- #HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC HOW TO#
- #HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC MAC OS X#
- #HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC WINDOWS 10#
- #HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC PORTABLE#
- #HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC PC#
Click ‘Erase’ on the Disk Utility file menu. When the Disk Utility opens, choose the Western Digital hard drive icon from the sidebar. When the Finder window opens, on the menu bar, select ‘Go’ and then ‘Utilities.’ After that, you will be able to see /Applications/Utilities folder in Finder. From the Utilities folder window, select ‘Disk Utility’ application. Now, a new hard drive icon will appear on the desktop. In macOS / OS X Platform.Ĭonnect your Western Digital My Passport drive to Mac computer, and let the OS detect and mount the drive for use. After successful formatting, you can directly save or move files to it like any other external hard drive. Now, again select a ‘Quick Format’ option, then click ‘Start’ option, wait for a few minutes to get your drive reformatted with the FAT32 file system, so that you can use it. This name will represent your drive when you connect it with Windows Explorer or Mac and will be mentioned above the drive letter for the My Passport drive. Enter a relevant name in the ‘Volume Label’ field. Select the ‘File System’ from the drop-down list, which is available in the format expansion and choose either ‘ex-FAT’ or ‘FAT32’. Locate the icon assigned to Western Digital My Passport drive and Right-click the connected drive icon and click ‘Format’ in the pop-up menu. A new Windows Explorer window opens, on the left side of the screen you will see a list of installed drives and their drive letters. Now, click the Start button and select ‘This PC’. Wait till the Windows detects the external hard drive and configure it as an expansion drive automatically.
#HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC PC#
In Windows Platform: 1.Ĭonnect your Western Digital My Passport hard drive to your Windows PC through the USB cable.
#HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC PORTABLE#
Here you will get to know about the process to format your “My passport” portable drive in FAT32 and ex-FAT file system in both Windows and Mac platforms. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps. To format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive in ex-FAT or FAT32 format, you can bank on built-in applications of Mac & PC. 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. Thankfully, MS-DOS FAT32 and ex-FAT 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. A WD My Passport formatted with Mac file system will be a dud on the Windows and vice-versa. We know, Macs and Windows have their native file systems such as the new APFS or HFS and the NTFS.
#HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC HOW TO#
How To Format Wd Elements For Mac 2017īut despite the best of the best device specifications there remains one small glitch to rectify. The role of the WD My Passport drive is crucial since the individual will leverage the portable media to safely store their collection of pictures, videos, audio, and docs.
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#HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC WINDOWS 10#
Usually, their arsenal includes a cutting-edge Windows 10 desktop, the latest and the magnificent MacBook Pro, DSLR & SD-Cards of-course and the trusted & loved external drives such as the WD My Passport. Professional Photographers and videographers have their hands laid upon various digital devices.
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Here's a link with instructions on how to format an HDD with FAT32 or exFAT. Both file systems are natively supported with read/write functions on both operating systems.Īs FAT32 is a bit obsolete and has a lot of restrictions, I'd suggest that you go with the exFAT file system.
#HOW TO REFORMAT WD EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE MAC MAC OS X#
As for using a the HDD with both Mac OS X and Windows you have 2 options - FAT32 and exFAT. Basically the number of partitions and their storage capacity is totally up to your personal preference and needs. Hi RisingOne and welcome to the community. If you want to write to NTFS formatted hard drives in Mac OS X, you're going to need the help. WD 4TB Elements Desktop USB 3.1 Gen 1 External Hard Drive. Connect it, power it up, go to Disk Utility (in Applications/Utilities), select the WD disk on the left, go to the Erase tab, and choose 'Mac OS.