HGST 500 GB hard drive from a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro not connecting to a Windows laptop

Sometimes even a 2.5" drive needs more power than can be provided by a single USB port. A lot of times it may depend upon the adapter or enclosure being used. I like the TrippLite USB to SATA Adapter (it has a snug fit for the drive and also supports the UASP USB protocol, another TrippLite adapter doesn't support UASP):

https://tripplite.eaton.com/usb-3-0-superspeed-sata-iii-adapter-cable-uasp-2-5in-3-5in-sata-black~U33806NSATAB

Keep in mind Windows won't see the drive in File Explorer since Windows cannot recognize the Apple file systems. You will need to launch Disk Management on Windows in order to see the drive and its partitions. You will need to use Disk Management to delete all of the partitions on the Apple drive so you can create a new single partition.

There is a chance the hard drive is failing which is not uncommon for a laptop drive from 2012 (even if the laptop was purchased in 2016 it is at least a six year old drive).

Keep in mind even a healthy Apple drive from the laptop will be a slow drive. While you can use it in an emergency, I would recommend getting an SSD for your Windows system. A Crucial MX500 SSD is an option, just avoid the Crucial BX500 model as it is extremely slow, overheats, and has a high rate of failure.

USB-2 is perfectly fast enough for almost any Rotating Magnetic drive, and will only slow the very fastest 15,000 RPM desktop drives slightly.

The power requirements are typically shown on the label affixed to the drive itself.

randomuserfromsomewhere Said:

"HGST 500 GB hard drive from a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro not connecting to a Windows laptop: Hi, so that other time i took apart a Mid-2012 15-inch MacBook Pro, the graphics card was broken on it. So on my Windows laptop, I ran out of space and my laptop crashed. [...]The stuff is from 2012 so I'm not really expecting answers."

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Getting Data from a PC and Mac on One Drive:

Export, then Format to ExFAT:

Export data on both drives to the devices. Then, using a new drive, format it as ExFAT. All should be accessible between both the PC and the Mac once formatted. Perform this formatting in Disk Utility.