Western digital hard drive for mac and windows

Your mac can see and read your ntfs elements drive. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard. Our internal drives are purposebuilt to enable your data to thrive. To format an external hard drive for mac with time machine, you must follow the steps below. Trying to access from pc via usb cable with only one access point in wd hard drive, but it doesnt show up on the pc. You can format the drive from either the mac or the windows machine. Our datacentric solutions are comprised of the western digital, gtechnology, sandisk, upthere and wd brands. How to partition and format a drive on windows 10 and 8.

I only saved my data onto a wd passport drive, not realizing that it needs to be formatted differently for a mac vs. The automotive industry is undergoing significant transformation with electrification and the development of autonomous vehicles. If you know youre going to use a drive on both mac and windows. This thing is still unknown for many users but doesnt worry its not complex. Aside from the 4tb, you can also buy a 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, or 5tb hard drive. 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. Is there any way for me to access the data already on the drive on the pc.

Your mac can read the files on an ntfs formatted wd elements drive. 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 wasnt too fond of. How to share an external hard drive between mac and windows. How to make external hard drive work with mac and pc youtube. Te lights are on on the wd and i can unmount it, but cannot find it anywhere where i can access and copy files over. The my passport is a popular portable drive for the causal user. For a larger capacity, the hard drive becomes a fraction. How to fix wd hard drive not recognized on mac without losing. Yes i tried all the ports, i used the hard drive cable to connect my phone to the laptop and windows explorer detected my phone immediately. Jan 08, 2020 when shipped to you your western digital elements drive is in a format called ntfs. 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. How to use my wd passport external hard drive both in windows. Best external hard drives for macs in 2020 techradar.

I have downloaded an ses driver and tried to reformat the drive on my mac as nfts and fat, but it does not seem to help. But there are many options out there scroll down to see our full list of recommendations, and the best external hard drive prices. 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. You can format the external hard drive or usb drive to make it compatible with both mac and windows machines. Step 1 open finder, applications, then go to utilities and disk utility. Read speeds up to 2000mbs to decrease load times and get you into the game faster. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the finder in the lefthand column under devices, since macs treat them the same way as. Rightclick on the unallocated space, and select the new simple volume option on the popup menu, as shown.

Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. 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. Ive owned at least six external hard drives from western digital and have never once had a problem with. Western digital drivers for windows, mac, and android. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Well show you everything you need to know about the. If youre a windows user, youll have to reformat it to ntfs or just buy the regular wd drive, which is usually same price or even cheaper and comes already formatted for windows.

It offers the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price. The best external hard drives for 2020 digital trends. However, if you want to use part of the drive for os xs time machine backups, you should do this from the mac, since theres an extra step to make the drive compatible for time machine. The final endorsement for western digital is that i have two compaq windows machines still running 40 gb system drives that are over 10 years old still operating and an old wd 120 gb passport external drive thats still in service so theyve been good for me. Right now, our top pick for best external hard drive is the western digital my passport 4tb, which is a mechanical hard drive. Right now, our pick for best external hard drive for mac and pc is the western digital my passport 4tb.

If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. For windows computers, go to the start menu and select windows update. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Back up all important information on the drive before beginning.

So, lets learn how to do so step 1 to begin with, connect your wd my passport hard drive to your windows. Wd 2tb black my passport for mac portable external hard drive. Western digital my passport ultra features cloud storage and 256aes encryption. Western digital provides data storage solutions, including systems, hdd, flash ssd, memory and personal data solutions to help customers capture and preserve their most valued data. Western digital drivers for windows, mac, and android free. Find western digital software downloads at cnet download. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system os to move files between the two environments.

Oct 15, 2015 hi, i am trying to access my wd hard drive which i have been using on my mac from my pc. Formatted for mac os x, reformatting required for windows. Your my passport for mac drive and the wd drive utilities and wd security software are compatible with the following operating systems. Nov 14, 2019 get a free addition to setapp the ultimate mac user book. If youre a mac user, this drive comes formatted in hfs, so itll work for your right out of the box, no problems. Nov 20, 2018 the best wireless hard drives for 2020.

These specialized drives can protect the snapshots, videos, and other memories you create on your tablet or smartphoneas well as stream them to multiple. This is the latest generation of the western digital my passport external hard drives comes in capacities from 1tb to 4tb, and features cloud storage and 256aes encryption, along with wds. Western digital inand memory has become an important part of automated driver systems with local storage to fit the demanding data needs of the vehicle. Which is the external hard disk that can be used for both. This means your pc will be able to use the drive right away. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. If you already have a spare cable, you can buy the windows version.

G drive usb delivers high performance storage in a compact, yet stylish package. Cannot access wd my passport external hard drive wd repair. 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. Accessing mac formatted wd hard drive from pc external. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto move files between the two environments. Equipped with usbc technology, the my passport ultra for mac portable drive offers an easy way to expand your storage with a modern metal design that complements your pc. Connect your western digital my passport drive to mac computer, and let the os detect and mount the drive for use. Wd launches new portable hard drives for windows pcs, macs. Using wd 4 tb my passport for both mac and pc external. Fix wd my passport for mac not showing upnot working on mac. We think it offers creatives the perfect balance of speed, reliability, portability and price for both mac and pc users. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Western digital ships the elements external hard drive formatted as ntfs. Right click the partition on the wd hard drive and choose format partition.

How to fix wd hard drive not recognized on mac without. Western digital hard drives ssd, external, internal. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and. I have a western digital hard drive that i was using on my mac. Wd my passport ultra 2tb setup and driver installation. Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your macs usb port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. Its because wd drive utilities is a specialized utility for wd hard drives to check for potential drive. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. So its possible that youll see the wd my passport for mac drive not mounting in disk utility. If you are techy and use windows and mac computers frequently, then you might need to transfer data between mac. Both mac and windows versions come with a usbatomicrob cable. Show customers rated highly for filter description.

The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. This latest hard drive well, its not very aesthetically pleasing. 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. Wd elements, wd my book western digital, my passport wd, we.

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. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. We provide the speed, capacity, and performance, so you can drive innovation and satisfy new demands. Wd used to be in my view the leaders in storage solutions. I now have a pc with windows 8 and it does not find the hard drive in explorer. In this situation, you can manually mount the hard drive. May 02, 2020 if you want a more robust, longterm external drive, the wd mybook duo is a great choice. Setup time machine and setup to work in windows pc and mac. To finish such formatting task, you can directly right click the wd hard drive in windows file explore, choose format, or open disk management to format the hard drive.

If a wd hard drive wont work normally on a mac due to bad sectors or other parameter errors, you can use wd drive utilities for mac to have a diagnosis what happens to your hard drive. I have downloaded an ses driver and tried to reformat the drive on my mac. 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. Windows cant normally read mac formatted drives, and will offer to erase them instead. It gives customers the ability to easily transfer various types of files including photos, videos, music, and documents. With disk management, you can easily erase your western digital my passport drive without the need for any thirdparty application. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool.

If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting. Oct 11, 2017 hi all, i recently transitioned my home laptop from a mac to a pc running windows 10. How do i make my wd passport work on both windows and mac. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. After realizing that you can reformat wd hard drive to fat32 or exfat to make it compatible with mac os x and still can be used under windows, it is time to check out how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc in windows. I show you how to format a western digital or any brand hard drive for use on any device be it a mac, pc, linux, ps3, xbox 360, etc.

They produced fantastic looking external hard drive enclosures and each year i would get a new one in their range. Wd my passport for mac portable external hard drive. G drive usb is macoscompatible, time machineready and available in several capacities up to 10tb1. Companies are gathering as much data as possible to help the. The 8 best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc users. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable. Rightclick on the start button and select disk management on the popup menu. Mount wd my passport for mac in disk utility manually. Wd external hard drive work for mac os an apple community. Now, a new hard drive icon will appear on the desktop. This also allows you to restore time machine backups on windows.

The wd my passport ultra comes with the software which can be easily installed on your windows mac. The two new drives, the my passport edge for mac and. Wdeasystore external hard drive set up guide for mac 2019. 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. A 5tb hard drive can hold approximately 2000 netflix videos. Plug in your wd my passports usb cable into its micro usb b port.

How to make wd passport compatible with mac and windows. Encased in an allaluminum enclosure and featuring a remarkably fast usb 3. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. I usually use a firewire that connects into the hard drive in two places. Format the drive as exfat requires windows 7 or later, or appropriately updated windows vista sp2 or windows xp with kb955704. Look for the external hard drive icon on your desktop. Step 2 follow the steps above to format the drive, and then you can use it with time machine on your mac system. Western digital subsidiary wd recently unveiled two sleek, thin 500gb portable external hard drives for mac and windows pc users. The instructions i have found online require reformatting the drive, which i assume would wipe out existing. When the finder window opens, on the menu bar, select go and then utilities. Bonus tip data recovery from formatted hard drive on mac.

Western digital offers an expansive portfolio of technologies, storage devices, systems and solutions for businesses and consumers alike. Sep 01, 2011 i show you how to format a western digital or any brand hard drive for use on any device be it a mac, pc, linux, ps3, xbox 360, etc. Feb 28, 2017 the 8tb version of the western digital my book is a deep well of affordable storage for your photos, music, videos, and more. This is a great external hard drive for your mac if you are concerned about keeping your data safe and secure. Sep 04, 2019 western digital has released two versions one for windows 10 with usb 3.

To get started, choose the western digital brand youd like help with. Product firmware product if your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Its because wd drive utilities is a specialized utility for wd hard drives to check for potential drive failures, slow disk performance, and bad sectors. Format wd elements for mac and pc have your drive for both. Jan 25, 2019 wd easystore external portable hard drive manual for macbook pro, imac, mac mini, mac pro, macbook air, and others. Best external hard drives and ssds for mac and pc image credit. Reformatting a western digital my passport hard drive to function well on windows and macintosh systems is neither timeconsuming nor technologically demanding. Western digital empowering the worlds data infrastructures. How to format external hard drive mac 2 simple methods. Sometimes, hard drives cannot be automatically mounted in disk utility, even though mac has detected the hard drive. Just like disk utility on mac, there is an inbuilt tool known as disk management in windows. The western digital ultra portable 2tb external hard drive is a small and portable hard drive that can securely store your files offline. How to solve my wd hard drive not recognized in windows 10.