Now, i will show you the two methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Select ntfs for the file system type and check the quick format checkbox. The information youll find here touches on formatting and reformatting wds my passport for your mac. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. It supports storage of larger individual files, security permission for files, encrypts them, allows you to recover previous versions of data and create back up, and several other characteristics. Ntfs or new technology file system is the default file format system for windows ever since the introduction of windows xp.
How to convert my portable hard drive to ntfs microsoft. How do i format a wd my passport ultra hard drive from xbox. Have you tried formatting your hard drive from the file explorer by rightclicking the drive and choosing format. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. But somehow, macos doesnt allow you to write data to the drive. How can i reformat my external hard drive without losing data. Also, this utility bridges the gap of erase disk to ntfs on mac. 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. The successive major versions of the fat format are. If you work on a mac computer and need to read or write files from hdd, ssd or a flash drive formatted under windows, you need microsoft ntfs for mac by. 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. Hi, we understand that you wanted to use your hard drive now for windows.
It supports storage of larger individual files, security permission for files, encrypts them, allows you to recover previous versions. We know, macs and windows have their native file systems such as the new apfs or hfs and the ntfs. May 21, 2020 why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Most of time, when our wd hard drive is ntfs formatted, it turns to be readonly on macos. Im pretty sure the guy i got if off plugged it into his mac laptop and tried tosuccessfully formatted to use with a mac. I havent tried this one, but it should also do the job. 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. The wd passport for mac is one of several drives that i use for backup on my macbook pro, so i do not need to. 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. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. In fact, installing an ntfs for mac driver is a much easier way.
Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Under file system, choose the file system you want to use. To put it simply, if you want to share external hard drive between mac and pc, you need to format an external hard drive for mac and pc. It does not offer the ability to format a drive larger than 32gb to fat32, the only available choices are ntfs or exfat. For a 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. As we all know, disk utility on mac doesnt allow users to erase the disk to ntfs file system when choose the format of d disk, and it causes some inconvenience consequently. Be aware that the fat32 format isnt as efficient as ntfs. Apr 23, 2020 fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system. I want to create a system image and save it onto the drive but to do so, it needs to be formatted in ntfs.
My passport wont format external drives for mac wd. Fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system. Macs can only read but not write to a ntfs file system. Oct 15, 2015 hi guys, i hope someone here could help me with a problem that im facing i recently bought a passport for mac and it came formatted as mac os extended journal the hard drives behaviour is normal on my osx lion, however when i plugged the hard drive in when running windows 7 via boot camp, the os reported that the device hard drive failed to install, and when i checked what seem to cause. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. With a new, stylish design that fits in the palm of your hand, theres space to store, organize, and share all the photos. Unable to format wd my passport for mac external hard. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. Why need to format external hard drive for mac and pc. So, i followed the steps i went into disk utility, selected my passport, clicked erase, selected. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. This article will illustrate to the differences between the three, analyzing their pros and cons, compatibility and usage in an allrounded way. If you work on a mac computer and need to read or write files from hdd, ssd or a flash drive formatted under windows, you need microsoft ntfs for mac by paragon software.
How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to. So, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. Format the drive as exfat requires windows 7 or later, or appropriately updated windows vista sp2 or windows xp with kb955704. Microsoft ntfs is one of the primary file systems of windows. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. The simple stepbystep guide below will show you how to format your wd my passport on your computer, so pay attention. The partition is like the outline of the city, and the file system you make when you format is like the streets inside the city. After youre done, dont forget to remove the external hard. Compatible with usbc and usba, the my passport for mac drive comes equipped to connect with todays latest technology. When you buy your my passport ntfs drive its pre loaded with windows pc software.
How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Hard drives usually come formatted in two different ways, one catering to windows and one catering to mac. How do i format a wd my passport ultra hard drive from. Write, edit, copy, move and delete files on microsoft ntfs volumes from your mac. If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need the help. How to format a wd my passport ultra hard drive when you only have a mac. Hardware all howtos win 10 win 8 win 7 win xp win vista win 9598 win nt win me win 2000 win 2012 win 2008 win 2003 win 3. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Apple mac machines support a different file system. Dec 25, 2016 macs can only read but not write to a ntfs file system. Jun 16, 2019 be aware that the fat32 format isnt as efficient as ntfs. You can view the files saved on the ntfsformatted partition or drive but cant make any changes to them.
Microsoft introduced ntfs in 1993, as a component of the corporateoriented. I plug in my wd passport and it welcomes me to wd smartware, i click on set up drive and it tells me no readable partition found on your my passport essential drive. Apr 16, 2020 to format western digital my passport for mac or windows, you can rely on inbuilt applications of your system to format your wd my passport in exfat or fat32 format. Click create and manage disk partitions, and see if you can format your external hard drive. Wd 2tb yellow my passport portable external hard drive usb 3. If the wd my passport readonly on mac problem is caused by the ntfs file system, installing iboysoft ntfs for mac to edit, rename, delete the saved files and transfer files to the readonly wd my passport hard drive. A stepbystep guide on how to format an external drive ntfs for mac. To format western digital my passport for mac or windows, you can rely on inbuilt applications of your system to format your wd my passport in exfat or fat32 format.
I have a wd passport that my tv formatted to udf now i would need to reformat it back to ntfs. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition it services. Hi guys, i hope someone here could help me with a problem that im facing i recently bought a passport for mac and it came formatted as mac os extended journal the hard drives behaviour is normal on my osx lion, however when i plugged the hard drive in when running windows 7 via boot camp, the os reported that the device hard drive failed to install, and when i checked what seem to. So i got a wd my passport ultra which seems to be in ntfs format and i can only read it on my mac. This was not the first time that we had heard of wd my passport readonly on mac. How to format a disk to ntfs using mac os x ask different. How to format a drive for mac and pc compatibility macyourself. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. Right click on the drive icon for the external drive and choose format from the menu. How to use my wd passport external hard drive both in. Jan 12, 2011 i have a wd passport that my tv formatted to udf now i would need to reformat it back to ntfs. Ive used a few external drives, including a 500gb wd my passport. Just turn on your mac and when it boots up, plug in your my passport drive to your wd. However, when i deleted the volume and yes, i figured it was just easierbetter to do that now my passport doesnt show up.
Im not sure because it will not mount on my desktop however, i can see it with disk utilities. Should i reformat my passport to ntfs tech support guy. Hi, when i plug my hd in to my x1, it can only store music, pictures, and video. Microsoft ntfs for mac by paragon software is the best such software solution. I restarted my computer, replugged it in, and zip, nada. If you have an ntfs drive you can use macos disk utility to reformat it to fat32. The first thing you need is a partition, or volume as they call it. Unable to format wd my passport for mac external hard drive. How to switch a wd passport from a mac to pc small business. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition.
My passport ultra 2tb hard drive is inaccessible and i am unable to reformat. Format wd my passport for mac, 10 quick steps mactakeawaydata. How to format a wd my passport ultra hard drive when you. Now, with iboysoft ntfs for mac, we can easily erase an ntfs disk when it becomes corrupted and needs to.
Jul 16, 20 ntfs new technology files system is the newer drive format. Thats all because its been initialized with windows nt file system ntfs, which is primarily for pcs. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. This could be useful if you want to write to a boot camp partition on your mac, as windows system partitions must use the ntfs file system. Wd my passport essential ntfs on mac apple community. Apr 15, 2020 ntfs or new technology file system is the default file format system for windows ever since the introduction of windows xp. 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. All the time, macos can only read from windowsformatted ntfs drives, but cant write to them out of the box. Wd my passport for mac portable external hard drive, 2tb, usba ready 4. 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 16, 2020 format wd my passport using file explorer. Microsoft introduced ntfs in 1993, as a component of the corporateoriented windows nt 3. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Click create and manage disk partitions, and see if you can format your. How to use my wd passport external hard drive both in windows. 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.
Aug 16, 2019 hello all, today i bought the 4tb my passport from best buy. Disk utility is a mac application, you can run it on your mac. My passport for mac not detectable on windows 7 with exfat format. I want to know what i should do to make the hard disk compatible with bot mac os and pc. A file system uses a set of rules to control how data is stored and retrieved on a storage device. Wd my passport essential ntfs on mac i recently bought a macbook air, but i used to use a desktop pc as my only computer, and a westerndigital my passport essential 500gb as my portable hd, so it is formated in ntfs because my pc as windows for os. Hello all, today i bought the 4tb my passport from best buy. If you want to format your wd my passport to fat32, you must make sure that the size is smaller than 32gb. Ntfs new technology files system is the newer drive format. Apples macos can read from windowsformatted ntfs drives, but cant write to them out of the box.
This may pose a problem if youre using the drive to store highquality videos. Be sure you selected the correct drive icon for the my passport external drive. Heres something your my passport for mac quick install guide might not tell you. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. So if you want your external hard drive to be backward compatible with both oss then you need to reformat it with fat32 or exfat. How to convert my portable hard drive to ntfs i have a western digital my passport essential 500gb portable hard drive from 2 years ago that came preformatted in the fat32 file system. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. How do i format my external hard drive to exfat on mac. Use full scan to recover data from how to format my wd my passport for mac on to windows 10 which can not be found with undelete and unformat and recover partition,after showing an error,display as raw file system,unformatted,unknown partition,unpartitioned,needs to be formatted,or the file system is not exfat,not fat32,not ntfs. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. Feb 08, 2020 so, you just bought an external hard drive or a portable ssd and wanted to use it on your mac. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. It will list all the hard drives and devices on your mac computer.
How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. Fat32 works for both oses, but has a 4gb size limit per file, so it isnt ideal. This guide introduces three common scenarios in which you might find your wd my passport external hard drive readonly on mac. The my passport for mac drive is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your onthego lifestyle.
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