I was wondering if anyone could tell me how i partition the hard drive to work on both operating systems. I just bought a western digital 1 tb portable hard drive. 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 extended. 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. Wd external hard drive set up guide how to use on mac. After realizing that you can reformat wd hard drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac os x and still can be used under windows, it is time to check out how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc in windows successfully.
Because there is no quick format feature in mac os and there is no disk partition tool for mac hard disk drive. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. How to format wd my passport in windows system just like disk utility on mac, there is an inbuilt tool known as disk management in windows. Signs of western digital hard drive errors all hard drives show some specific signs before they go out altogether. I think it is necessary to reformat the wd portable hard drive and permanently erase my private data.
The my passport for mac drive s builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password protection helps keep your digital lifes contents secure. 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 and windows. As we mentioned before, the good news is that using magoshare data recovery for mac is really easy, actually you can recover lost information from any device included formatted western digital hard drive in a few simple steps step 1. All external hard drives can be formatted on mac, just follow my steps. My western digital 1 tb external hard drive is not showing up on my mac. Select the unmountable wd external hard drive and click erase on the top. When shipped to you your western digital elements drive is in a format called ntfs. A western digital wd external hard drive can be used with any computer once it has been formatted by the computers operating system. The largest difference is the file system the drive ships with. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. There are specific thirdparty systems, like digital camcorders, and sony playstation 3, which need the drives to be formatted in either fat32 or exfat format to perform read from and write operation. How to recover lost data from formatted western digital hard drive on mac. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. I chose max extended journaled for the erase process, however, maybe i should have picked a different format option.
The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. You should then a see it mount on the desktop, and b automatically get a prompt to use the drive for time machine if not, you can go into the time machine menu top right of the screen, go to tm preferences, and select it. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. 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. Format 1 tb elements external drives for mac wd community. This should format your 1 tb external hard drive to your chosen mac os. Formatted data recover from western digital hard drive on mac.
Spotting these signs will help you a great deal in doing preventive maintenance. However, if you re having problems accessing the files and the issue is due to formatting, you will need to connect. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. Mypassport for macs seem to always be out of stock, so i bought the 4tb. Hello, i want to format a recently purchased 1tb elements for use with my. 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. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. Formatting a wd external hard drive does not require any additional software.
But when it comes to format internal hard drive for mac, things are getting a little more complicated. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and macos. This is because you must format the drive with a specific file system before using it with a computer, and windows and mac computers run on different file systems. External hard drives are key in a content creatoryoutubers life. Here are two ways offered and you can choose on based on your own situation. Almost any external hard drive device will work with a chrome operating system. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. But when you want to put documents on the drive, or update any files on the drive your mac says no.
For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. However, if you want to use part of the drive for os xs time machine backups, you should do this from the mac, since theres an extra step to make the drive compatible for time machine. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. This hard drive gives you the flexibility to store your files from anywhere with the ability to easily edit your files while on the go. How to reformat wd my passport for mac mediakits report not. Aomei partition assistant standard is professional and easytouse hard drive formatting software that can do you a big favor.
Since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. How to access an external drive thats not recognized on a mac. 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. It allows you to format wd hard disk to fat32, exfat, ntfs, ext2, ext3, etc. 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. 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. I connected it to the pc also and it acts the same way. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. If you want to make use of your mac s thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your mac s external drives list. Is there any fast way to reformat the wd portable hard drive and erase all the data on the hard drive. When you are a mac user the chances of reformat get higher and when digital external hard drive it arises much more. Wd quick formatter is short for western digital quick formatter, a format tool developed by western digital technologies, inc.
You can have problems with your mac refusing to format your elements drive if its not picked at the right level. To get started, choose the western digital brand you d like help with. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. Format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format so to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use. Do you plan to share files with mac and a windows pc. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac.
You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. It came formatted for mac os and i need to format it under ntfs. I can hear the drive on and also the light blinking, but not detectable. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. But keep in mind that you will be in need of software and proper knowledge of the process. The yellow arrow in the internalexternal picture above shows you where to click. Even though mac computers are capable of reading hard drives that are formatted for windows, if you intend on using your external hdd as a bootable disk or want to use it to backup files with your mac s time machine, you must format it to be entirely mac compatible.
I recently purchased a 4tb wd my passport external hard drive from costco. Hard drive is not showing up on my mac western digital. As you can see in our how to format an external hard drive guide, macos uses a different file system than windows. How to convert mac hard drive to windows without losing. 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. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. How to reformat western digital portable hard drive. Best western digital external hard drives in 2020 imore. Easily format wd western digital portable hard drive on mac.
There may be some complicated instructions claim that can help you format wd portable hard drive on mac. Apple mac machines support a different file system. 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. To format western digital external hard drive fat32, you actually have a better choice. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc.
It is possible to format a hard drive so it can be read on mac and windows computers, providing you format using exfat. I am having a huge dilemma with my new western digital 4tb hard drive. You can format your western digital external hard drive for a mac. I show you how to format a western digital or any brand hard drive for use on any device be it a mac, pc, linux, ps3, xbox 360, etc. The instructions on the wd format for mac page, when followed, didnt work. Weve diligently researched a number of external hard drives from western digital, so we know exactly how to find the best ones for.
Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. It doesnt tell us which option in the dropdown format field to choose. I am looking to use the hard drive on my mac at home, and pc at school. When you need a reliable and durable external hard drive that also provides an ample amount of storage, the western digital my passport pro gives you the most bang for your buck. My problems is that i cannot even see the wd hard drive on the mac finder nor on the pcs file explorer the hard drive simply disappeared from both after i had reformatted it to exfat using the pc to do this having gone into the properties of the wd hard drive. Western digital external hard drive format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. How to format an external hard drive for a mac youtube. Thank you for your response monicabang much appreciated. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. Using western digital hard drive on pc an apple community. How to format a western digital external hard drive for a.
Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc. Your mac can see and read your ntfs elements drive. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps. But before you can do anything, you need to make it clear that the hard drive you want to wipe or format would be an external hard drive or an internal hard drive. For the user, this is a great thing because you will get some time to find a solution or move your files to another storage unit. Hope this tutorial can help to fix wd external hard drive not mountingshowing uprecognizeddetected on mac. However, for some mac users, formatting a wd portable hard drive on mac is not as easy as formatting a hard drive on pc. Western digital offers an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices, systems and solutions for businesses and consumers alike. When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and use it again. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive.
When you connect an external device to a chromebok for the first time, it will automatically format that drive to exfat. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. How to reformat a wd external hard drive it still works. How to format an external hard drive with wd quick. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. For your convenience, our preferred wd external hard drives are listed here, and we can t recommend them highly enough. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility.