Now it shows that the whole disk is full blue and the file system has changed to udf. Two methods mentioned above apply to formatting wd passport for mac as well. In the next 5 minutes read, you will master yourself in formatting a wd my passport safely and in a manner best suited for sharing your digital files between a macos and windows os. Help connecting a wd ntfs external hdd to a mac apple. However, you cant write or delete files from a mac. Two methods to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. Im pretty sure the guy i got if off plugged it into his mac laptop and tried tosuccessfully formatted to use with a mac. Ntfs will give you one big advantage for backups over fat32, it will allow you to create files over 4gb in size which you will likely encounter when trying to do the backup. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Most external hard drives hd are sold in a format called ntfs, which is designed to work with windows. Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps and the os. Overwrite exfat format of 8tb external drive with ntfs. So i got a wd my passport ultra which seems to be in ntfs format and i can only read it on my mac.
In this video i show how to format a 4tb hard drive to a fat32 format so you dont have to spilt partitions anymore too allow both wii and gamecube games to be stored on the same partition. You should use ntfs because exfat, fat or fat32 are old school and new sata drives better support ntfs. The format dialog in windows doesnt explain the difference, so we will. Is it safe to convert usb drive format from fat32 to ntfs. This is a file system limitation that affects both mac s and. Hi there, i use a macbook pro and have a wd passport for mac. Format wd my passport for mac and pc with ms dos fat 32 or exfat. Go back to my first reply to you and follow the advice i gave about getting paragon ntfs. Want to format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. Another thing is that on any other format than ntfs you wouldnt be able to keep any single file above 4gb. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files.
Bonjour, je voudrais savoir comment formater mon disque dur externe wertern digital my passport essentail 500gbgo qui est actuellement en ntfs en fat32. Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd community. Now i went ahead and formatted from ntfs to fat32, and ended up with about 128gb or so of hd formatting wd my passport to fat32 videohelp forum. Lg said it needs to be formatted to fat32 or ntfs for. Reformat wd my passport ultra for mac not apple community. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Also is it ok to erase all the present files on the disc. Western digitals passport external drive for mac isnt eternally bound to macos. 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.
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. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. To format hard drive for mac and windows without data loss, we suggest using minitool partition wizard and its convert ntfs to. If you want to write to ntfs formatted hard drives in mac os x, youre going to need the. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system wd support. In this case, we only need a professional wd ntfs driver to help write to wd ntfs hard drive. Aug 01, 2016 my passport ultra was previously used on my windows 7 pc. It does not offer the ability to format a drive larger than 32gb to fat32, the only available choices are ntfs or exfat.
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. How do i format my external hard drive to exfat on mac. Sep 05, 2011 very easy way to format an external hard drive into fat32 with a mac using the disk utility. I havent tried this one, but it should also do the job. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. I want to format it to work on my macbook pro for time machine, so i looked into how to do that. This post will show specific methods to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. For more information about what these limitations are please see answer id 1287. I have since reformatted it on my pc just to get all the info off of it.
Wd 4tb my passport ultra for mac silver portable external hard drive, usbc wdbpmv0040bslwesn 3. The successive major versions of the fat format are named after the. Which is fine but i have absolutely no idea how to do it and every time i try to download fat32 it says it is not a. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Download wd quick formatter to format external drive in. Should i reformat my passport to ntfs tech support guy. The reason is because i am planning on using my ps3 to watch all my video off of, and a ps3 only recognizes fat32 drives, not ntfs which is currently what my hdd is.
Many people think it is hard to format the windows drive on macintosh. Download wd quick formatter to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc in windows 1087. Formatting wd my passport to fat32 videohelp forum. A new windows explorer window opens, on the left side. I read wd passport has some sort of software built in, and the partition for mac.
Whether youre formatting an internal drive, external drive, usb flash drive, or sd card, windows gives you the choice of using three different file systems. Every time youll try to copy itll say not much space on the disk. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. Do i use disc utilities fat32 or is there some other format. Formatting wd elements for mac by quick workarounds. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Using the xp disk management utility under computer management, select the disk, initialize the drive, but dont format. My book external hard drive western digital wd it is formated in exfat. Ntfs will give you one big advantage for backups over fat32, it will allow you to create files over 4gb in size. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Here, wed like to recommend a reliable wd ntfs driver, iboysoft ntfs for mac to you.
Digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or fat32 format, you. You can find effective ways here to format wd my passport for mac and pc to fat32 or exfat file system with the help of the professional format tool easeus partition master or other solutions. I have a wd passport which i have set up to work with my mac, now i need to use it on a normal pc and have been advised to put fat32 onto it. I want to create a system image and save it onto the drive but to do so, it needs to be formatted in ntfs. Wd my passport external hard drive set up guide for. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter 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. Discussion in hardware started by sbmulqueen, jan 22, 2009. When the driver is installed, you format your ntfs disks with disk utility where you select windows nt filesystem as the format. The easiest solution would be to purchase another wd passport drive for use with your mac and format it accordingly. Whats more, you can share digital files between mac and windows system easily. Feb 03, 2011 you should use ntfs because exfat, fat or fat32 are old school and new sata drives better support ntfs. Lg said it needs to be formatted to fat32 or ntfs for the tv to reco. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive.
Format wd passport via third party format tool aomei partition assistant standard, a gui thirdparty free format tool, allows you to format drive beyond 32gb to fat32, make conversion between ntfs and fat32 without formatting and more. How to format a external hard disk exfat, ntfs, fat32 101. I just read this and maybe windows cant format drives larger than 32gb into fat32. How to make external hard drive compatible with mac and pc. If you want to format your wd my passport to fat32, you must make sure that the size is smaller than 32gb. I just recently bought a wd passport wireless to take on holidays.
Nov 04, 2019 here is a stepbystep guide on how to format wd passport. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. Wd passport for mac to fat32 or ntfs other software. The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac cnet. And offer you two reliable ntfs drivers to write to ntfs. Fat32 and ntfs are the most common formats, but whats the difference. Connect your western digital my passport hard drive to your windows pc through the usb cable. Here is a stepbystep guide on how to format wd passport. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. We here will show you the full guides on how to format fat32 and ntfs drives on mac as an example. Your mac can read a wd my passport drive in ntfs format. Select ntfs for the file system type and check the quick format checkbox.
How to format a 4tb hard drive to a fat32 format wd hard. Is it possible to use an external hard drive wd passport for both osx and windows. The drive was previously formatted to ntfs when he was using his hp by. Be sure you selected the correct drive icon for the my passport external drive. So you figured, fine, ill just get an external hard drive. I want to download files on the passport to then watch on my lg tv using the usb port. Not sure what extended format is and if its suitable. File and partition size limitations using the fat32 file system windows and mac.
But you cant update any of the documents on the drive. The best format for your external hard drive the hellotech blog. This may be a problem for larger files, such as video files, disk images, or large outlook pst files. Most of time, when our wd hard drive is ntfs formatted, it turns to be readonly on macos. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter 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. On the pc, use the western digital disk management utility to format the drive as raid1. Youll need to format the drive to be able to drag and drop files. Wd my passport essential ntfs on mac apple community. 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. I wanted to load some movies onto the drive by the usb connection, unfortunately my synology does not recognize exfat drives which is the wds format. Can i format the hdd from my wd passport wireless without loosing features. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. How to convert ntfs to fat32 or exfat without data loss. This is a file system limitation that affects both macs and pcs, and the only workaround is to format the drive to exfat.
We can format external hard drive as fat32, exfat or ntfs. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition it services. 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. As software exclusively designed for windows systems, it is not only able to work with windows 7, but also with windows 810, xp and vista. The file may need western digital mac ntfs be uncompressed using some type of uncompression or unzipping utility. Oct 15, 2015 on the pc, use the western digital disk management utility to format the drive as raid1. Use the mac os disk utility to format the drive to msdos fat32. Mar 31, 2016 linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation. I wanted to load some movies onto the drive by the usb connection, unfortunately my synology does not recognize exfat drives which is the wd s format. This was not the first time that we had heard of wd my passport readonly on mac. Wd my passport essential formater en fat32 forum materiel. 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. List of all wd firmware and software available for download. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.
When youre reformatting a hard drive, windows will ask you what format to use. How to convert a udf external drive to a fat32 or ntfs fmt. A new western digital external drive is configured by default out of the box as a fat32 partition. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you can use it with. You can replace ntfs with exfat or fat32, if you want to use it both in windows and mac computer. Which is fine but i have absolutely no idea how to do it and every time i try to download fat32 it says it is not a mac program. 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. 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. According to the list above, formatting your hard drive to fat32 so. For a hard drive to be able to be read and written to in both a pc and mac. Right click on the drive icon for the external drive and choose format from the menu. Hello, i just recently bought a wd passport wireless to take on holidays.
It sounds like your wd passport hard drive is formatted as ntfs which is a windows proprietary format. Or copy new documents onto the drive using your mac. How to convert my portable hard drive to ntfs microsoft. As writing is frequently required, it is urgent for us to fix readonly wd hard drive on mac. What is the best software free to re format a 2 tb western digital external hard drive from ntfs to fat32. Whats the difference between fat32, exfat, and ntfs. Once installed on your mac, the wd will allow read and write access. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Thank you for helping us maintain cnets great community. It would not give me permission to back up files on it, so i formatted it using windows 7 format tool. I want to format my wd my passport essential 500gb into fat32 but i only see the options ntfs or exfat.
To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. No worry, actually it is not impossible to realize it no matter you use an external or internal drive of your windows system. All the time, macos can only read from windowsformatted ntfs drives, but cant write to them out of the box. Can i format the hdd from my wd passport wireless without. I want to know what i should do to make the hard disk compatible with bot mac os and pc. Sep 18, 2017 how to format a external hard disk in exfat, ntfs, fat32 formatting external hard drive, to make it compatible with other devices. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. Wd my passport data recovery wd my passport external hard drive data recovery, aidfile wd data recovery software can help you to recover lost deleted formatted ms word excel, photo, music, video and other data from exfat fat32 ntfs raw wd my passport external hard drive. Either buy a copy of paragon ntfs for mac or reformat the drive to msdos fat32 or if you have single files larger than 4gb exfat.
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