The differences in formats cause issue in reading the hard drive and in order to be able to use it universally across your entire device, it is important. Ive downloaded various wd drivers and software, but cant get windows 7. I had information from a broken mac backed up at best buy, but because my mac broke, now i only have a windows computer. The instructions i have found online require reformatting the drive, which i assume. Passport ultra accessing mac formatted drive on a pc. Trusted drive built with wd reliability formatted for mac os x up to 4tb capacity usb 3. Rather than send it back, id like to format it for my macbook air.
A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Physical description as shown in figure 2, the my passport for mac. There is a common need to make wd elements drives usable on both. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Apple has built os x yosemite and some previous os x releases with the ability to read from those disks just fine. This video from acquevara shows you the formatting on a mac using mac os sierra. I have tried several data recovery programs, but they failed to search all lost files and couldnt perform the hard drive recovery. 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. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use with your mac in just a few minutes. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to recover data from a formatted external drive on mac we recommend stellar mac data recovery professional because its one of the best mac data recovery software we tested. The wd discovery application can be installed from your drive. Since the hdd is ntfs formatted i use tuxera ntfs drivers to enable write on macbook, which worked fine unless one fine day on plugging in the hdd to my macbook i find the hdd to.
Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. Apr 16, 2020 a wd my passport formatted with the windows file system will be useless on the mac and viceversa. Is there any way for me to access the data already on the drive on the pc. Select your wd my passport on the sidebar, choose erase. Look for your wd my passport drive on your desktop. I use time machine for backups with this drive and i have not explored the included software. Wd 2tb my passport for mac portable hard drive time machine. Apr 30, 2020 to format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. 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. It will automatically locate the connected drive, and you can load it. Youtube video showing the format of wd my passport for mac. Designed for mac and time machine ready, formatted for mac os x usbc ready, usba compatible wd discovery software for wd security, social media and cloud storage import and wd drive utilities.
From it you can back up, retrieve, and secure your files. After installing the software, connect your wd drive to the system and start using it. Your old external windows pc drive will work great on the mac. My passport ultra for mac is formatted for time machine and ready to deliver plugandplay storage out of the box. In this blog post, we will walk you through the formatting.
This utility is a frontend to the optional utilities and hardware encryption tools. Access and save data quickly with this western digital my passport ultra drive for the mac. If you own a wd elements drive in ntfs, it will be only readable but not writable on mac. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Mac ready my passport ultra for mac is formatted for time machine and ready to deliver plugandplay storage out of the box. Passport ultra accessing mac formatted drive on a pc wd. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. In fact, installing an ntfs for mac driver is a much easier way. I have been using the below said hdd with my macbook and windows 8. Product firmware product if your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. How to recover data from a formatted external hard drive. Before you get the answer, you must figure out what kind of file system can work well on both the macos and the windows system.
Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Hi all, i recently transitioned my home laptop from a mac to a pc running windows 10. Compatible with usbc and usba devices, my passport for mac comes equipped to connect with todays latest technology. Western digital hard drive data recovery definitive guide. And there you have it, youve formatted your wd my passport for mac in 10 quick steps. And when you plug your my passport drive into either you will be able to see the drive, read and write files. How to get external hard drive to work with mac os x. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. If none of the above methods work to recover your data, your last resort is to send your device to a data recovery center. A wd my passport formatted with the windows file system will be useless on the mac and viceversa. Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. How to reformat wd my passport for mac mediakits report not. My passport for mac is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your onthego lifestyle. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus.
Dont worry in 10 quick steps youll know how to format wd my passport for. The wd my passport drive is now formatted to work on both mac and pc. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Oct 25, 2016 usb devices,that are formatted in mac format. I formatted a my passport ultra drive for the mac, in order to archive a large number of photos win32 format kept failing on the file copy. It comes with wd discovery for mac and for windows.
Ive downloaded various wd drivers and software, but cant get windows 7 to recognized the usb drive. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. By default, a wd elements hdd cannot work on mac computers as they are formatted in ntfs format. After having confirmed that the wd my passport is formatted with ntfs, many people will choose to convert ntfs to apfs for macos catalina, mojave and high sierra or reformat the wd my passport hard drive to make the wd external hard drive compatible with mac. Oct 11, 2017 hi all, i recently transitioned my home laptop from a mac to a pc running windows 10. Need to reformat wd hard drive for mac if you connect your wd hard drive without reformatting, youll be unable to copy files to the disk as mac read only supports ntfs file system. Granted, fat32 is less efficient than ntfs in windows, but it has inherent benefits too, like its compatibility. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. I only saved my data onto a wd passport drive, not realizing that it needs to be formatted differently for a mac vs. Easy to use my passport for mac portable storage is ready to use out of the box so you can start transferring files, saving your memories and backing up right away. You can watch the video along side using my notes above for extra help. Apr 16, 2020 can i use wd hard drive on mac and pc. Copy and paste files and create folders on both mac and pc. To test the my passport formatted for mac, we used the blackmagic disk speed test on a current generation macbook pro.
One of just a few options for macformatted external raid arrays, the promise pegasus3 r4 is a good choice if you need to store mountains of data and access it quickly. Hello, i want to format a recently purchased 1tb elements for use with my macbook pro running 10. Moving files from macformatted external hard drive to pc. Click the wd drive download for mac and install it on your system once the download process is complete. It seems they formatted the drive to the mac format, but i have no way to access the data, at least i think. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac.
I intend to use the drive with time machine for back ups. Built for mac, time machineready ready to go with your mac straight out of the box, the my passport for mac drive helps protect your files with apple time machine backup software. I mistakenly ordered the wd my passport ultra drive for windows instead of my passport for mac. To use hfsexplorer, connect your macformatted drive to your windows pc and launch hfsexplorer. To further test the performance of the new wd my passport, we tested with pcmark on the z640 workstation. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. Macos extended journaled macos extended journaled encrypted. 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 drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Wd discovery can also manage your drive through wd drive utilities. If you want to use the usb devices in windows you have to know how to do it. To download the driver for your mac system, specify the mac os version in the correct textbox. This format is not supported on mac devices and you will not be able to access the hard drive. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your.
How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Feb 10, 2012 tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting. Accidentally format wd my passport external hard drive. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. How to open mac format usb devce in windows youtube. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. Format 1 tb elements external drives for mac wd community. With wd discovery software, you can also work across both mac and pc.
How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods revealed. From here, in format, select mac os extended journaled, give it a name. Wd discovery software can also be used to manage your drive settings such as reformatting, led control and more. Wd smartware software a visual control center with a single screen view of all your data. Formatted for mac and compatible with apple time machine, this drive is plugandplay ready for mac computer users. May 09, 2019 one of just a few options for mac formatted external raid arrays, the promise pegasus3 r4 is a good choice if you need to store mountains of data and access it quickly. The wd discovery screen displays a list of connected devices, an option to import data from cloud storage or social media, update messages, and a link for registering your drive. Wd drive utilities functions to diagnose the physical integrity of the hard drive, and as such it will not address a file system incompatibility. Formatting wd elements for mac by quick workarounds.
Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system. Now, from the left column select 1 tb wd my passport or whatever your hard drive name is, and click on the erase tab. Formatting a wd my passport for a macbook air macrumors. Mar 22, 2016 i formatted a my passport ultra drive for the mac, in order to archive a large number of photos win32 format kept failing on the file copy. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use. Your disk utility program lives within a folder called utilities.
To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Wd 2tb my passport for mac portable hard drive time. Once thats done, double leftclick on the mac hd, the internal mac hard drive visible on the topright corner of the desktop screen. About your wd drive my passport for mac user manual 2. The instructions i have found online require reformatting the drive, which i assume would wipe out existing. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Designed to fit in the palm of your hand, theres plenty of space to store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents. Oct 20, 2019 and there you have it, youve formatted your wd my passport for mac in 10 quick steps.
Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. But, the good news is that msdos exfat and fat32 formats come quite in handy in such cases. These file systems can help you to make your wd my passport work with a windows pc and mac at the same time. Mar 23, 2020 by default, a wd elements hdd cannot work on mac computers as they are formatted in ntfs format. It comes with wd discovery software for wd security to help protect your data and is compatible with apple time. How to use mac formatted external hard drive on windows. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. I see that there are several format options as follows. A wd my passport formatted with mac file system will be a dud on the windows and viceversa.
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