Aug 16, 2019 try selecting the wd at the hard drive level i. Hope this tutorial can help to fix wd external hard drive not mountingshowing uprecognizeddetected on mac. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. At this time, you can format wd hard drive to exfat via diskpart. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. Format any external hard drive for an apple mac tutorial. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. I did a little search through these dorums and it seems like i ned to format the hard drive to fat32 in order to add things to it. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Oct 15, 2015 hi all, i recently received an external hard drive for my bday and my friend loaded a ton of pictures and movies onto it for me. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. 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. Dec, 2019 you can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. How to format an external hard drive with pictures wikihow. Wd my passport format problem high sierr apple community. Im having some trouble formatting my wd my passport in high sierra. Wd external hard drive wont format what should i do. Just select the one you want to format and click on the erase tab. Lacie mobile drive 5tb external hard drive portable hdd moon silver usbc usb 3. When i open disk utility pertaining to the new hd i see 698. Select the unmountable wd external hard drive and click erase on the top. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard.
My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. You were right, you did indeed have to select wd my passport screen shot 20170625 at 6. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. To make your western digital hard drive work on both mac and windows. The prior generation mac wd hdd was much nicer in a.
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 a hard drive for both windows and mac. Select the external hard drive on the lefthand side. The great news is it does not matter which brand you buy. Once you open the disk utility app, you can see all the drives on your mac are listed on the lefthand sidebar.
Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Please remember that all data will be deleted from the drive, so make sure you have made a backup. Wdeasystore external hard drive set up guide for mac 2019. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd.
Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. Mar 25, 2019 format any external hard drive for an apple mac tutorial with images. Smaller external hard drives, ssds, and usb flash keys format quickly, while a larger hard drive may take a while longer. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. How to format wd external drive for mac more less apple footer this site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac and pc. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.
If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Youll find my article on how you format the wd elements hard drive here. Aug 30, 2019 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 external hard drive get attached to your system. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. 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 external hard drive get attached to your system. Hi all, i recently received an external hard drive for my bday and my friend loaded a ton of pictures and movies onto it for me. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Click go on the top tool bar, and select utilities. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac laptop mag. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system.
How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup hd and external drive problems. The prior generation mac wd hdd was much nicer in a silverish sleek enclosure. Whether youre selling your computer, trying a new operating system, or setting up an external drive for backups, sometimes you need to completely erase and format a hard drive. Mar 22, 2012 the best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. You can format a western digital my passport external hard drive to exfat or fat32 format using. 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. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Of course, if you have a backup already, ignore this step. Wd my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Do i need to format my external hard drive macrumors. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac.
Lacie rugged mini 4tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. This latest hard drive well, its not very aesthetically pleasing. Jan 25, 2019 wd easystore external portable hard drive manual for macbook pro, imac, mac mini, mac pro, macbook air, and others. They produced fantastic looking external hard drive enclosures and each year i would get a new one in their range. Also, if your current hard drive is more than 5 years old, it probably is nearing the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. First to format your wd elements external drive to mac os extended journaled file system. Step 1 connect the external hard drive you want to format to your mac, then start the disk utility app that you can find under applications utilities. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. I was a windows guy, who moved over the mac but only recently started saving things to the mac file system on my macbook pro. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Click the go menu and navigate to your home folder. Nov 03, 2017 im having some trouble formatting my wd my passport in high sierra. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac.
How to format a wd external hard drive in fat32 to use in. 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. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx.
So youre shopping for a new hard drive for your mac but you noticed a few things on the box. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your. Can i use a wd elements external hard drive on my mac. Now in this interface, you will see a format option. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. If you are able to fix the hard drive or ssd in your mac or an external drive using disk utility you will hopefully be able to recover your files. How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. There are specific thirdparty systems, like digital camcorders, and sony playstation 3, which need the drives to be formatted in either fat32 or exfat format to perform read from and. Apr 14, 2020 by this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and pc without losing any data.
Step 2 on the left side of the utilities screen, find the name of the external hard drive you want to format and select it. Your disk utility program lives within a folder called utilities. To set up your wd elements drive to work on your mac youll need to format it for mac. Apr 15, 2020 if you want to make use of your mac s thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. Wdeasystore external hard drive set up guide for mac. Mar 10, 2019 connect an external drive to your mac via usb, usbc, or thunderbolt. This way will erase all data on wd external hard drive. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and use it again. The ones that say apple compatible are sometimes more expensive.
Formatting a wd external hard drive does not require any additional software. Dont close your previous window open to your external drive, as youll need it shortly. Select a format from the format dropdown menu beneath the name text field, for example, mac os x extended journaled or msdos fat. Then your western digital external hard drive is ready to use on your mac and on your windows pc. Change the partition layout from current to 1 partition. However, i cant actually use the hard drive myself. Select the file system from the dropdown list, which is available in the format expansion and choose either exfat or fat32.
Wd used to be in my view the leaders in storage solutions. 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. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac. How to format an external hard drive for a mac youtube. 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. 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. 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.
Select the drive, click erase, choose the name and format of the drive, and click erase. Format wd elements for mac and pc have your drive for both. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. First, lets see how to format an external hard drive or usb drive in macos which works with both mac and pc platforms, first plugin your drive in macos machine. The videos below demonstrate the complete process of formatting an external hard drive for full mac os x compatibility, this uses the. Name the wd external hard drive in the name text field that appears beneath the erase tab. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. Jul 31, 2019 it is not only very helpful in settling wd external hard drive wont format issue, but also in c drive full, file is too big to copy to external hard drive problem and etc. Then, you can share external hard drive between mac and pc. A western digital wd external hard drive can be used with any computer once it has been formatted by the computers operating system. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and.
Just transfer all useful files out from the external hard drive to other devices on mac. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. However, if you want to convert ntfs to exfat to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc, 3 steps are required. It is not only very helpful in settling wd external hard drive wont format issue, but also in c drive full, file is too big to copy to external hard drive problem and etc. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Setup time machine and setup to work in windows pc and mac. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. If you want to make use of your macs thunderbolt port, then this is the best external hard drive for macs. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. How to use photos for mac with an external hard drive imore. Wd my passport this time not untitled and then erase.
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