This answer explains how to format a wd drive for use on windows and macos. How to installuse wester digital my passport for mac and pc windows, western digital 100gb 200gb 300gb 400gb 500gb 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, 4tb, 5tb, 6tb 7tb 8tb 9b 1. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. 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. Vishal updated on april 21, 2020 mac hard drive recovery 15 comments 6 min read. If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting. Wd passport hard drive care is not so hard if you know the right steps to take. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. Im not sure because it will not mount on my desktop however, i can see it with disk utilities. Wd passport external hd not recognized on windows 10. Make sure your wd my passport external drive is chosen. Connect the western digital my passport hard drive to the computer. 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.
How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. This is a file system limitation that affects both mac s and. But a month a ago i changed the file format so it would open on my mac and it opened for about a week and then now it wont recognize it but i can hear it spinning and vibrating and it lights up. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd. Wd 4tb black my passport for mac portable hard drive. Also is it ok to erase all the present files on the disc.
Not sure what extended format is and if its suitable. In the next 5 minutes read, you will master yourself in formatting a wd my passport safely and in a manner best suited for sharing your digital files between a macos and windows os. I do stress, i buy the right format passport drive for my mac or pc. Passport ultra accessing mac formatted drive on a pc. Mypassport for macs seem to always be out of stock, so i bought the 4tb. The most notable upgrades with this line are an increase in maximum capacity 3tb, customization options, improved backup capabilities, and a line of models designed specifically for use with mac.
My passport for mac portable storage is ready right out of the box including all necessary. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. 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. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. What you should know that formatting will erase all data on the drive. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. Its windows 10ready out of the box to seamlessly deliver plugandplay storage, while password protection with hardware encryption helps enforce the security of your content. But any of them should work for both mac and windows if you format them correctly, assuming your machine has the necessary ports. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. About your wd drive my passport for mac user manual 2. Wd my passport portable external hard drive storage usb 3. My passport for mac portable storage is ready right out. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or.
Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. 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. A new windows explorer window opens, on the left side. Westerndigital my passport lights up, but not detected on.
Wd support how to low level format or write zeros full erase to a wd hard drive or solid state drive you need to use wd smartware or wd drive utility to format your external drive. Look for your wd my passport drive on your desktop. Remo recover mac is a trusted wd passport mac software to recover files from wd external hard drives. But reformatting will delete all data stored on the hard drive, and most of the time, many important files are stored on the wd my passport for mac hard drive.
The wd passport for mac is one of several drives that i use for backup on my macbook pro, so i do not need to. I have a wd 500 gb passport wd pn wd5000mt00 2309a formatted for mac. 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. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Some mac osx version does not know how to handle a drive that preformated as gptntfs. 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. Wd 2tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive blue, usbcusba wdba2d0020bblwesn. Proceed with the following instructions to know how to format the wd my passport ultra 1tb setup drive on the mac computer. Starting macos time machine backups to my passport and external usb drives. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable.
To format a western digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or fat32 format, you can bank on builtin applications of mac. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. However, by formatting your my passport differently, you. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. You can find effective ways here to format wd my passport for mac and pc to fat32 or exfat file system with the help of the professional format tool easeus partition master or other solutions. Wd my passport external hard drive set up guide for mac. However, if first aid is unable to fix wd my passport for mac hard drive not mounting error, the last solutions is to reformat the hard drive. Ive downloaded various wd drivers and software, but cant get windows 7 to recognized the usb drive. In this guide i will show you how you can properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. Luckily, you can easily format wd my passport for your mac. Wd my passport vs for mac version macrumors forums. Wd my passport portable hard drive external hdd manual set up guide for macbook pro, imac, mac mini, mac pro, macbook air. Do i use disc utilities fat32 or is there some other format.
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. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. Windows 10 wont read external mypassport drive my passport shows up in device manager but not file explorer. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. Formatting wd my passport will not only allow you to have full storage of your wd my passport, but will also remove virusinfected files. Ya, i ended up going with the wd my passport for mac, because the price on amazon was the same, and i like the silver look.
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. Wd my passport for mac portable hard drive time machine ready the my passport for mac portable hard drive is trusted to store the massive amounts of photos, videos and music you love. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. The my passport for mac drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password protection helps keep your digital lifes contents secure. Wd my passport external hard drive set up guide for mac 2019. You need to format your wd my passport ultra by using low level format. Two effective ways to format wd passport for windows.
Establish a connection between the western digital my passport ultra 1tb and the mac computer. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac computer, it must be formatted to exfat or fat32 file format. Formatting a hard drive for windows will be discussed in another article. After your mac computer detects the wd my passport ultra 1tb hard drive, mount it. Equipped with usbc technology, the my passport ultra for mac portable drive offers an easy way to expand your storage with a modern metal design that complements your pc. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc instead of apple only. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc. External hard drives are key in a content creatoryoutubers life. Two easy methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Western digital backup software and western digital smartware software are not compatible with the mac operating system. 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. Shop wd my passport ultra for mac 4tb external usb 3. If you want to perform the backup process on a mac computer, use the inbuilt software like time machine.
Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. It connects but just for a seconds and ive also tested in on a windows laptop and it recognizes it but. Hello all, today i bought the 4tb my passport from best buy. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. 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. Yes i know its a wd my passport for mac but i like to format new usb hds myself to ensure they are running the same format as my computer. Whats more, you can share digital files between mac and windows system easily. I use usb memory sticks to pass files between my pc and mac.
However, all of the solutions can be divided into two types. How to fix wd my passport for mac hard drive not mounting. Wd has released a seventh generation of their popular my passport line of external hard drives. Just activate password protection and set your own personalized password using wd discovery. Click the finder, open the applications folder, open the utilities folder and choose disk. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. How to reformat wd my passport for mac mediakits report not. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. High level view of the steps to making wd passport compatible with mac and windows 1.