I could see the files. But when I tried to delete an old cache folder to make space for new exports? I tried to save a new file directly to the Mac desktop? Access Denied.
I had MacDrive in "read-only" mode (the default for safety). I needed write access. I right-clicked the MacDrive icon in my system tray (the little purple circle near the clock) and selected "MacDrive Settings." how to use macdrive
Under the tab, I found my drive. There was a checkbox: "Enable write support for this drive." I checked it. A warning popped up: "Writing to Mac drives can cause data loss if ejected improperly." I acknowledged it like a responsible adult. I could see the files
But I still got permission errors on some folders. That’s because macOS uses Unix permissions. My Windows user account didn’t match my Mac user account (e.g., "Johns-Mac" vs "JOHNS-PC\John"). Access Denied
It all started with a 2TB external hard drive. On my Mac, it was my beloved Time Machine vault and a dumping ground for Final Cut Pro libraries. But the moment I plugged that same drive into my Windows gaming PC to grab a single video file? Click. Whirr. Silence. Windows asked, "Would you like to format this drive?" Formatting meant erasing everything.
Pro tip from my story: Before rebooting, I unplugged all my Mac-formatted drives. Windows gets confused if it sees an "unreadable" drive during installation. After the reboot, I plugged my drive back in. And there it was: in File Explorer, my Mac drive appeared like any other, with a small purple MacDrive icon next to it. I nearly cried. I double-clicked the drive. Inside were my folders: Movies , Music , Time Machine Backups . I clicked a .mov file. It opened instantly. I copied a Photoshop file from the Mac drive to my Windows desktop. Done.