Please note that when we format an APFS drive to NTFS on Windows, its existing data is deleted. Now when we have covered the basics, let’s learn how to format a Mac hard drive for Windows by following a stepwise approach.

If your APFS hard drive has been corrupted, then you can consider formatting it in the NTFS format to use it on Windows easily.

The computer could have changed the OS or might have installed another system that is not compatible with APFS.

The external hard drive could be formatted in APFS to be used on Mac before, but now you wish to use it on a Windows PC.

You might be moving the hard drive from a Mac to a Windows system and would like to reuse it.

Ideally, you might wish to format an APFS drive to NTFS on Windows due to the following reasons: Why You Might Need to Convert an Apple Hard Drive to Windows Format? Therefore, compared to NTFS, the following features are better in APFS: It is a newer and more advanced file system (released in 2017). It is a more acceptable file system and can be used on Linux and macOS (read-only) as well.ĪPFS: APFS, which stands for Apple File System, is exclusively used to format internal or external hard drives for Mac. NTFS: NTFS (New Technology File System) is a proprietary file system that is used in almost all Windows versions and was developed in 1993. Before we learn how to convert an external hard drive from Mac to PC, let’s consider some basics. You might already know that APFS is the file system that is used in Mac hard drives while NTFS is a Windows-compatible scheme.

Part 4: Pro Tip: Restore your Lost Data with Wondershare Recoverit.

Part 3: How to Convert APFS to NTFS on Windows?.

Part 2: Why You Might Need to Convert an Apple Hard Drive to Windows Format?.

Mac disk format compatible windows