Can Macs read "PC discs" in 2020?

They are probably self-extracting archives which store the images and video. They may need to compress them to fit on the disk, so they use a self-extracting zip archive. Why they don't just zip them I can't explain.

Another option is likely a proprietary viewer app that is needed to view the files. There really isn't a way to overcome the cross-platform issue other than have somebody re-encode the video/image into standard formats, if even possible.

They would have to only buy equipment that output the files encoded with common, open codecs. My guess is that the companies producing the equipment won't go for that since they are probably licensing the viewing software along with the cost of the equipment.

tomb Said:

"Can Macs read 'PC discs' in 2020?: I'm having Radiotherapy for throat cancer and, for various reasons, I need my MRI/PET scan images on a disc. The NHS (UK) is sending its patients their image files on CDs. They ask patients if they'd like a 'Mac disc' or a 'PC disc'. I requested Mac but have been sent a doc that my Mac can read but which is full of only PC files (.exe files, etc).[...]"

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A Few Thoughts:

• Contact the Developer:

As for EXE files, contact the developer, and see if they have what you need for the installation type. If it is a self-made exe program (made via MS Visual Basic), then you'd have to stick with Windows. If you cannot purchase a program, then use a read-only file. An example of that is MS Word Reader - you can view the files, but you don't have spend all the money on the app itself.

• Modify the Extensions:

Copy the file to the Desktop, then modify its extension to AVI or MP4. See if you can then view it. Quicktime Player would be a great a great application to use to play various formats.

• Run this Through a Virtual Machine:

If there ends up being not solution for this other than Windows, consider using a Virtual Machine(VM) for these programs (Windows-in-a-window). You would open items in it, and run them off of that. All would be accessed and would operate as desired on the VM. Virtual Machine applications include VMWare Fusion and Parallels. Learn more here: What Is a Virtual Machine? - VMWare Support.

exe are programs/apps

to run windows programs on a mac one has to install windows in bootcamp or in a virtual machine

or attempt to use the emulation software wine bottler

think it may be easier to use a windows computer to access the photos and save them on an usb stick and bring it home to your mac, that is of cause unless the photos is also in the root of the dics or in some subDir

As said, .exe files are not images or files of any type other than Windows executable files. They can only execute in Windows. Macs have always been able to read from NTFS Windows formatted drives. So data files like images can be read by Macs without issue.

I guess I don't understand your issue. You can read files. You can't execute Windows programs. Why is that an issue?

Most of these disks have included a viewer app.

Also see this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/viewing-mri-cd-on-mac.314879/ for some related discussions.

If there is no provided viewer.... and I’d expect a viewer to be included.... then report back, and we can poke more.

I can be of help here. First question. Yes, a Mac can read a PC formatted disk. But, you or any other physician, will need to have the correct software installed to be able to open the file and display its information. There is more than one app for storing this kind of data. I am sure that you do not have that app installed in your computer as it is sold to medical professionals. So, yes, by all means get the file on a disk. Then other medical professionals who have the same app will be able to open the file and see its data. My wife recently had this same experience, so that is where I am coming from.

If the .exe is a self-extracting archive, then you can try to manually extract the contents using 7zip which can handle most archive formats.

While there are some outdated macOS GUI versions such as Keka the only way to get the latest version of 7zip on a Mac is by using Homebrew to give you the command line version of 7zip.

https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/p7zip

To use this to attempt to extract the contents of the .exe file you need to launch the Terminal app and type the following "7z x " making sure to leave at least one space after the "x":

7z  x  

Then using the Finder drag & drop the .exe file onto the open Terminal window to auto-fill the correct path to the .exe file. Then continue typing the following (that is a "dash/hyphen" followed by a lowercase letter "Oh"):

-o$HOME/Desktop/extracted_files_exe

So you end up with a command that would look similar to this template:

7z  x  <path-to-exe-file>  -o$HOME/Desktop/extracted_files_exe

The "<path-to-exe-file>" is just a placeholder for the actual path which could look something like:

7z  x  /Volumes/Medical\ CD/scan-results.exe  -o$HOME/Desktop/extracted_files_exe

This command will create a new folder on the Desktop called "extracted_files_exe" where the contents of the archive will be found if successful. You can name this folder anything you want, but just make sure it does not include any spaces in the name.