How to see my PC-saved jpg photos (thousands) on a Mac?

Depends on the file type, and how you want to store them. JPGs are JPGs everywhere. Raw isn't one format, but the generic name for a lot of camera-specific ones. On the Mac, you'll find that some programs rely upon macOS Raw compatibility libraries; that Adobe relies on their own Raw conversion code; and that yet other programs may take a hybrid approach (start with the macOS Raw conversion, then add support for additional formats).

macOS includes a basic photo organizer and editor (Photos) aimed at average users. It's got some nice features like being able to synchronize photos with other Apple devices (iPhones, iPads) through iCloud Photos, and there are even ways to view photos in iCloud on a PC, but it's still Mac- and Apple-oriented.

You can also store photos "loose" in the Finder and browse them with features such as icon view, Quick Look, and Preview (a Mac program for viewing .PDF files, .JPG files, and the like). If you dig in the Finder's search dialogs, it's possible to search for photos based on the values of various EXIF attributes.

If you prefer a database approach, you might want to look into applications such as

• Adobe Lightroom Classic
• Adobe Lightroom (cloud version)
• Mylio

that are designed more for the professional market and that are a bit more platform-agnostic.

If you're going to move an external drive between a Mac and a PC on a regular basis, you'll need to decide what strategy to take in regard to filesystems.

The only two that both Windows and macOS fully support, out of the box, are FAT32 and exFAT.

• FAT32 (the default filesystem for SDHC memory cards) limits files to 4 GB or less. Some FAT32 implementations limit volume size to 32 GB or less.
• exFAT (the default filesystem for SDXC cards) has much larger maximum file and volume sizes.

As far as I know, neither has much protection against improper shutdowns and dismounts.

As for other filesystems, macOS can read from NTFS volumes, but cannot write to them without the aid of third-party drivers. Windows can't even read Mac filesystems (HFS+ and APFS) without the aid of third-party drivers such as MacDrive .

-----

Another option is to access files over the network, e.g.,

• Store them on a dedicated NAS unit
• Have the Mac act as a NAS for the PC
• Have the PC act as a NAS for the Mac

This largely hides the filesystem from the client. A PC wouldn't need to understand APFS to retrieve a file from an APFS drive on a Mac server. A Mac wouldn't need to understand NTFS to retrieve a file from a NTFS drive on a PC server.

Disadvantages:

• Network access is generally slower than direct access
• Some applications may not supporting putting files on NAS units or network servers. For example, I believe that Lightroom Classic does not support using a catalog file that is stored on a NAS, although I am guessing that you could store the full-size photos on one. (Check with others on this. I could be wrong on both counts.)

hnazari wrote:

Thank you SoC, all I need to know is whether I can plug my external drives - where my PC photos sit - into a Mac port and see my photos or no.

Yes, you'll be able to see them all.

There are commercial third-party NTFS drivers like "Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Paragon Software" that let you write to NTFS volumes on Macs. But you won't need one of them just to read files.

The purpose is to view them. My external drives are in NTFS format and I hv a full subscription to the complete set of the Adobe CC suite. I don’t want to corrupt the drives or the files and find out that I should hv done something prior to plugging the drives into the Mac as is.

You may want to go into Finder > Settings… and check the External disks boxes under the General tab and the Sidebar tab – so that your drives show up on the Desktop, and Finder window sidebars, when plugged in.

Then when you want to unplug a drive from a running Mac, first right-click on the drive's icon on the Desktop and select Eject "Drive Name". f you're just using built-in read-only NTFS access, this might not be strictly necessary, but it's better not to develop a bad habit of unplugging external drives in an uncontrolled way.