How to formatreformat wd elements for mac depending on the system that you are using, there are 2 ways to format you hard disk into a mac supported format. Since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. How to reformat wd my passport for mac mediakits report not. Here i recommend you to change the file system of the wd hard drive from ntfs to fat32 or exfat, thus the wd hard drive is able to be used.
Youll want to do it before you sell your machine, for sure, but its also one of the steps you take when you. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. 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. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. How to properly formatreformat a hard drive for mac os. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Windows cant normally read macformatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead.
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. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc instead of apple only. The data recovery tool in question supports all western digital hard disk drives, such as my book pro, my book, wd elements, my book studio, etc. For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. Once formatting is done, you can use the drive in macos or os x as a regular hard drive.
Now, i will show you the two methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Please note that reformatting the drive will erase all the information on the drive. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. To use your wd elements drive on your mac you need your. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Need to reformat wd hard drive for mac if you connect your wd hard drive without reformatting, youll be unable to copy files to the disk as mac read only supports ntfs file system. How to format an external hard drive for a mac youtube.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Have tried disk utility and terminal diskutil but the hard drive keeps showing at the wrong size. The wd elements desktop hard drive and the wd my book desktop hard drive and plug and play for windows, so this means it is ready to use as soon as you take it out of the box. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. Step 5 thereafter, click on the erase button and let the system erase everything on the drive and reformat wd elements for mac by exfat or fat32 format. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. They are great for backing up data, creating extra storage space on your computer and transferring large amounts of data between two or. External hard drives are key in a content creatoryoutubers life. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar. It is possible to reformat the drive and keep your files by formatting your drive and then using a data recovery tool to restore your information. Plug the wd drive into the usb socket on your computer and use time machine for backups just by following the mac os prompts to make sure you select the correct drive for your time machine to. If youre a mac user, this drive comes formatted in hfs, so itll work for your right out of the box, no problems. How to erase a disk for mac use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device.
How to reformat western digital portable hard drive. Should i just wait until i get the new laptop and attempt to reformat the drive on it. Mount wd my passport for mac in disk utility manually. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want. Hi, when i first plugged in my new wd easystore 2 tb portable drive, i installed the necessary software off the drive. Wd 4tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. 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. Formatting a hard drive is the best way to start from scratch on a geeky project. Be sure to doublecheck this you could accidentally wipe the wrong drive if you select the wrong disk here. In this video, i show you how to reformat an external hard drive to be compatible for use with a mac, or for both a. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard. Reformatting 3tb wd my book for mac to windows wd community.
But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. Sometimes, hard drives cannot be automatically mounted in disk utility, even though mac has detected the hard drive. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Super eraser will reformat the wd portable hard drive and permanently erase all data on the wd portable hard drive. External usb hard drives are lightweight, portable and inexpensive. Fix wd my passport for mac not showing upnot working on mac. After doing so, i was still unable to utilize the drive unable to create new folders, dragdrop. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. Select the unmountable wd external hard drive and click erase on the top. I have a 3tb hard drive that i removed from a nas that is only showing as 800mb on my mac.
Mypassport for macs seem to always be out of stock, so i bought the 4tb. Sometimes, there will be a need to learn how to reformat my. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. How to reformat my hard drive using my macbook air quora. If youre a windows user, youll have to reformat it to ntfs or just buy the regular wd drive. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac.