HFSExplorer

Pros

• No risk of corruption
• Allows Windows users to access Macintosh volumes
• Free & Open-Source
• Works with personal music players

Cons

• Can't write files to volumes
• No support for newer APFS-formatted drives
• May need root access

HFSExplorer is a free and open-source application that allows users of Windows-based PCs to read Macintosh-formatted disks.

Windows doesn't include native support for many of the file systems that macOS relies on, which makes it hard to transfer files between different platforms. Users can install HFSExplorer on any NT-based machine, which includes newer PCs that run Windows 10. Once they open the app, they'll be able to load any HFS-formatted disk into it in order to copy over files.

Since it uses a graphical browser that resembles the interface of Windows Explorer, learning to use it shouldn't take any time at all. If you're already comfortable with dragging and dropping objects between folders, then you know how to use HFSExplorer.

While you'll probably need to start the program in administrator mode, you'll be able to access external hard disks and flash drives once you have. Whether you use USB interfaces or Apple's own Firewire technology, HFSExplorer can scan all of the devices you have plugged into your system to find Macintosh-formatted volumes.

This means the app can also work with memory cards formatted in any iOS device as well. It supports drivers that use the original Hierarchical File System specification, so you could even use it to access devices formatted on classic Mac hardware.

This has made the app particularly attractive for those who run System 7 inside of a virtual machine and need some way to share files with their host OS. HFSExplorer is able to read both DMG and IMG volume files as though they were physical hard disks, so it's well adapted to this use.

Unix fans who format their own devices with a case-sensitive file system shouldn't have any problems using HFSExplorer. It fully supports the HFSX standard, which includes drives that lack journals.

Since the app doesn't write files to the disks or images it loads, it can safely mount volumes that include a standard Mac OS Extended journal. This enables users to load drives they formatted on older versions of OS X without any risk of corrupting their data.

While Windows might not like disks that are split up using an Apple Partition Map (APM), HFSExplorer can normally access volumes located in containers inside of them. Since Windows includes native support for both the Master Boot Record (MBR) and GUID Partition Table (GPT) technologies, you shouldn't have any difficulty loading up drives that utilize them.

Owners of iPods and other Apple-branded MP3 players that use the HFS+ file system should find that HFSExplorer works just fine with their gear. This gives users the freedom to copy MP3 over to their Windows PC without installing iTunes. In many cases, these files won't contain any kind of DRM header that prevents them from loading in Windows Media Player.

Pros

• No risk of corruption
• Allows Windows users to access Macintosh volumes
• Free & Open-Source
• Works with personal music players

Cons

• Can't write files to volumes
• No support for newer APFS-formatted drives
• May need root access