The first thing you must do is downloading the software aweeraser. Wd my passport ultra portable external hard drive usb 3. Format wd elements for mac and pc have your drive for both. I am able to partition it and reformat it on my macbook pro. Formatting a wd external hard drive does not require any additional. Backing up windows or mac to wd network attached storage nas this article explains how to perform a backup to a my. The exfat file system is a better option when it comes to formatting wd my passport on mac. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. Okay, now lets start with the method to erase the western digital portable hard drive. Western digital 4 tb wd green sata iii 5400 rpm 64 mb cache bulkoem desktop hard drive wd40ezrx. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Feb 11, 2019 hard drives often have to be formatted to work on macbooks and apple desktops, but i definitely had some difficulty getting my windows ntfs formatted western digital drive to be recognized on my.
Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility. Norio hello, i connect my western digital portable hard drive with my computer. If you want to use your wd elements drive without any special software on your mac. Jan 08, 2020 dont fret you can change the formatting. The drive was not recognized by my dell laptop running. Macbook external hard drive not recognized how to reformat.
Transfer a fulllength hd movie in a fraction of the time it takes. Easy steps to erase western digital portable hard drive. Finally i decided that the information was not that critical and decided to reformat the disk. Sometimes, there will be a need to learn how to reformat my passport for mac, so once youre acquainted with formatting, you should enlighten yourself on how to reformat wd my passport for mac. After some searching i found the latest disk utility from western digital, acronis true image wd edition. Western digital elements is a great option if you want lots of storage on the cheap, and can live with some pretty mediocre speeds.
How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. The pocketsized 2tb hard drive comes with a user guide and a power cable. The secret to reformatting a western digital wd 1tb my. Easily reformat drive for mac wd quality and reliability there is a newer model of this item.
This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. It comes formatted for pc, but they claim it can be reformatted for any mac system. The data recovery tool in question supports all western digital hard disk drives, such as my book pro, my book, wd elements, my book studio, etc. Jan 29, 2012 failed wd elements external drive i hace a 1 tb wd elements hd connected to a mac mini. Step 5 thereafter, click on the erase button and let the system erase everything on. Want to reformat my wd passport so i can use it on a pc. How to reformat western digital portable hard drive. Wd my passport portable external hard drive storage usb 3. Locate the icon assigned to western digital my passport drive and rightclick the connected drive icon and click format in the popup menu.
The drive was not recognized by my dell laptop running windows xp. When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and. Hi, i am going to sell a 2tb wd portable hard drive. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. If you want to use it with mac, you will have to reformat it. Disk utility is a mac application, you can run it on your mac. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. This formatting is also known as mac os extended journaled file system. I think it is necessary to reformat the wd portable hard drive and permanently erase my private data. Im wondering how i reformat the hard drive, which comes from the factory formatted for pcs. Transfer a fulllength hd movie in a fraction of the time it takes with usb 2. A western digital wd external hard drive can be used with any computer once it has been formatted by the computers operating system. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto.
A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Western digital offers an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices, systems and solutions for businesses and consumers alike. Wd elements is preconfigured for usage on a windows pc. Wd quick formatter, also known as wd advanced format drivers afds, is an external hard drive format utility for. More often than not, it isnt until something that goes horribly wrong, that we actually by a hard drive. Use the mac os disk utility to format the drive to msdos fat32. Then yes you need to put the wd elements drive in a format your mac can read and write to. Step 5 thereafter, click on the erase button and let the system erase everything on the drive and reformat wd elements for mac by exfat or fat32 format. Hope this tutorial can help to fix wd external hard drive not mountingshowing uprecognizeddetected on mac. G tech mobile ssd need to reformat on a mac wd ssd. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd community. Select the file system from the dropdown list, which is available in the format expansion and choose either exfat or fat32. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10.
Select the file system from the dropdown list, which is. Free western digital disk recovery recover wd hard disk. Western digital wdbwlg0040hbknesn elements external. How to fix wd hard drive not recognized on mac without losing. And yes if you want to use your wd elements drive for a time machine backup. If the wd elements drive needs being reformatted for mac. Naturally, this means im able to transfer files to it at the normal usb 2. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Of course, if you are using it with a mac, then youll. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows 8, 7, vista, xp and mac osx. Using the xp disk management utility under computer management, select the disk, initialize the drive, but dont format. We have an infinite number of photos videos and essentially priceless memories digitally stored.
When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and use it again. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. You can reformat a western digital external drive to fat32 or exfat to make it. Nov 12, 2019 most of us are our own worst enemy when it comes to technology. This powerful data erasure software is fully compatible with windows os and mac os. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Improve pc performance when your internal hard drive is almost full your pc slows down. Im wondering how i reformat the hard drive, which comes. To transfer your videos, photos, or music, you can use a 2. Hard drives often have to be formatted to work on macbooks and apple desktops, but i definitely had some difficulty getting my windows ntfs.
I am able to partition it and reformat it on my macbook pro with t read more. I think it is necessary to reformat the wd portable hard drive and. Select the unmountable wd external hard drive and click erase on the top. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Using the xp disk management utility under computer. Unexpectedly as expected, when booting up the computer the drive came back with only part of. Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd. Then your western digital external hard drive is ready to use on your mac and on your windows pc.
It will list all the hard drives and devices on your mac computer. I just went through some hoops when i got a 2tb mybook studio drive recently for christmas. Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. This answer explains how to install a my cloud device on windows or mac osx. Is there any fast way to reformat the wd portable hard drive and erase all the data on the hard drive. The western digital 2tb elements portable external hard drive has the autobackup feature.
Steps on how to format the drive are provided on the following link. The compact design offers up to 14tb capacity, making wd elements desktop storage the ideal solution for easy, addon storage of all your important photos, music, videos and files. Western digital 2tb elements portable externals harddrive. Wd 2tb elements portable external hard drive usb 3. Now, i will show you the two methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Our datacentric solutions are comprised of the western digital, gtechnology, sandisk, upthere and wd brands. To use your wd elements drive on your mac you need your. Aside from photos, videos, and music, a hard drive read more wd elements vs my passport. Select the unrecognized wd hard drive from the sidebar.
How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and macos. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want. Oct 11, 2018 i have a western digital elements external drive. Western digital has multiple selfdeveloped software, including wd drive utilities for mac, wd discovery for mac, and wd security for mac. 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.
Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Failed wd elements external drive i hace a 1 tb wd elements hd connected to a mac mini. 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. 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 fix wd hard drive not recognized on mac without. I have found that this wd elements 2tb usb external hard drive is fully compatible with my windows 7 64bit laptop straight out of the box, even though the laptop has only got usb 2. How to reformat western digital element 1 tb solved ccm. Wd 1 tb elements portable external hard drive usb 3. Possibly, your mac doesnt recognize the wd hard drive because the wd software is not compatible with your macos. Feb 10, 2012 tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. It has a large capacity of up to 2 tb and can be considered as reliable. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. In order to reformat wd portable hard drive and permanently erase the data on the wd portable hard drive, we strongly recommend you to use this tool super eraser to help you reformat the wd portable hard drive. Wd portable hard drive reformatting software for windows mac.
Download this wd portable hard drive reformatting software here. 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. Unexpectedly as expected, when booting up the computer the drive came back with only part of the information. Im not very computer savvy, so if someone could run me through this step by step it would be much appreciated. When you buy a western digital wd 1 tb my book external hard drive, they usually come formatted for windows using fat32. 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. Formatting a wd external hard drive does not require any additional software. Western digital on the other hand has the mybook ultra, which has automatic cloud backup that doesnt work on a mac, and turbo drivers of which everybody who had installed them. Wd 2tb external hard drive setup and driver download.
On the pc, use the western digital disk management utility to format the drive as raid1. You can use either of them with mac but it will require a simple reformat of the drive. Backing up windows or mac to wd network attached storage nas this article explains how to perform a backup to a my cloud, wd sentinel or my book. Sometimes, there will be a need to learn how to reformat my. The western digital 2tb elements portable external hard drive has the. To get started, choose the western digital brand youd like help with. For the 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. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. Performance may vary based on users hardware and system configuration.
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