A MAC is usually able to read your Windows drives (MAC’s can read FAT and NTFS), but if you want to use a MAC drive on a Windows 7 PC you will run into problems. Some handy apps will teach Windows 7 how to recognize MAC drives properly, so that you will no longer have any problems at all!
Use MacDrive to burn MAC DVDs on Windows 7
Cross-platform computing is a new trend. Many of us use external disks daily and of course we want everything to be compatible. However, in reality we often have to face compatibility problems. That’s when 3rd-party tools like MacDrive jump into action to help us out.
After installing MacDrive, Windows 7 will automatically be able to recognize MAC disks (disks that were formatted for use on a MAC PC), there’s nothing to configure and nothing that you have to start before it will work. Another great feature of MacDrive is the possibility to create Mac disks for file transfers between Windows 7 and MAC’s. A built-in disk manager allows you to burn MAC CDs and DVDs on Windows 7.
Example: You burn a bootable DVD on Windows 7 as a MAC disk, then you can use it on your MAC without problems. If you didn’t have MacDrive you’d first have to hack your MAC to make it read your DVD. The disk manager also allows you to partition and repair MAC disks.
Use HFSExplorer to copy files from HFS disks
If you only want to copy files from your MAC drive, you can use the freeware HFSExplorer that will allow you to read hard drives that use one of the following file formats: HFS (Mac OS Standard), HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) and HFSX (Mac OS Extended with case sensitive file names)
HFSExplorer can also open .dmg files.
Freeware solution (copy files from MAC drives)
Go to http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx to download the HFSExplorer
Shareware solution (copy files + burn files)
You can download a free trial of MacDrive to convince yourself of the quality of the product. Then you can purchase MacDrive for $49.99, which is a fair price for this software.
Go to http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/ to get your free trial.