To make your western digital hard drive work on both mac and windows computers, you need to format the drive with the fat32 file system. Reformatting a external western digital my book drive. A progress bar will show how the formatting of your drive is going and how long, roughly, it will take to complete. And in a few minutes your wd elements drive is exfat formatted ready for you to use on your mac and windows pc. While its convenient to purchase the hard drive that will work with your computer right out of the box, most external hard drives can also be reformatted so youre not limited to your initial choice. Easily format wd western digital portable hard drive on mac. If you are able to fix the hard drive or ssd in your mac or an external drive using disk utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files. How to format an external drive for mac compatibility. This western digital external hard drive for mac is compatible with windows operating after formatting it to a supported file system such as fat or ntfs format. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us.
The my passport for mac portable hard drive is trusted to store the massive amounts of photos, videos and music you love. Erase or format your macs drives using disk utility. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Should i just wait until i get the new laptop and attempt to reformat the drive on it. Hello all, i am switching completely from mac to windows. Better western digital fat32 formatting utility for windows 7810. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. The my passport for mac drive includes usbc and usba cables, so you can save tomorrows content with the mac computers of both today and yesterday. Mar 31, 2020 if you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Wd my passport for mac best overall the western digital 2tb my passport for mac is the perfect 2tb portable external hard drive for mac users. This is a detailed tutorial on how to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, and windows xp. Accessing mac formatted wd hard drive from pc wd community.
Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use. Because there is no quick format feature in mac os and there is no disk partition tool for mac hard disk drive. Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. Its not at all common to set a custom allocation unit size when formatting a hard drive in windows.
Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. The security features of this external hard drive are great, but there is much more that this drive has to offer its users. I now have a pc with windows 8 and it does not find the hard drive in explorer. Name the wd external hard drive in the name text field at the top of the window. It is the reliable disk formatting tool for windowsmac. One of the other main reasons i bought it was so i could use it to watch videos on my xbox 360. Paragon disk wipe allows you to create a bootable usbflash drive or external hard drive that will help you to completely erase a whole hard disk, a separate partition or just clean free space. I usually use a firewire that connects into the hard drive in two places. Operating system compatibility your my passport for mac drive and the wd drive utilities and wd. Your disk utility program lives within a folder called utilities.
Choose the storage capacity you need and enjoy highspeed data transfer. Right click the partition on the wd hard drive and choose format partition. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. When shipped to you your western digital elements drive is in a format called. Reformatting a western digital my passport hard drive to function well on windows and macintosh systems is neither timeconsuming nor technologically demanding. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc. Choose exfat or fat32 among the listed file systems on the dropdown menu. Two easy methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Connect it, power it up, go to disk utility in applicationsutilities, select the wd disk on the left, go to the erase tab, and choose mac os. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto.
A western digital wd external hard drive can be used with any computer once it has been formatted by the computers operating system. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Make external harddrive compatible with mac and windows computer, how to format using disk utility on mac. Our datacentric solutions are comprised of the western digital, gtechnology, sandisk and wd brands. Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. Please see the link below for instructions on how to format the drive on a windows computer. Western digital offers an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices, systems and solutions for businesses and consumers alike. You can find effective ways here to format wd my passport for mac and pc to fat32 or exfat file. Now your entire wd elements external hard drive is in a format both computers can use. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Your mac will see the western digital elements hard drive connected. You can find out how to format your wd elements external hard drive for mac and pc using my article. Reformatting 3tb wd my book for mac to windows wd community. I have downloaded an ses driver and tried to reformat the drive on my mac as nfts and fat, but it does not seem to help.
Western digital provides data storage solutions, including systems, hdd, flash ssd, memory and personal data solutions to help customers capture and preserve their most valued data. My passport for mac portable hard drive rapid transit for your digital life. Magic western digital hard disk formatting and partitioning. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Oct 25, 2018 better western digital fat32 formatting utility for windows 7810. Dec 29, 2015 your exfatformatted drive or partition can now be used for both windows and mac.
A new windows explorer window opens, on the left side. Hi, i am trying to access my wd hard drive which i have been using on my mac from my pc. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. Best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc image credit. In this guide i will show you how you can properly formatreformat a hard drive for mac os. As you can see that formatting or reformatting the western digital my passport drive is easy, be it on windows or mac systems. This article exclusively solves wd my passport external hard drive not accessible issue, and introduces easeus hard drive data recovery software to users, who cannot access wd my passport external hard drive but desperately want to recover data. And have your wd elements for mac and lose your issues. You can get to know how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc from this post, if you need to use a western digital external hard drive, like wd elements both under mac and pc. My passport for mac western digital speichern shop. Oct 15, 2015 hi, i am trying to access my wd hard drive which i have been using on my mac from my pc. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable.
Oct 15, 2015 please note that reformatting the drive will erase all the information on the drive. The western digital 4tb my passport external hard drive fits easily in the palm of your hand, so you can take all your material with you wherever you go. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the chances of file corruption, so make. Your wd elements drive will be on your mac s desktop under the name you gave it. Wd my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Western digital provides data storage solutions, including systems, hdd. Vishal updated on february 25, 2020 mac hard drive recovery 14 comments 5 min read. My passport for mac portable hard drive, with the wd discovery, wd security and wd drive utilities software usb 3. If youve files you want to use then copy them off first. The instructions below are for windows 10, but other versions of windows from windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exfat for use with mac as well. Formatting a wd external hard drive does not require any additional software. Cannot access wd my passport external hard drive wd.
Thats all on how to format wd hard drive for mac and pc. Jan 08, 2020 you can only read your elements external hard drive. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020. Here then are the best external hard drives for mac of 2020 in order of ranking. Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. The only difference between the mac and pc versions is the initial formatting and preinstalled software suite which can be downloaded from western digital.
Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Formatting the wd elements drive will wipe anything on there. Back up all important information on the drive before beginning. Formatting a hard drive can change the file system to make it compatible with your computers. My new western digital my book external drive will not erase to re format for my imac. Within disk drill, you can restore data when a hard drive is damaged or add formatting, which is.
Your exfatformatted drive or partition can now be used for both windows and mac. Select a format type from the format type dropdown menu on the window, for example, ntfs or fat32. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the. This wikihow teaches you how to change an external usb hard drives format on windows and mac computers.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Its ready formatted for use on mac, time machine ready and small enough to fit in your coat pocket. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. This is a simple procedure and is achieved the same way for all drive types and through all connections, be they usb, firewire, or thunderbolt. Te lights are on on the wd and i can unmount it, but cannot find it anywhere where i can access and copy files over. Western digital wd1002faex caviar black 1 tb sata iii 7200 rpm 64 mb cache internal. For instance, is the hard drive internal or external. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Plug the cable attached to the wd external hard drive to the appropriate port on the mac, for example, the usb. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata.
Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Wd my passport for mac 500gb portable external hard drive. Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the. And the utilities folder lives in your applications. This sleek, portable drive is designed for photographers, graphics professionals and roadwarriors who want to.
Aomei partition assistant standard is professional and easytouse hard drive formatting software that can do you a big favor. Select the format tab at the top of the new window that appears. Formatting a drive will erase all data and partitions on the disk. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. This sleek, portable drive is designed for photographers, graphics professionals and roadwarriors who want to take their digital life with them. How to format wd external drive for mac more less apple footer this site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. How to format an external hard drive to work with mac. If you buy a new external hard drive, you may notice that working between mac and pc is an often difficult but it doesnt need to be. You can only read your elements external hard drive. Its sleek style is fun and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, so you can easily take your treasured content everywhere you go.
Getting the mac version saves some time for the mac user. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. To format western digital external hard drive fat32, you actually have a better choice. I have a western digital hard drive that i was using on my mac. However, all of the solutions can be divided into two types. The good thing about this external head drive for mac is that it allows you to encrypt and protect its hardware with a password. Trying to access from pc via usb cable with only one access point in wd hard drive, but it doesnt show up on the pc. It allows you to format wd hard disk to fat32, exfat, ntfs.
The my passport for mac drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password. Anyways, i formatted it to msdos fat so i can use on mac andor windows. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your macs external drives list. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps.
How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. Yes, its recommended to format the drive on a windows computer. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Well show you everything you need to know about the.
Right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the western digital my passport 4tb, which is a mechanical hard drive. Formatting a hard drive for windows will be discussed in another article. Format wd elements for mac and pc have your drive for both. How you format a mac hard drive is entirely dependent on what kind of drive you plan on formatting. How to access an external drive thats not recognized on a mac. You can discover other articles on the site all about your wd elements drive. Nov 14, 2019 how to access an external drive thats not recognized on a mac. This formatting is also known as mac os extended journaled file system. Of course, there are more than two methods that can help you format a wd my passport portable hard drive under mac os. There may be some complicated instructions claim that can help you format wd portable hard drive on mac. Does this mean that they cannot be converted to windows.
The best free western digital hard drive formatting and partitioning software can help format wd drives in ntfs, fat32, ext2, ext3 as well as manage wd partitions in a more flexible way whether you want to create, resize, move, copy, merge, wipe partitions, or recover lost, deleted or. Confused, i went back into disk utility, and tried to format the. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users. Product firmware product if your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. The my passport for mac drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password protection helps keep your digital lifes contents secure. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. From worlds first hard drive to recent advancements in 3d nand. We think it offers creatives the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price for both mac and pc users. However, for some mac users, formatting a wd portable hard drive on mac is not as easy as formatting a hard drive on pc. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac.
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