• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

Old Mac formatted photo files need to be opened on my PC.

G

George Edwards

New Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2017
Messages
8 (0.00/day)
Back around 2001 I bought a Mac Power 4 or something like that and formatted an external hard drive to store photography. Now I use a PC but can't access the photos...the icons come up on the screen but the computer says "unreadable". I even took it to a shop once and they said "well the files come up on the screen, looks ok" but evidently they did not try to open them. Is there converter software or anything nowdays? I use the new Photoshop Cloud, did they put anything in to do that?
 
Do you have any idea what the format of the photos is? What extension? etc?
 
R-T-B said:
Do you have any idea what the format of the photos is? What extension? etc?
Click to expand...
The files themselves are jpeg, tiff, or psd, but the external drive itself was formatted for Mac. When I set up the external drive it asked whether
to format for Mac or PC. When I attach the External Drive to my PC, the icons for the files showed up on the screen but when I click to open the file
is "not readable". When I took it to a shop, the guy saw the icons on the PC screen and assumed it was ok I guess.
 
If this is a really old mac, you could be dealing with a fat volume on APT (apple partition table). Some linux live cds may be able to read this. Beyond that, you will need a professional proficient in both old macs and pcs.

If you have no one else, I actaully am. But I have no idea where you are or if helping you via mail is even possible or desirable.
 
Don't you know someone with a mac, maybe it can still open it and copy it to a drive that is formatted so a pc can read it as well..
 
JalleR said:
Don't you know someone with a mac, maybe it can still open it and copy it to a drive that is formatted so a pc can read it as well..
Click to expand...

Doesn't even have to be an old mac as all macs include APT support as well. Good idea.
 
But with a serious program like Corel or Photoshop you cant just import all the photos into a new photo folder on your present computer?... Weird considering that pro photographers love Mac so much.

First Q to be answered should be: is the drive file system incompatible or is it the photo files?
 
erixx said:
But with a serious program like Corel or Photoshop you cant just import all the photos into a new photo folder on your present computer?... Weird considering that pro photographers love Mac so much.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, with APT on a pc it will open the volume but none of the file data will be valid. I've seen it before and it's weird as hell.
 
erixx said:
But with a serious program like Corel or Photoshop you cant just import all the photos into a new photo folder on your present computer?... Weird considering that pro photographers love Mac so much.

First Q to be answered should be: is the drive file system incompatible or is it the photo files?
Click to expand...
I was wondering since I do get the Photoshop CC which should be up to date could read the Mac format files...it is an old MAC like 2001, usually older stuff is readable
but new formats were a problem, like NEF with Nikon....but CC does them all now. Does photoshop read MAC and PC format now universally on either platform?

R-T-B said:
If this is a really old mac, you could be dealing with a fat volume on APT (apple partition table). Some linux live cds may be able to read this. Beyond that, you will need a professional proficient in both old macs and pcs.

If you have no one else, I actaully am. But I have no idea where you are or if helping you via mail is even possible or desirable.
Click to expand...
I was thinking there might be a "Converter Program" that is like a free download for converting unreadable Mac files to PC. I did that with "DNG Converter" to
convert Nikon's RAW format "NEF" files to be readable by Photoshop, now of course Photoshop reads nef but it wasn't always so. For a while I had to use the
DNG Converter in order to use Photoshop's superior RAW editing program.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tried uploading pics to the Cloud from the Mac then downloading them to your pc ?
 
R-T-B said:
Believe it or not, with APT on a pc it will open the volume but none of the file data will be valid. I've seen it before and it's weird as hell.
Click to expand...
I should try again since I have the latest Photoshop CC...is it able to open Mac formated files froma PC? At one time I had the two computers connected but when I got fast web on my lines the tech guy who came to my house (or was it the cable TV guy?) disconnected my router between them to use a port. But now the Mac is in such bad shape it doesn't recognize the external drive even anymore.

dorsetknob said:
Tried uploading pics to the Cloud from the Mac then downloading them to your pc ?
Click to expand...
The Mac is not connected anymore, haven't used it in years...I see your idea though...but not sure I can impliment.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, just connect it and send some files somewhere and see if they are usable at all. Just see if you can upload a picture to a image-hosting site. Doesn't have to be high quality. Just see if the files are OK. If they are, then upload them all to a file-hosting site. Then download them to your PC. Would be so much easier if that mac had support for USB. Does it? Or you could write them to a data DVD-RW and see... I hope it's not petabytes...
 
Its not been made clear so please do
Does this mac Still Boot and run/work ?
if this mac works>>>> is this mac still capable of accessing the External drive ? to view pictures
 
Last edited:
dorsetknob said:
Its not been made clear so please do
Does this mac Still Boot and run/work ?
if this mac works>>>> is this mac still capable of accessing the External drive ? to view pictures
Click to expand...
No, that is a good idea. It hadn't occurred to me. That maybe an option, I will try it when I get a chance!
 
biffzinker said:
How about this program? You'll need a older or new Power Mac/Mac for it.

View attachment 86109
GraphicConverter

If the external drive is from a older Mac is the filesystem format HFS or HFS+? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_File_System & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus

Sounds like you require the filesystem drivers from BootCamp for the Windows PC if the drive was formatted as HFS/HFS+.

Edit: Is your older Mac a Power Mac G4?
Click to expand...
Yes, that sounds like it. It does power up, and I can edit photo in "Caffeine" or some such program...it was very good, had a graphic equalizer for different tones sort of like curves but different, with
sliders. I liked the colors too, new PC stuff has kind of bland color. j
Oh yes, it will not recognize the external drive any more, I think it has computer alzheimers.
 
biffzinker said:
How about this program? You'll need a older or new Power Mac/Mac for it.

View attachment 86109
GraphicConverter
I am getting info that is runs on Mac...what I need is one that one that runs on PC and converts Mac files to be read on PC.... I clicked on what you printed as attachment but all I got was a Wikipedia article on "graphic converter" being a mac run program...but I do have DNG now which does PC....I haven't hooked up the External Drive lately to my PC, I guess I should try that again...I just haven't had the time to fool around lately, there is some required job I must work on.
If the external drive is from a older Mac is the filesystem format HFS or HFS+? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_File_System & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus

Sounds like you require the filesystem drivers from BootCamp for the Windows PC if the drive was formatted as HFS/HFS+.

Edit: Is your older Mac a Power Mac G4?
Click to expand...
Yes, Power Mac G4. So "Bootcamp" is what I should try? I will make note, do a search. Thanks! I don't know what HFS/HFS+ is, all I know is whan I
attached the external drive it asked whether to format for Mac or Pc. I chose Mac. I have some CD's of Photos that still won't work on PC.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top