Access to Mac HD from Windows

HFSExplorer is a simple 'read only'

MacDrive7 gives full read/write to Mac OS Extended volumes.

HFS+ filesnames with special characters are something that NTFS and Vista (and probably XP, but never used it) just stumble on and don't like.

You can also read/write to NTFS from OS X with an NTFS driver.

How about on 64 bit installation of windows? macdrive doesn't support 64 bit yet.

yashrgupta wrote:
How about on 64 bit installation of windows? macdrive doesn't support 64 bit yet.

The latest version of MacDrive does work with Vista 64-bit.

Stefan

Hi Hatter -
So, if I'm in BootCamp - do I load MacDrive7 there? Or do I load it on the MacOS Leopard side of life, and access read/write to my XP-Pro from the Mac side?

BTW - I see you all over these Apple forums - THANK YOU for your continual expertise and cheerful demeanor!

- Mike P

Hi Mike,

So, if I'm in BootCamp - do I load MacDrive7 there? Or do I load it on the MacOS Leopard side of life, and access read/write to my XP-Pro from the Mac side?

Allow me to chime in: MacDrive is a Windows program, which you have to install and run while in BootCamp Windows.

For accessing your XP-Pro while in Mac OSX have a look at Paragons NTFS for OSX http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ or NTFS-3G http://www.ntfs-3g.org/

Have Fun

Stefan

I have just installed boot camp and VMware Fusion on my new MacBook. However I cannot access the Boot Camp drive form the mac part. It is write protocted and formatted in ntfs. But you seem to suggest that it is possible to acces using af nfts driver? where do I find that and how to install

kjaer_per wrote:
I have just installed boot camp and VMware Fusion on my new MacBook. However I cannot access the Boot Camp drive form the mac part. It is write protocted and formatted in ntfs. But you seem to suggest that it is possible to acces using af nfts driver? where do I find that and how to install

Hi and welcome to Discussions,

see my post right above yours.
It contains the links.

Have Fun

Stefan

Hi folks - and a special nod of gratitude to Fortuny,

I didn't mean to "hi-jack" this thread, so my apologies to MtnMac2.

But to the point of info for all - I loaded the two utes suggested by Fortuny - and WOW! without a hitch nor hiccup, it worked beautifully. I can read/write to ALL of my BootCamp partition while booted in MacOS 10.5.6. Very slick.

I spent nearly a half an hour dragging all of the files from my VMware directory into the new BootCamp "My Documents" and further into sub-directories. I was able to rename files IN THAT PC directory, create folders, sub-folders, etc., all while booted in Leopard.

What I haven't done yet is see what the Mac side looks like while booted in XP-Pro - I suspect it will be the same trouble-free ease of use. In fact, I now know more about this than the local "Genius" at the bar at one of my neighborhood Apple Stores. (shocker...)

And the best part? These utilities are FREE. While I don't doubt the functionality of Hatter's suggestion (he's ALWAYS spot on!!) - this was the immediate path of least financial resistance.

Thanks again Fortuny - and I'll follow-up IF and only if I hit trouble from within XP-Pro - just to share the experience with this wonderful community of users and experts!

Peace,
Mike P

Hi Mike,

you are welcome anytime.

But don't think to 'low' about your local Genius. Fact is, he is only one person with one brain, while round here there are thousands of them 😉

Take care

Stefan

Paragon NTFS had been a step ahead of the other NTFS drivers, besides, they have free CampTune; they came out with a Mac Boot Camp friendly disk management and backup suite; and they have ext3/Reiser (?) support for linux.

I tried MacFUSE and the cpu overhead for large files or large numbers of files was horrid a year ago, and there were bugs only later found and patched.

Paragon was on sale, too, for $29 originally.

The one utility I won't use still is MacDrive 64-bit. At one point it wasn't safe to write to HFS+ I think, and even now can interfere with Apple OS Switcher (aka, Boot Camp taskbar).

Fusion, VirtualBox, native Windows, there is only one VM not allowed: running OS X inside OS X. I thought that would happen, and a great way for testing (OS X Server can, servers though are a special license).

Having toiled at code, free software seems.... strange. Someone did some work to make it happen, yes.

Disclaimer: I work for the people that make MacDrive.

We fixed the issue with the Apple OS switcher + 64-bit Vista...a couple versions ago. It should be noted that MacDrive was not the only third-party software application to "break" the OS switcher...and, to that end...there may still be other software causing that problem.

As for safety of the data, we believe MacDrive to be rock solid. My offer for our staff to review any info you have on that issue is still very much open.

Yea - I suppose you're right - and I apologize to Mac Genius Bar folks en large for my prior snipe shot. They are helpful and knowledgeable - the overwhelming majority of the time. We all are prone to miss this or that detail from time to time.

As a follow-up to how well MacFuse and NTFS-3G are working, my backup routine (Intego's "Personal Backup X5" v10.5.4 - running in Leopard) actually backed-up my ENTIRE BootCamp partition last night - 100% of it!!! THAT is quite impressive to me. I've read all sorts of threads and problems with Time Machine backing-up the BootCamp partition - but this was slicker than cool. No hassles, no files missed, it's all there. So I suppose, Time Machine would now work flawlessly on that Windoze partition too?!

As a closing remark posed rhetorically: Why hasn't Apple created the drivers to do what MacFuse and NTFS-3G are doing, or for that matter what Paragon's "NTFS for Mac" can do? They, after all, created BootCamp to give us Mac folks a great Windows experience - why leave that last little detail out of the mix?

Thanks again Stefan.

...boy, I've really hi-jackekd this thread < blushes with embarrassment >

Hatter - I could NEVER argue with your expertise, nor would I want to - that would be an insult to you and the generosity with which you share your knowledge!

My rationale:
I went the "free" route because - currently - I'm out of work and need to save pennies, let alone quarters and dollars. I'd flee to Paragon (or any buy it in a box developed software solution) at the first hint of trouble.

I've taken many a "gamble" on Shareware-type solutions - and I'm proud to say that the majority of time, these things work - and work SERIOUSLY well. I find these types of developers to be on the cutting edge, always helpful, and completely supportive of their users.

As one shining example, look at "Applejack" for instance... FREE, and it's a beautiful thing in what it does and how it works.

Just my opinions and what I was thinking 😉

As always, THANK YOU for your input and help - and best regards to you!
Michael P

Oh, I loved Applejack, and the "community" chipped in to help buy him an Intel Mac-Mini.

Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner, too.

Yes, even the freeware utilities do fill a huge need and lots of great products.

If you want to read HFS+ from Windows, look for freeware "HFSExplorer" (Softpedia, etc) very rough but does the trick for simple needs and read-only.

While Paragon's NTFS for MAC is somewhat faster when writing files compared to NTFS-3G (ublio) it currently is less reliable, too.

I can reproduce write errors (aka Finder error that leads to cancellation of a running copy action) *nearly every time* when a larger number of files is copied to the NTFS partition.

Paragon support does not answer support calls from trial users and their phone sales department (as well as the ticket system) revealed that version 7 is just about to be released. Nevertheless a search on the web revealed that the problems I experienced are known since version 6 was in beta.

Camp Tune, Harddisc Manager 2009 and Rescue Kit are not useable on current Nforce based unibody Macbook (Pro) and according to phone sales department Paragon has no plans to ever support these. Mac Browser made my Bootcamp installation freeze several times as far as I can tell.

Harddisc Manager 2009 is not useable from Bootcamp either. Most actions would need a reboot to be performed during system boot-up, but HD Manager fails to install the necessary boot-time enviroment. What's left is a WinPE based CD that generally works as far as I can tell, but Paragon phone sales cannot acknowledge that and trial versions of the WinPE disc are not available unless you "organize" one from the web.

Even with the WinPE CD you cannot change partition size though, because once you change the NTFS partition OS X' Disc Utility wont allow you change the OS X partition anymore because of some "mismatch" error.

Eventhough Paragon is the only vendor to offer partition and backup software that is somewhat Bootcamp compatible it's far from working reliable yet. Because of that I'm currently using NFTS-3G for the time being. Currently it's the more trustworthy and even free solution.