I tried using exfat on a 32 gb usb drive and it worked on my mac and it. However, many users complain their wd my passport is readonly on mac like the user below in wd community. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. 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. After your mac computer detects the wd my passport ultra 1tb hard drive, mount it. List of all wd firmware and software available for download. If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need the help of a. Download the wd discovery software for mac from the western digital site. So i got a wd my passport ultra which seems to be in ntfs format and i can only read it on my mac. So if you want your external hard drive to be backward compatible with both oss then you need to reformat it with fat32 or exfat. But, it half of the times works and the other, does nothing. Format the drive as exfat requires windows 7 or later, or appropriately updated windows vista sp2 or windows xp with kb955704. Disk drive format your my passport ssd drive is formatted as a single exfat partition for compatibility with updated windows and mac os x operating systems.
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. Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps. 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. Select exfat when formatting an external drive in mac os x sierra. Wd support how to low level format or write zeros full erase to a wd hard drive or solid state drive. Make external harddrive compatible with mac and windows computer, how to format using disk utility on mac. Formatting wd elements for mac by quick workarounds. Do i use disc utilities fat32 or is there some other format. Among those external hard drive categories, wd my passport external hard drives are the most widely used ones. For mac computers, go to the apple menu and select software update. Is it likely that exfat is the problem or is there something else awry. 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 in exfat or fat32 format.
Many devices like the ps3, xbox, and many bluray will only support fat32. Wd passport external hd not recognized on windows 10. Its product line covers wd my passport, wd my passport ultra, wd my book, wd my passport for mac and more. I checked disk a wd ultra passport 4 tb drive 4,096 reported in each allocation unit.
My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. Plug the disk into a windows vista sp1 or windows 7 computer. I will leave windows instructions below for the benefit of windows users. Wd my passport ultra 2tb setup and driver installation. There is a driver that works wonders, for both windows and mac, and its not expensive. Because the file system on the wd passport for mac external hard drive is a mac os extended journaled file system. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Router worked perfectly, and readyshare found both a smaller wd passport 500g and the 3tb out of the box. The size field is greyed out and the value shows as 1,000gb. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. There is message text below the size field this volume has 40. I guess it wouldnt hurt too much if you dont mind performance issues. Wd 4tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive, usbcusba wdbp6a0040bbkwese.
If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then. I looked at my old passport in utilities and it was formatted as ntfs. How to use my wd passport external hard drive both in. To share that drive between a mac and windows pc you need software. The my passport x storage device is backwardly compatible with usb 2. To support osx, win and smarttvs at the same time id choosen exfat for my.
Hello, i just recently bought a wd passport wireless to take on holidays. Hi guys, i hope someone here could help me with a problem that im facing i recently bought a passport for mac and it came formatted as mac os extended journal the hard drives behaviour is normal on my osx lion, however when i plugged the hard drive in when running windows 7 via boot camp, the os reported that the device hard drive failed to install, and when i checked what seem to cause. Furthermore, youll dive into what best format you can use for your mac hard drive and what causes you to format a hard drive. This software allows you to check the disk health and you can format to hfs using that. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. When i select the drive and click partition, it displays the name, the format is exfat and there is a size field. Wd my passport format problem high sierr apple community. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. You need to format your wd my passport ultra by using low level format. Thankfully, msdos fat32 and exfat formats have survived to date, and these are the file system to make your wd my passport work with a mac and a windows pc simultaneously. In this post, youll learn how to format a hard drive for your mac.
Reformatting my passport 1tb to exfat wd community. Sandisk extreme external ssd 2tb formatting question. Hi guys, i hope someone here could help me with a problem that im facing i recently bought a passport for mac and it came formatted as mac os extended journal the hard drives behaviour is normal on my osx lion, however when i plugged the hard drive in when running windows 7 via boot camp, the os reported that the device hard drive failed to install, and when i checked what seem to. After erasing my passport drive, the instructions are to partition the drive.
Also is it ok to erase all the present files on the disc. To format a western digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or fat32 format, you. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. On macbook pro with high sierra os, i want to reformat my mypassport to exfat so i can place files there from my mac and from my windows 10. Use the exfat file system and never format your external. The instructions say to click partition but that action is greyed out. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and windows. I recently purchased a 2 tb hard drive for my mac book pro osx v10. Two methods mentioned above apply to formatting wd passport for mac as well.
But to get a hard drive to be compatible for both mac and pc, you have to choose the exfat formatting options. Can i format the hdd from my wd passport wireless without. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter 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. Look for your wd my passport drive on your desktop. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac. A wd my passport formatted with mac file system will be a dud on the windows and viceversa. Pick your wd my passport in the external hard drive list. It is a wise choice to use a professional format tool. Select the new untitled partition so we can format it as exfat for use with both mac and windows. Western digital provides data storage solutions, including systems, hdd, flash ssd, memory and personal data solutions to help customers capture and preserve their most valued data. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. To use with other operating systems, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting.
Your macpc will just read and write every format with. Two effective ways to format wd passport for windows. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive. The easiest way to format the drive to fat32 or exfat is by using macoss built. Great video but dam your mouse click louder than my glock. 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. Im having some trouble formatting my wd my passport in high sierra.
Hello all, today i bought the 4tb my passport from best buy. My passport for mac not detectable on windows 7 with exfat. The newer mac releases are starting to see exfat support, and soon you will see linux as well. Use a windows pc to format your wd my passport drive first to exfat. I checked disk my wd my passport same size as you show. Essentially, its a file system thats both readable and writable on any modern mac or windows machine sorry, leopard users. I am trying to erase under exfat format and master boot record since i want. Use unformat to recover data from how to format my wd my passport for mac on to windows 10 laptop after quick format,full format. Establish a connection between the western digital my passport ultra 1tb and the mac computer.
So, i bought a 2tb drive a week or two ago and formatted it to exfat so it would work on both mac and pc. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. Can i format the hdd from my wd passport wireless without loosing features. 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. Proceed with the following instructions to know how to format the wd my passport ultra 1tb setup drive on the mac computer. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide.
Want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. 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. Wd 4tb my passport for mac portable external hard drive blue, usbcusba wdba2f0040bblwesn. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. Shop wd my passport ultra for mac 4tb external usb 3. However, i then reformatted the 3tb for exfat to make it usable for both windows and mac, and now it is not found by readyshare. How do i format my external hard drive to exfat on mac.
Here is a stepbystep guide on how to format wd passport. Not sure what extended format is and if its suitable. This tutorial provides quick workarounds to formatting wd elements. Compatibility will depend in part with a motherboards ability to fit that specific. You can format a western digital my passport external hard drive to exfat or fat32 format using a free exfat or fat32 converter easeus partition master or use builtin applications windows. However, by formatting your my passport differently, you can ensure compatibility in a variety of different ways. I also have a samsung smart tv which i have used with friends hard drives to watch video files, so was eager to do this myself, i. I found the instructions and am trying to follow them. I want to know what i should do to make the hard disk compatible with bot mac os and pc. What you should know that formatting will erase all data on the drive. I wanted to load some movies onto the drive by the usb connection, unfortunately my synology does not recognize exfat drives which is the wds format. Wd 4tb my passport ultra silver portable external hard drive, usbc wdbftm0040bslwesn.
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