Can a Windows PC "see" an external hard drive set up for a MacBook?

[Hugh_Mungus]

One of my friends has a MacBook laptop and has set up an external hard drive that holds files he's archived. Would it be possible for me to connect my Windows 10 PC to that hard drive and copy some of the files on it to my internal hard drive?

Would I need any special software (or hardware) to read his external drive or could I connect it with a standard USB cable just the way I connect my own external hard drive to my Windows laptop?

 

[rontonomo]

If its formatted for a mac it can only be used on a mac, but if its formatted for windows pc it will work on both mac and windows.

 

[nzalog]

Mac:
fat32: read/write
ntfs: read only (unless installing third party software)
macos partition: read/write (obviously)

windows:
fat32: read/write
ntfs: read/write
macos: inaccessible unless installing bootcamp filesystem driver

You may be able to find the driver online or just ask your friend to put files onto a fat32 formatted drive (thought there is a 4gb limit to files sizes).