Doubleclick on the macs main hard drive to open its window on the desktop. You can format an external hard drive or thumb drive to work seamlessly with both mac and windows by using the exfat file system. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. 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. How to format an external hard drive with wd quick. Using wd 4 tb my passport for both mac and pc external. Your wd elements drive will be on your mac s desktop under the name you gave it. To download the driver for your mac system, specify the mac os version in the correct textbox. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. Accessing mac formatted wd hard drive from pc external. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. My question is if i am able to set my hard drive to a format in which it can work on both windows and mac. I read that i needed to reformat the hd drive which i did but now neither the pc nor the mac even sees the hd.
With disk utility open, locate the hard drive you want to partition and select partition. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. To access the disk management tool, click the windows icon and type disk management. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator. Jan 14, 2020 and in a few minutes your wd elements drive is exfat formatted ready for you to use on your mac and windows pc. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. 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. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in the side bar, you will see your. Now your entire wd elements external hard drive is in a format both computers can use. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac.
Another format, called fat32 is compatible with both os platforms. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. Format wd elements for mac and pc have your drive for both. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. If youre a mac user, this drive comes formatted in hfs, so itll work for your right out of the box, no problems. People might need to format a hard drive or an external hard drive in windows 10 for various reasons. Plug the cable attached to the wd external hard drive to the appropriate port on the mac, for example, the usb port. Inside, enter the applications folder and then the utilities folder. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to the next. You can select the exfat format when using the disk. Follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac.
After realizing that you can reformat wd hard drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac os x and still can be used under windows, it is time to check out how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc in windows successfully. Click the file menu and select load file system from device. Wd my passport ultra 2tb setup and driver installation. Two easy methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Back up all important information on the drive before beginning. Well show you everything you need to know about the. As the default file system in windows, it can only read by mac os, writing to it is not available.
Of course, there are more than two methods that can help you format a wd my passport portable hard drive under mac os. 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. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. If you are going to use it on both mac and windows, i would format it in windows as ntfs and use paragon ntfs for mac. Heres a look at how the different hd format types function. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide.
Im stuck trying to get my apple formatted drive to be read on my pc laptop. Apr 16, 2020 step 6 once formatting completes, you can then use your drive in mac as a usual hard drive part 3. Trying to access from pc via usb cable with only one access point in wd hard drive, but it doesnt show up on the pc. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Understanding hard drive partitioning with disk management. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp. Because the file system on the wd passport for mac external hard drive is a mac os extended journaled file system. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. 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. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus.
This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. Apple formatted wd drive on windows 10 microsoft community. For instance, users want to write data to and read data from, to do a clean installation of the windows system, to get rid of a virus or malware, to erase the data before giving the drive to someone else or throwing it away, or some other reasons. Step 6 once formatting completes, you can then use your drive in mac as a usual hard drive part 3. To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable. If you recently purchased an external hard drive or portable ssd for your mac, you probably noticed that mac os x doesnt allow you to write data on to the drive. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. 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. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system answer id 291 a western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. 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. Rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs.
How do i make my wd passport work on both windows and mac. Continue below to format an external hard drive or learn more about disk management. 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. I have just purchased a wd my passport external 4 tb drive and wish to use it on both my pc as well as my imac. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. The loss of data from your wd hard drive can be caused by numerous things. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard drive for mac. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. You can format your external hard drive from either the pc or mac. Jan, 2020 thus, well protecting the formatted hard drive is extremely important, which can determine if you can unformat hard drive or not. How to format an external hard drive on windows 10. 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. Two effective ways to format wd passport for windows.
To partition and format the drive with disk utility, follow these steps. If you are going to use the external hard drive on mac only, i would format it as mac os extended journaled and a guid partition. 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 best ways to format an external drive for windows and. How to low level format or write zeros full erase to a wd hard drive or solid state drive you need to use wd smartware or wd drive utility to format your external drive. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard. The wd my passport ultra comes with the software which can be easily installed on your windowsmac computer. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. You can reformat a western digital external drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac and pc, when you want to use it under. A drive can be formatted with exfat using either a windows or a mac computer. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac.
One is by using the indigenous file format option in the windows os powered computers and other is through the similar tools found in the mac os. Accidental deletion, disk formatting, computer corruption or damage, etc. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Mac os journaled is the formatting option for mac and ntfs or msdoc is the. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. How to format a hard drive on mac to work on mac and pc. I usually use a firewire that connects into the hard drive in two places. Dec 29, 2015 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. Now your entire wd elements external hard drive is. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with mac and windows. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
Your wd elements drive will be on your macs desktop under the name you gave it. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. From what i understand, windows doesnt always like the way macs do the formatting on some larger drives, though, so give it a try and if your windows machines dont like it, just format the drive with windows. A windows pc cannot see, read, write to that file system. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard. Then your western digital external hard drive is ready to use on your mac and on your windows pc. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. Once the process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. 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.
Mar 15, 2018 rather than use a macformatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfatformatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. After installing the software, connect your wd drive to the system and start using it. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. The macbook i had at the time broke down a few years later. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Te lights are on on the wd and i can unmount it, but cannot find it anywhere where i can access and copy files over.
You have to set it up correctly before getting starting. And in a few minutes your wd elements drive is exfat formatted ready for you to use on your mac and windows pc. The tips and shortcuts below will give you the necessary info and tidbits you need to format wd elements for mac. Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32.
Two ways for reformatting wd hard drive for mac and pc. Wd passport external hd not recognized on windows 10. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window. Starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. A hard drive or hard disk can be used in any type of computer, whether for pc windows or for mac. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and macos. In this video tutorial, i show you how to easily format an external hard drive to work on both a mac and a pc. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Click the wd drive download for mac and install it on your system once the download process is complete. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac.
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. How to format new hard drive on windows 10 windows central. How to properly formatreformat a hard drive for mac os. Some hard drives may also include drivers, firmware, or format wizards so be sure to check the user manual before formatting the hard drive. Mar 12, 2018 want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. I then found the instructions to format it to mac but now whenever i connect it to a pc, it wont work. How to format a hard drive to work on mac and pc youtube.
Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. Plug in the external hard drive into the system and open windows explorer by clicking on the computer section in. Next, under the partition layout column, specify the number of partitions you want. Unformat hard drive recovery program as long as you protect your formatted hard drive well, its quite easily to unformat hard drive and get the vital data back. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. 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 compatible.
Luckily, there are thirdparty tools to help you do so. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. How to format or partition an external hard drive on mac. You can format a western digital my passport external hard drive to exfat or fat32 format using. Format your external drive with exfat for both mac and. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. A new windows explorer window opens, on the left side. Jan 17, 2019 starting clean how to format new hard drive on windows 10 formatting is an essential task before starting to use a new drive, and in this guide, well show you how to do it on windows 10. What you should know that formatting will erase all data on the drive.
Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Oct 15, 2015 hi, i am trying to access my wd hard drive which i have been using on my mac from my pc. To share that drive between a mac and windows pc you need software. If you want to transfer files from a mac to windows pc and vice versa using an external portable hard drive then you have to have the external. This process is data destructive and cannot be undone.
You can format a drive as fat32, which would allow it to work on both windows and mac, but it wont do automatic backups, wont take files larger than 4gb and will have a high risk of data corruption. However, all of the solutions can be divided into two types. To format a western digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or fat32 format, you. Wd quick formatter is short for western digital quick formatter, a format tool developed by western digital technologies, inc.
How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. To start, your first step will be to find disk utility. Choose the exfat file system in the list and click start. 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. Im using model 15au123cl hp laptop intel core i5 7th gen and wd external drive wd3200h1q00. Reformatting a western digital my passport hard drive to function well on windows and macintosh systems is neither timeconsuming nor technologically demanding. The western digital ultra portable 2tb external hard drive is a small and portable hard drive that can securely store your files offline. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. This is because the drive has been initialized for windows nt file system, ntfs for short, and ntfs is. Want to format a hard drive for mac and pc compatibility. 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. How to properly format reformat a hard drive for mac os.