How to get external hard drive to work with mac os x. Rightclick on the drive and select format thats how it works on my win7, dunno if this is the same for win10. Nov 04, 2019 exfat permits can store individual file beyond 4gb and can work with windows, mac and can be supported by playstation 4 and xbox one. Transferring files between the two operating systems is less of a hassle, since you dont have to constantly back up and reformat each time. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Look for your wd my passport drive on your desktop. 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.
But, the good news is that msdos exfat and fat32 formats come quite in handy in such cases. How to reformat wd my passport for mac mediakits report not. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag.
By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you. The wd my passport for mac hard drive is specially designed for mac mini computers, imacs and macbooks. According to the solutions above, the easeus partition tool stands out for its convenience and easiness. How to erase my passport and reformat wd portable drives. Cannot access wd my passport external hard drive wd repair. For a hard drive to be able to be read from and written to on both a windows and macos computer, it must be formatted to exfat or fat32 file format. Aug 30, 2018 western digitals passport external drive for mac isnt eternally bound to macos. These file systems can help you to make your wd my passport work with a windows pc and mac at the same time. Now, from the left column select 1 tb wd my passport or whatever your hard drive name is, and click on the erase tab.
Windows 10 wont read external mypassport drive my passport shows up in device manager but not file explorer. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Sep 01, 2011 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. Physical description as shown in figure 2, the my passport ultra for mac drive has. How to format external hard drive on mac compatible with windows, mac. Equipped with usbc technology, the my passport ultra for mac portable drive offers an easy way to expand your storage. So how do i get to see my files from my external hard drive on my pc aidfile recovery software keyfeature. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. Formatting wd my passport will not only allow you to have full storage of your wd my passport, but will also remove virusinfected files.
Apr 14, 2020 as long as we format the external hard drive to one of these 2 file systems, it can be shared between mac and windows. Run easeus partition master, rightclick the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose format. By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you can use it. 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. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and macos. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting. Try to format wd passport for windows and thus you can use it again. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. Nov 21, 2019 the wd my passport drive is read only on your mac. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. About your wd drive my passport for mac user manual 2.
Jun 15, 2015 the my passport for mac is wds newest release, and was designed to specifically serve mac users with the same outofthebox functionality that the my passport ultra offers. So how do i get to see my files from my external hard drive on my pc. Its modern metal design complements your mac, and out of the box, its formatted for macos and time machine compatibility. 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. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. I have now assigned a drive to the external drive using diskpart and it now shows up in file explorer but tells me the drive is empty it is not and i can access the files from a mac. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Mypassport for macs seem to always be out of stock, so i bought the 4tb hard.
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. I used to have a macbook air so it would always read the devise cause i guess it was formatted just for mac. In this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc. And with up to 5tb1 of storage and a 3year limited warranty, you get storage to rely on for years to come. Western digitals passport external drive for mac isnt eternally bound to macos. Fix wd my passport for mac not showing upnot working on mac. Back up all important information on the drive before beginning. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. I will try to erasereformat thru win10 as you suggested. My passport usb not working on my ipad apple community.
Luckily, you can easily format wd my passport for your mac. 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. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. I looked thru the windows support site but couldnt decide what to do. Select your wd my passport for mac drive from the left sidebar and click the mount button on the top of disk utility window. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Look for the external hard drive icon on your desktop. Reformatting a western digital my passport hard drive to function well on windows and macintosh systems is neither timeconsuming nor. Both fat32 and exfat have advantages and disadvantages. Unable to format wd my passport for mac external hard drive.
There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. In the format window, navigate to the file system field, and select either the exfat or fat32 option. Ive downloaded various wd drivers and software, but cant get windows 7 to recognized the usb drive. Fat32 works with all versions of windows, mac os, linux, game consoles, etc. This trusted portable storage always offers quick and easy way to expand the storage space of your computer and to store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents. Hard drives usually come formatted in two different ways, one catering to windows and one catering to mac.
For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. If you run into the issue of not having enough space format it to be the ex fat as. Just like on windows, your wd passport can be used on your mac too. Step 1 to start the process, connect your wd my passport drive to your mac system. By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you can use it with windows computers, too. You just have to format it, and youll explore the numerous ways you can do that right here. Make sure your wd my passport external drive is chosen. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. Apr 16, 2020 you can format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently.
Below the format options field, make sure to checkmark the box next to the quick format option. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Instead, you can also click on the mount icon beside the drive to mount it immediately. From here, in format, select mac os extended journaled. Then, ill introduce you to workable and easy ways to format wd passport external hard drive, wd elements external hard drive and other external hard drives. May 21, 2018 in this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc. Apr 16, 2020 a wd my passport formatted with the windows file system will be useless on the mac and viceversa. If you wish to boot the drive on a pc or use it with older versions of windows, you may also need to set the partition scheme to master boot record mbr for full windows compatibility. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Windows 10 wont read external mypassport drive microsoft. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. Two effective ways to format wd passport for windows.
However, single files on a fat32 drive cant be larger than 4gb. A new windows explorer window opens, on the left side of the screen. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. On the main panel, click the wd my passport ultra 1tb drives icon, and select the format button. The format is also what makes the drive compatible with time machine for backup on. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. 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. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube.
High level view of the steps to making wd passport compatible with mac and windows 1. In the new window, set the partition label, file system ntfsfat32ext2ext3exfat, and cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click ok. Step 2 on dock, choose finder to open the finder interface. Passport ultra accessing mac formatted drive on a pc wd. Reformatting a western digital my passport hard drive to function well on windows and macintosh systems is neither timeconsuming nor technologically demanding. 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. The wd my passport drive is now formatted to work on both mac and.
Unable to format wd my passport for mac external hard. It maintains compatibility with pc operating systems which requires reformatting, and it is similar in functionality and performance to the seventh generation my. Mar 22, 2016 i formatted a my passport ultra drive for the mac, in order to archive a large number of photos win32 format kept failing on the file copy. This is the file system you will need if you want to be able to easily transfer files back and forth between your mac and your my passport drive. How to format and use wd my passport for mac just like on windows, your wd passport can be used on your mac too. If you want to use wd my passport or any other hard drive on mac and pc, you need to format a western digital my passport external hard drive. Repair wd my passport for mac drive with first aid. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Dec 29, 2015 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. Once the system detects your connected drive and mounts it for.
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