The tips and shortcuts below will give you the necessary info and tidbits you need to format wd elements for mac. Click the finder, open the applications folder, open the utilities folder and choose disk utility. Click the wd drive download for mac and install it on your system once the download process is complete. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. However, if you want to use part of the drive for os xs time machine. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your. On its website, apple does sell and recommend the gtechnology made by western digital and lacie external hard drives. Nov 19, 2009 i am having a huge dilemma with my new western digital 4tb hard drive. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. I show you how to format a western digital or any brandhard drive for use on any device be it a mac, pc, linux, ps3, xbox 360, etc. The gtechnology format wizard install is for users who want to reformat their drives for use with windows systems only.
Two easy ways to format wd portable hard drive on mac. 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. When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and use it again. There are many explanation why you need to format a disk. Its ready formatted for use on mac, time machine ready and small enough to fit in your coat pocket.
May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. Feb 08, 2020 rightclick on the icon for your external drive on mac desktop, then select get info. Dec 02, 2019 alternatively, you can choose to use thirdparty software and apps that not only allow you to read hfs and apfs file systems, but also allow you to understand how to convert your mac drive to windows without losing data. This is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on mac and windows computers, providing. Windows users click here a small portion of drive space on your new my passport or my book hard drive has been used to create a virtual cd vcd.
Compatible with usbc and usba devices, my passport for mac comes equipped to connect with todays latest technology. To format western digital my passport for mac or windows, you can rely on inbuilt applications of your system to format your wd my passport in exfat or fat32 format. You might want to copy 1 thing to a drive to share it with a pc or 1 other mac. Not sure what extended format is and if its suitable. Wd external hard drive set up guide how to use on mac. Its nice that the mac version of this passport hard drive comes with a usb c adapter, meaning its future proof if i upgrade my laptop etc. Open a finder window and verify that your new storage device is correctly attached. If you are unable to locate or access the data on your western digital wd external hard drive, it can be devastating, particularly when the lost data contains precious images and invaluable backups. Fat 32 format external drives for mac wd community. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system answer id 291 a western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar. Product firmware product if your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Proceed with the following instructions to know how to format the wd my passport ultra 1tb setup drive on the mac computer. Seagate backup plus slim for mac 2tb external hard drive hdd usb 3. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps. This software allows you to check the disk health and you can format to hfs using that software. List of all wd firmware and software available for download. Rightclick on the icon for your external drive on mac desktop, then select get info. Mac cant read wd elements external drives for mac wd. Western digital my passport ultra features cloud storage and. When i open disk utility pertaining to the new hd i see 698. Western digital my book for mac 4tb wd 4tb black my passport portable external hard drive usb wdbyftbbkwesn.
I read that i needed to re format the hd drive which i did but now neither the pc nor the mac even sees the hd. I know i am supposed to format it for mac via disk utility before i can use it, but this process also fails. Jun 18, 2019 i have just purchased a wd my passport external 4 tb drive and wish to use it on both my pc as well as my imac. Have an older western digital portable hard drive, bought 7 years ago. Establish a connection between the western digital my passport ultra 1tb and the mac computer. Download the wd discovery software for mac from the western digital site. There are other options which are more complex if the above has not worked for you.
Do i use disc utilities fat32 or is there some other format. This time i went with the western digital my passport which i. Western digital wd 1tb 2tb my passport hdd portable. Macbook external hard drive not recognized how to reformat. Apr 15, 2020 this is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Of course, there are more than two methods that can help you format a wd my passport portable hard drive under mac os. Connect your western digital my passport drive to mac computer. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users. After installing the software, connect your wd drive to the system and start using it. Wd 2tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive, usbcusba wdblpgbbkwese. Mac ready my passport ultra for mac is formatted for time machine and ready to deliver plugandplay storage out of the box. How do i fix this and then how do i ensure that i can use the wd my passport on both the mac and the pc. Designed to fit in the palm of your hand, theres plenty of space to store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents.
Accessing mac formatted wd hard drive from pc wd community. Using wd 4 tb my passport for both mac and pc external. Hi, i am trying to access my wd hard drive which i have been using on my mac from my pc. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. However, all of the solutions can be divided into two types. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives.
Also is it ok to erase all the present files on the disc. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. The vcd contains the wd smartware installation software, the encryption and password protection application, user manuals, and other resource files. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Or possibly you might be setting up an exterior drive for backups.
If youre a windows user, youll have to reformat it to ntfs or just buy the regular wd drive, which is usually same price or even cheaper and comes already formatted for windows. Most of the windows users know how to format western digital external hard drive on a pc. 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. A western digital wd external hard drive can be used with any computer once it has been formatted by the computers operating system. Select the drive, click erase, choose the name and format of the drive, and click erase. Oct 25, 2018 why need western digital fat32 formatting tool.
Steps to move your photos library to an external drive. By installing the gtechnology format wizard, you will only be able to access your gtechnology drive on windows systems. The instructions on the wd format for mac page, when followed, didnt work. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. How to format external hard drive on mac compatible.
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. 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. After your mac computer detects the wd my passport ultra 1tb hard drive, mount it on the computer. Nov 14, 2019 how to access an external drive thats not recognized on a mac. I got a new portable hard drive for my photos and videos. Designed for mac my passport for mac portable storage works straight out of the box with mac devices which makes it easy to get going quickly drag and drop files to and from, or setup a backup routine with apples time machine software to help protect your photos, videos, music and documents. 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. Plug the cable attached to the wd external hard drive to the appropriate port on the mac, for example, the usb port. Your disk utility program lives within a folder called utilities. How to format a western digital external hard drive for a mac. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Physical description as shown in figure 2, the my passport ultra for mac drive has. Name the wd external hard drive in the name text field that appears beneath the erase tab.
Here are eight external hard drives for mac users to consider. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Shop newegg for fast and free shipping on western digital mac hard drives with the best prices and awardwinning customer service. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. Click once on the wd external hard drives icon that is in the left column. Select the unmountable wd external hard drive and click erase on the top.
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. Western digital empowering the worlds data infrastructures. If you really want a superfast external hard drive for your mac, then the samsung t3 ssd is easily one of the best. My passport for mac is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your onthego lifestyle. Two easy methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x.
Our datacentric solutions are comprised of the western digital, gtechnology, sandisk and wd brands. 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. As it uses a solid state drive, the read and write speeds of this drive are much faster than external hard drives that use traditional hard drives. When the finder window opens, on the menu bar, select go and then utilities. Ultrastar dc hc300 western digital how to format wd my pport for and pc my pport user manual western digital green vs red hard drives. 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.
Use a mac with an older release of mac os to format your wd passport drive. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Here then are the best external hard drives for mac of 2020 in order of ranking. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. With wd discovery software, you can also work across both mac and pc. Western digital offers an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices, systems and solutions for businesses and consumers alike. Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac.
Western digital my passport ultra 1tb mac driver to download the driver for your mac system, specify the mac os version in the correct textbox. It doesnt tell us which option in the dropdown format field to choose. Wd quick formatter, also known as wd advanced format drivers afds, is an external hard drive format utility for windows and mac, developed by western digital technologies, inc. Inside, enter the applications folder and then the utilities folder. The my passport for mac drive s builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password protection helps keep your digital lifes contents secure. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing data.
Western digital my passport ultra features cloud storage and 256aes encryption. I usually use a firewire that connects into the hard drive. Now, a new hard drive icon will appear on the desktop. If youre a mac user, this drive comes formatted in hfs, so itll work for your right out of the box, no problems. You can reformat a western digital external drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac and pc, when you want to use it under mac. How to transfer photos from mac to external drive solved.
Click the erase button at the bottom of the disk utility programs main screen. The western digital drive i bought is windows ntfs formatted and not mac friendly so the first thing i did was try to simply format it. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Doubleclick on the mac s main hard drive to open its window on the desktop. It came formatted for mac os and i need to format it under ntfs. Connect the western digital my passport hard drive to the computer. You could also be promoting your mac and wish to utterly erase it so nobody can entry your date. Well, why need you to format wd hard drive to fat32. We suggest using the same filesystem format that you are using on your internal hard drive.
Feb 11, 2019 the western digital drive i bought is windows ntfs formatted and not mac friendly so the first thing i did was try to simply format it. My passport ultra for mac western digital speichern. Easily format wd western digital portable hard drive on mac. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Formatting a wd external hard drive does not require any additional software. Hope this tutorial can help to fix wd external hard drive not mountingshowing uprecognizeddetected on mac. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. I chose max extended journaled for the erase process, however, maybe i should have picked a different format option. The my passport for mac drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password protection helps keep your digital lifes contents secure.
But keep in mind that you will be in need of software and proper knowledge of the process. Vishal updated on april 21, 2020 mac hard drive recovery 14 comments 6. Western digital red 4tb nas hard disk drive 5400 rpm class sata 6 gbs 64mb cache 3. Wd elements, wd my book western digital, my passport wd, we my cloud,wd my passport ultra, how to installuse 100gb 200gb 300gb 400gb 500gb. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac.
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