Before you can use it though, you need to properly format or reformat a hard drive so that it will become compatible or readable with the operating system that you are using. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a mac when i plug it into my pc i cant access it. Reset the system management controller smc if your mac shuts down when you plug in an external hard drive. Now, a new hard drive icon will appear on the desktop.
Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. I hope you enjoyed my article on how to make an external hard drive compatible with mac and pc without reformatting. Select the drive you want to reformat in the lefthand sidebar and go to the. I would recommend backing up your data from the drive on a mac computer, reformat the drive to. What should i do about the data on the hard drive before reformatting it. Youll find it has the name you gave it on the format screen. Reformatting a western digital my passport hard drive to function well on windows and macintosh systems is neither timeconsuming nor technologically demanding.
Wd external hard drive set up guide how to use on mac. Reformatting 3tb wd my book for mac to windows wd community. If not time machine, are there any other easy solutions. Then use a different port to connect the external hard drive. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your.
Note that using a drive frequently between windows and mac could increase the chances of file corruption, so make. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. If youre a mac user, this drive comes formatted in hfs, so itll work for your right out of the box, no problems. This drive is equipped with 5tb of storage and a usb 3. Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc.
Its a riskfree way to fix the corrupted external hard drive and you dont have to worry about data loss any more. Use disk utility to erase format a hard disk, ssd, flash drive, or other storage device. How to format an external hard drive for mac youtube. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. Problems reformatting new hd to mac external drives for. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Of course, there are more than two methods that can help you format a wd my passport portable hard drive under mac os. Try wd advanced format utility alternative easeus external hard drive formatter to format disk while wd external drive format failed with wd quick formatter tool. How to format an external hard drive for mac tech talk america. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing.
Download wd quick formatter to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc in windows 1087. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to reformat a wd external hard drive it still works. Your exfatformatted drive or partition can now be used for both windows and mac. How to reformat western digital hard drive for mac. Hard drives often have to be formatted to work on macbooks and apple desktops, but i definitely had some difficulty getting my windows ntfs formatted western digital drive to be recognized on my.
You can only read your elements external hard drive. If first aid was unable to fix the errors in the wd my passport, which is quite common, the file system of this drive could be seriously corrupted and you have to fix the wd my passport for mac not showing up on mac problem by reformatting. Sometimes, there will be a need to learn how to reformat my passport for mac, so once youre acquainted with formatting, you should enlighten yourself on how to reformat wd my passport for mac. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Back up all important information on the drive before beginning. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use.
Open disk utility by clicking finder applications utilities and finally click disk utility. Top 10 external hard drives for mac external hard drives. 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 wd elements both under mac and pc. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your backup files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. Plug the cable attached to the wd external hard drive to the appropriate port on the mac, for example, the usb. I have a 2tb external drive called wd my passport for mac its been over a year since i last used it on my imac. This process wont actually convert the file system. Please note that reformatting the drive will erase all the information on the drive. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Fortunately, there is a tool called iboysoft mac data recovery that can recover your data firstly before you reformat this corrupted external hard drive.
How to reformat western digital portable hard drive. If they are important make sure you have them backed up safely and that they can be accessd on another drive s, cds, dvds or memory sticks if they are very small. Then the wd portable hard drive is able to securely be reused, resold, recycled or. First, back up the data on the mac formatted drive if you have anything important on it.
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. I am new to windows after many years as a mac user. Whether you are trying to backup mac to an external hard drive, wipe out any personal information and sell the computer, or even use a new operating system, you need to format the hard drive on your mac or pc. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac. 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. Reformatting an external hard drive dell community. Expand the storage on your mac and back up photos, video, music, and documents using the silver 5tb my passport ultra usb 3. How to properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os. 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.
Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. First, i tried following the directions on wds site to format to msdosfat and got this message. However, all of the solutions can be divided into two types. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. Enjoy long term peace of mind with the included 1 year limited warranty. And now you can use the wd elements external hard drive as you use your internal hard drive. By default, the 4tb hard drive uses the ntfs format for windows pcs, but theres a help file included on the drive that provides information for mac users so that you can reformat the drive. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard. I have a wd my passport edge for mac 500gb external drive that i have been using for years on a macbook air, without glitches. 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. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. If youre a windows user, youll have to reformat it to ntfs or just buy the regular wd drive, which is usually same price or even cheaper and. Download wd quick formatter to format external drive in.
You can format your external hard drive from either the pc or mac. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it. Can i use a wd elements external hard drive on my mac. Wdeasystore external hard drive set up guide for mac 2019. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Do you save backups of your hard drive onto an external hard drive. Alternative ways to recover data from an external hard drive. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. I was using a my passport wd external drive for lightroom on my mac and my new pc wont allow me access to the files. Seagate to get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required.
Connect your western digital my passport drive to mac computer, and let the os detect and mount the drive for use. Im having issues reformatting my new wd elements 4tb hard drive to mac readable. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. When the finder window opens, on the menu bar, select go and then utilities. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. Reformatting an external hard drive no, not unless you back them up to another location first. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. If you have a mac lying around, you can plug the drive into a mac and back up the files. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant.
Reformatting an external hard drive for use with mac osx is not as difficult as it might seem. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. Apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Two easy methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. How to fixrepair corrupted external hard drives on mac. Choose the hard drive that you want to format or reformat. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc instead of apple only. Vishal updated on april 20, 2020 mac hard drive recovery 14 comments 5. Hello all, i am switching completely from mac to windows. Instead, well just be wiping the drive and starting over from scratch.
To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. External hard drive compatible with mac and pc without. But what happens if that drive becomes corrupted, and you have to reformat it to make it accessible again. Your wd elements drive will show up on your desktop as a drive icon. Fix wd my passport for mac not showing upnot working on mac. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems.
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. Double click on your wd elements drive icon on your desktop. 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. Either way there is a solution to having an existing external hard drive for mac and pc. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. Formatting an external hard drive will delete any information on the device, likewise reformatting your system will essentially bring your mac back to a clean factory state, thus removing all. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. Windows 7 home premium wd passport portable hard drive using wd my passport on both macbook pro and. 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. The my passport for mac drive s builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password protection helps keep your digital lifes contents secure. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for os xs time machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through mac because there is an additional step to make drive. Whether you go the software or hardware route depends on your situation. Reformatting is the best way to reset the western digital wd portable hard drive to factory status.
1098 354 394 185 292 991 1015 1394 980 272 494 317 100 458 175 864 1454 180 1215 179 536 1414 506 1111 1557 107 892 1238 1552 1544 535 1006 802 1122 534 25 995 921 289 218 735 10 943 765 222 1349 877