Intel Mac's!!)
    The Apple hardware and OS are so far above any Win platform!
    Brilliant!
    Alastair Murray
    Reply Vote

  • Windows can't mount HFS

    You are beating around the bush to say "Windows cannot read from and write to HFS+ partitions." What you mean is "Windows can't mount HFS+ partitions." [[It isn't really true either way, but you should be direct.]] It isn't that the partition mounts and you can't read from it. The partition simply doesn't mount. That's the issue.

    Also, Spiritusindomit@... is not stating facts.
    666zd666
    Reply Vote
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