Oct 25, 2018 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. Heres something your my passport for mac quick install guide might not tell. Though formatting a hard disk is a nobrainer, getting one that. This morning, wd my passport suddenly became inaccessible, couldnt be detected by my computer. Apr 16, 2020 step 6 once formatting completes, you can then use your drive in mac as a usual hard drive. Read about it and found that id have to reformat it in mac os extended journaled.
Wd my passport for mac 500gb portable external hard drive. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. Password protection with hardware encryption the my passport for mac drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with wd security software helps. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. With my previous laptops pcs, ive always stored my data on an external hard drive.
Click on the erase button to start erasing the external hard drive or usb. Fix wd my passport for mac not showing upnot working on mac. I recently purchased a 4tb wd my passport external hard drive from costco. 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. Formatting wd my passport will not only allow you to have full storage of your wd my passport, but will also remove virusinfected files. Since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. Mac doesnt recognize external hard drive anymore and why your mac is not mounting or wont detect specific popular brand drives including seagate, wd, toshiba, iomega, lacie, and exfat. I have eventually got my personal mac, the problem is i have a wd my passport portable hd, with all my art, photos, and data i had done with the pc. If the wd my passport for mac drive is still not showing up in finder or on the desktop, you. My passport for mac includes usbc and usba cables for universal compatibility with mac computers of yesterday and today. I am a college student and purchasing this was an absolute no brainer.
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. Two effective ways to format wd passport for windows. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. Hard travel case for wd my passport easystore 1tb 2tb 3tb 4tb usb 3. Will formatting an external hard drive erase everything. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it. I set it up for my quicken backups and so far have had no problems. Nov 04, 2019 two effective ways to format wd passport for windows. Mac os x and windows can both read and write to disks in the fat or exfat format. Hi, we understand that you wanted to use your hard drive now for windows.
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. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. Make use of a usb cable to connect the computer and the wd my passport drive firmly. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. Therefore, some user needs western digital fat32 formatting utility because he wants to connect his ntfsformatted my passport ultra to mac os. Nov 27, 2012 how to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Tips to fix mac doesnt recognize external hard drive on. Because mac os x mountain lion does not natively support writing to an external ntfs drive, you must erase your hard disk and format it using a compatible file system.
Wd black my passport portable external hard drive is usb 3. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. As it is mentioned above, after formatting a hard drive, all data on the hard drive will be erased. Wd my passport cant copy files from apple community. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. You were right, you did indeed have to select wd my passport screen shot 20170625 at 6. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. My wd passport for the mac is the best external hard drive anyone can buy for the mac computer. Look for your wd my passport drive on your desktop.
Look for the external hard drive icon on your desktop. This shopping feature will continue to load items when the. I wish to copy files from my mac to the drive, it wont allow me. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Where, i am seeing instruction links, for mac operating system, for. At certain times you may have some confidential or personal data on the external hard drive, which you may want removed once you dont have the use for it. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. It was very stubborn and i resorted to formatting the drive. Wd my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Select your wd my passport on the sidebar, choose erase. My passport for mac portable hard drive rapid transit for your digital life.
Aug 16, 2019 try selecting the wd at the hard drive level i. Formatting a hard drive will take a while and wait for it patiently. But when i open and copy files from the drive to the mac it works. Go to the downloads location, doubleclick on the wd my passport ultra 1tb setup file, and click next on the initial screen. If this does not work, swap out the cable for a different one. How to reformat wd my passport for mac mediakits report not. Prior releases operate in a similar way although the screen displays may vary in the detail of their look.
Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable. I am looking for a solution to format the wd my passport portable. With disk management, you can easily erase your western digital my passport drive without the need for. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Nov 14, 2017 i recently purchased a 4tb wd my passport external hard drive from costco. If he switches his wd drive between windows os and mac os frequently like dual boot os on a pc, he needs to format the drive to a file system which works well in both operating systems. Formatting an external hard drive for my apple community. Now, i will show you the two methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Set the external hard drive onto unwriteable state. 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. 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. Wd my passport format problem high sierr apple community. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. This will narrow your search for the cause of the problem by a great deal. Click create and manage disk partitions, and see if you can format your. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. Hi, i have a 2tb wd my passport portable hard drive and a macbook pro. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Apr 16, 2020 once thats done, double leftclick on the mac hd, the internal mac hard drive visible on the topright corner of the desktop screen. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. I bought the my passport to download my files mostly pictures to free up space on the hard drive.
Mypassport for macs seem to always be out of stock, so i bought the 4tb. Whats more, it only requires a quick reformat the first time its buyers use it. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. However, if wd my passport for mac hard drive still wont mount on mac, the last solutions is to reformat the hard drive. 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. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. You can find effective ways here to format wd my passport for mac and pc to fat32 or exfat file. Wd 1tb black my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Transferring data from a mac to pc via an external hard drive. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. External hard drive is a great device to back up the data from your computer and free some space. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd.
Unmount the drive by clicking on the eject button next to the drives name in a finder window. Wd 1tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive, usbcusba wdbfkf0010bbkwese,black. Mar 20, 2018 what is the best format to chose for an external hard drive. Go to sidebar tab, tick external disks under devices to show your wd my passport hard drive for mac in finder.
This hard drive also comes in small size and sturdy construction. Nearest category i could find to my subject interest. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. How to get external hard drive to work with mac os x. If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting.
Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Choosing it as ps4 external hard drive will double the storage for less money. Compatible with usbc and usba, the my passport for mac drive comes equipped to connect with todays latest technology. Check if the hard drive is displayed on your computer under the list of drives. Mac files wont copy to external hard drive how to fix. Have you tried formatting your hard drive from the file explorer by rightclicking the drive and choosing format. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Well show you everything you need to know about the. Jul 26, 2019 partition wd my passport for mac the information and recommendations here are focused on the version of operating system for the mac called mac os sierra. The wd hard drive failed to show up on my pc and i couldnt access saved data either. This sleek, portable drive is designed for photographers, graphics professionals and roadwarriors who want to. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required.
Vishal updated on april 21, 2020 mac hard drive recovery 19 comments 6 min read. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. 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 external hard drive for ps4 safely minitool. What you should know that formatting will erase all data on the drive. Click the finder, open the applications folder, open the utilities folder and choose disk utility. Now, from the left column select 1 tb wd my passport or whatever your hard drive name is, and click on the erase tab. How to fix wd my passport for mac hard drive not mounting. Run easeus partition master, rightclick the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose format. These hard drives offer portability and make the data transfer between computers easy. With a new, stylish design that fits in the palm of your hand, theres space to store, organize, and share all the photos. Wd my passport this time not untitled and then erase.
Hi there, joeysmyth, just wanted to let you know that i first tried to delete the data that was on the wd my passport. Step 2 on dock, choose finder to open the finder interface. The program helps to recover files from external hard drive on mac or windows pc even when a user deletes data, formatted wd passport, displays as raw, western digital drive initialization and more due to an illegal operation it can easily recover data from hdd, ssd, external hard drive, usb drive, memory card, and other. 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. Fix and repair wd my passport ultra not detectedshowing up. Dont worry, apply my task, im sure that you will get rid of on this issue. After having confirmed that the wd my passport is formatted with ntfs, many people will choose to convert ntfs to apfs for macos catalina, mojave and high sierra or reformat the wd my passport hard drive to make the wd external hard drive compatible with mac. The other type is ntfs formatted and is simply called wd my passport no for mac after the title. Now, i have a new macbook pro and all my data is still on that external hd. From here, in format, select mac os extended journaled. Partition wd my passport for mac, teach yourself in 10 steps. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. External hard drives are key in a content creatoryoutubers life.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Step 1 to start the process, connect your wd my passport drive to your mac system. How do i format a wd my passport ultra hard drive from. The my passport for mac drive is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your onthego lifestyle. It is fast, simple set up, and the ease of use which makes it perfect. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. Is there a possible way that can help me to repair the. Western digital manufactures two types of the wd my passport hard drive.
Nov 26, 20 a partition is especially useful if you want to use the drive for 2 purposes, such as having a section for tm backups and a section that allows you to write to it from both windows and os x. Once thats done, double leftclick on the mac hd, the internal mac hard drive visible on the topright corner of the desktop screen. Disk utility is a mac application, you can run it on your mac. Thats how i have my 2 gb wd my passport drive set up, 1. Transferring files between the two operating systems is less of a hassle, since you dont have to constantly back up and reformat each time. Once the system detects your connected drive and mounts it for. 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. In fact, installing an ntfs for mac driver is a much easier way. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data. A new windows explorer window opens, on the left side. 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. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Where, i am seeing instruction links, for mac operating system, for as far back as mac os x 10. Luckily, you can easily format wd my passport for your mac.
Where and with working to reformat my new hd, i have been directed to base support and then knowledge base answer id 3865. The best way to determine whether the fault is with the hard drive or your computer is to plug the hard drive in a different computer. About your wd drive my passport for mac user manual 2. Step 6 once formatting completes, you can then use your drive in mac as a usual hard drive. In the new window, set the partition label, file system ntfsfat32ext2ext3exfat, and cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click ok. It will list all the hard drives and devices on your mac computer.
Disconnect the cable entirely, then reconnect it first to the drive, then to the macintoshs usb, firewire or thunderbolt port. Using onboard disk management utilities to format your drive to. High level view of the steps to making wd passport compatible with mac and windows 1. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. Sep 12, 2019 i have a wd my passport ultra 1tb portable drive for storing movies, photos, and important personal files. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. I was having trouble with my mac, the operating system was telling me the hard drive was full. How to erase my passport and reformat wd portable drives. Im having some trouble formatting my wd my passport in high sierra. 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. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users.