Plug the cable attached to the wd external hard drive to the appropriate port on the mac, for example, the usb port. I did an attempt at troubleshooting by scanning any errors in the system and restarted to no avail. Free up space on your internal hard drive by transferring files to your wd elements portable hard drive and get your laptop moving again. Recoverit data recovery will start a quick scan to search lost data. From here, in format, select mac os extended journaled. It was being used to back up my answered by a verified mac support specialist we use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. 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. 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. The my passport for mac drive includes usbc and usba cables, so you can save tomorrows content with the mac computers of both today and yesterday. The wd digital elements 2tb external hard drive is an affordable and excellent piece of hardware that can work for computers, game consoles, and any other devices for whatever storage needs you have. You just need to know how to format external hard drive for ps4. 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. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Fat16 and fat are the precursors of fat32 and are not widely used anymore.
Formatting wd elements for mac by quick workarounds. Hope this tutorial can help to fix wd external hard drive not mountingshowing uprecognizeddetected on mac. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. I know i am supposed to format it for mac via disk utility before i can use it, but this process also fails. Fat32 is an older format which can be used in linux, mac and pc.
When finished, you can mount your wd external hard drive on mac and use it again. To make your western digital hard drive work on both mac and windows. You can only read your elements external hard drive. 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 solve my wd hard drive not recognized in windows 10. If you want to format your external hard drive to fat32 in a mac you can use the mac utilities to format it. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. When you suffer from wd external drive format failed on mac, you. The same steps may be taken using different harddrives, although they may slightly. However, in file explorer, if you right click partition on the wd hard drive and choose format, youll find that there is no exfat option. Wd elements, wd my book western digital, my passport wd, we my cloud, wd my. With sizes from 1 to 4 tb and plugnplay functionality, youll start with your feet on the ground. Mac cant read wd elements external drives for mac wd.
The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another. Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. With a capacity of 4tb, it can be used for additional storage or for backing up your videos, photos, music, documents, and other files. Doubleclick on the macs main hard drive to open its window on the desktop. Just know that this is a file system that your mac uses for a time machine backup. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Did it mounted successfully last time you plugged into the mac. While its convenient to purchase the hard drive that will work with your computer right out of the box, most external hard drives can also be reformatted so youre not limited to your initial choice. An external hard drive is an excellent way to keep your priceless data safe, and western digital wd has been in the business of making toptier external storage devices since 2006. Lacie rugged mini 4tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. Nov 14, 2019 it helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup hd and external drive problems.
But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. The first tool occurs to your mind to format wd hard drive might be file explorer. Format external hard drive for mac with disk utility.
A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. It helps to verify and repair a range of issues related to startup hd and external drive problems. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives. Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. Wd 1tb elements portable external hard drive usb 3. Download wd quick formatter to format external drive in. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it.
Wdbuzg0010bbkwesn elements external hard drive 1tb black, usb3. 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. How to get external hard drive to work with mac os x. Users can either use the disk utility app on their mac or download the wd drive utilities software. In the format partition section, select the file system. Fix wd external hard drive not workingrecognizedshowing up. This formatting is also known as mac os extended journaled file system.
Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. How to make external hard drive work with mac and pc youtube. A 5tb hard drive can hold approximately 2000 netflix videos. Now, from the left column select 1 tb wd my passport or whatever your hard drive name is, and click on the erase tab. Hello, confused on whether buying the wd my passport, wd my passport ultra, and wd elements external hard drives. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Wd external hard drive work for mac os an apple community. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided.
For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. For a larger capacity, the hard drive becomes a fraction bigger in size and logically more expensive. To set up your wd elements drive to work on your mac youll need to format it for mac. With file recovery software, you can conveniently recover lost files from wd elements portable hard drive. These hard drives have similar performance rating considering the interface. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. If the wd elements to be formatted contains a gpt partition, disk utility will. Youll find my article on how you format the wd elements hard drive here. Now ntfs works fine with computers and is the standard file system, but for some reasons, developers decided that. Some people are asking for a way to format a hard dr ive for mac. Dec 29, 2015 follow these instructions if you plan to share an external hard drive between pc and mac computers. May 09, 2019 the best external hard drives for mac in 2020. 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.
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 fix my mac not recognizing my wd external hard drive. Launch disk utility from application external 1 tb drive from the left panel. There are a wide range of external hard drives in the wd family of devices, making it difficult to know just which model would be right for your data preservation. Select the unmountable wd external hard drive and click erase on the top. Whether you have mac os sierra, high sierra or mojave the way you format your wd elements drive for mac is the same. Aug 29, 2015 much like my wd my passport ultra, most external hard drives out there are customized to work with windows, not os x. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive. Please keep in mind that reformatting will result in the loss of all the data on the hard. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10.
Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Western digital 4tb my passport ultra silver portable external hard drive, usbc wdbftm0040bslwesn. All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your mac. The wd passport ultra features password protection encr.
Your disk utility program lives within a folder called utilities. Wd 2tb black my passport portable external hard drive usb 3. I recently installed windows 10 to my laptop and unfortunately it is no longer detecting my wd elements hard drive. Jan 08, 2020 to set up your wd elements drive to work on your mac youll need to format it for mac. Store and take your important information with you while onthego using the 4tb elements portable usb 3. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. Feb 08, 2020 rightclick on the icon for your external drive on mac desktop, then select get info. Doubleclick on the mac s main hard drive to open its window on the desktop.
Try wd advanced format utility alternative easeus external hard drive formatter to format disk while wd external drive format failed with wd quick formatter tool. Wd my passport format problem high sierr apple community. Recover lost files from wd elements portable hard drive. Setup time machine and setup to work in windows pc and mac. Lacie rugged usbc 4tb external hard drive portable hdd usb 3. Format 1 tb elements external drives for mac wd community. Whatever you do dont format or ease the drive or try to. How to format a wd external hard drive in fat32 to use in. 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. This should format your 1 tb external hard drive to your chosen mac os journaled system. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your.
How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. 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. If youre planning to add to your systems storage or backup your important data without another costly hard drive in it, then the wd my passport external hard drives are the best options. If youre an avid pc user, this hdd drive from western digital has you covered. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use with your mac in just a few minutes. Read speeds up to 2000mbs to decrease load times and get you into the game faster. 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.
Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable. Aside from the 4tb, you can also buy a 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, or 5tb hard drive. Please remember that all data will be deleted from the drive, so make sure you have made a backup. Similarly to the elements, it comes in 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, and 4tb. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps. Now either because of time, corruption or because it may have been formatted for a mac when i plug it into my pc i cant access it. Powerful file recovery software can let you easily and safely recover lost wd elements data on your own. For earlier versions of the mac operating system, screens may be slightly different. Nov 19, 2017 i have a wd elements 1tb which works perfectly when i use it with timemachine. You can get to know how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc from this post, if you need to use a western digital external hard drive, like wd elements both under mac and pc. The best solution for recovering lost files from wd elements portable hard drive is file recovery software.
However, i recently bought a new one the exact same one just to have 2 backups just in case and my macbook doesnt recognize it. What is the difference between wd my passport, wd my. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Download wd quick formatter to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc in windows 1087. Western digital elements 2tb external hard drive best overall external hard drive. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. 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. Wd 2tb my passport ultra for mac silver portable external hard drive, usbc wdbkyj0020bslwesn. Wdeasystore external hard drive set up guide for mac. Inside, enter the applications folder and then the utilities folder.
How do i make my wd passport work on both windows and mac. Was there an unusual behaviour of the disk say an unpleasant clicking noise. 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. 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. Now your external drive has been formatted to be fully compatible with apple macos, and you can edit, read, and write files to it as you want. The my passport for mac drive s builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with password. Dec 03, 2011 fat32 is an older format which can be used in linux, mac and pc.
This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. With file recovery software, you can conveniently recover lost files from wd elements portable hard drive by yourself. How can i use my wd elements drive with my samsung hdtv. And you can be confident that apple hasnt changed the way you format an external drive on a mac. Best external drives for mac and pc interchangeable 2020. 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. Wd elements is preconfigured for usage on a windows pc. Jan, 2020 select your western digital wd elements external hard drive where the data gets lost, and click start button to look for data. 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.
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