Formatting wd my book for mac and windows

Alternatively, you can create 2 partitions on the external hard drive. It will list all the hard drives and devices on your mac computer. I then found the instructions to format it to mac but now whenever i connect it to a pc, it wont work. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. The other answer does a good job of how to use disk utility to format a normal drive, but not all of wd external drives will work with that. Thats how i have my 2 gb wd my passport drive set up, 1. Now, go to your applications folder on your mac hard disk. Since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. I mistakenly ordered the wd my passport ultra drive for windows instead of my passport for mac. Hello all, i am switching completely from mac to windows. This weekend, i am planning to copy some files that need to transfer to an external hard drive. First, note the number of the disk in the disk management window.

If you want to recycle a ssd, formatting is the best way to remove all history data from the ssd. Disk utility is a mac application, you can run it on your mac. How to partition hard disk in windows 710 without formatting. Reformatting a external western digital my book drive. The two my book products are essentially the same, the core difference is in the formatting of the drive. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. My book for mac external hard drive, with the wd security and wd drive utilities software usb 3. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc.

So how do i get to see my files from my external hard drive on my pc aidfile recovery software keyfeature. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. I want to use time machine software to backup my macs to the network drive. The volume label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as my book or wd black 1.

If gaining permissions does not fix the issue, download easeus hard drive recovery software to retrieve and export data from inaccessible wd my passport. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and. Password protection the my book drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with wd security tools helps keep your content private and safe. Easystore required formatting for mac and it had no instruction manual in the box. Equipped with wd backup software for windows and apple time machine compatibility for mac, the my book desktop hard drive can back up your photos, videos, music, and documents. How to format external hard drive to use on mac and pc. Next, open a command prompt window as administrator.

But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc. Why is external hard drive not showing up on my computer. Your my book studio drive and the wd security and wd drive utilities software are. You can recover almost every type of file with iskysoft crash recovery. For information about optional accessories for wd products, visit. At least their passport series has a feature called smartware that prevents you from doing anything useful with the drive, even something basic like formatting it. As to size for each partition, it depends on your own demands. The first thing i did was to connect the drive to my mac via one of my usb 2. By this way, you can easily format an external hard drive for mac and windows. Open disk management tool by rightclicking on start menu icon and then select disk management.

Wd my book 2tb shows up in device manager but doesnt open. Click yes to erase the drive and use it for time machine. My question is if i am able to set my hard drive to a format in which it can work on both windows and mac. If gaining permissions does not fix the issue, download easeus hard drive recovery software to retrieve and export data from inaccessible wd my.

Check the box labeled perform a quick format and click next. This guide introduces three common scenarios in which you might find your wd my passport external hard drive readonly on mac. The problem though is that i have a macbook, and i am the only one in the house with a mac. As shown in figure 1, your my book drive kit includes the following. How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. My hard drive doesnt show up windows 7 fix western digital hard drive not. How to solve my wd hard drive not recognized in windows 10. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Does this mean that they cannot be converted to windows. Feb 08, 2020 your advice on formatting the external hard drive is rather insightful. Formatting a wd my passport for a macbook air macrumors. I would like to format my external hard drive so that i can edit in on my macbook pro. It comes with all the software you need to help protect your data, including wd backup and wd security software and is compatible with apple time machine. Rather than send it back, id like to format it for my macbook air.

How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and macos. The mac saw the drive but wouldnt write to it so i transfered all the files from it to the mac hd. Easy to use my book desktop storage is ready to use out of the box so you can start transferring files, saving your memories and backing up right away. I used to have a macbook air so it would always read the devise cause i guess it was formatted just for mac. If you cannot access wd my passport external hard drive due to access denied error, this pages solution is helpful. The my book for pc comes in 2tb, 3tb and 4tb capacities while the my book for mac tops out at 3tb. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Set the file system to ntfs, which is the default windows file system, and leave the allocation unit size to default. My book live formatting from windows to mac wd community. I am the same boat you are in, my dad purchased a wd my book 1tb external drive for our desktop, running windows 7, and found out that he could not back up to it, so he formatted it to ntfs. Oct 25, 2018 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. Feb 22, 2020 if you cannot access wd my passport external hard drive due to access denied error, this pages solution is helpful. I intend to use the drive with time machine for back ups. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac.

So am i stuck putting all the files on the wd my book back on my mac and then somewhat formatting it to work on windows and then putting the files back on it. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. How to format an external hard drive on windows and mac. The problem though is that i have a macbook, and i. It seems that wd doesnt make my books for macs any more. Plug in the 1tb western digital drive to power outlet and usb port. I recently purchased a 4tb wd my passport external hard drive from costco.

Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. A partition is especially useful if you want to use the drive for 2 purposes, such as having a section for tm backups and a section that allows you to write to it from both windows and os x. If your usb drive contains a mac based format, you will not be able to use the drive connected to the netcenter, wd my book world edition, or wd my book world edition ii. Oct 28, 2010 i am the same boat you are in, my dad purchased a wd my book 1tb external drive for our desktop, running windows 7, and found out that he could not back up to it, so he formatted it to ntfs. In the tab, click tools, under the tools click optimize. Reformatting 3tb wd my book for mac to windows wd community. Wd external hard drive slow transfer rate and unresponsive. If the external disks check box is selected on your finder preferences dialog, the my book icon displays on your desktop. As shown in figure 1, your my book for mac disk drive kit includes.

Next is the file system, which controls how the data is read and written. 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. 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. There is widespread support for fat32 across different operating systems and devices. Dont worry, the next guide we will show you the best solution to fix the hard drive not recognized problem.

My network drive was fine storing images on my windows system. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Nov 14, 2017 i recently purchased a 4tb wd my passport external hard drive from costco. This trusted portable storage always offers quick and easy way to expand the storage space of your computer and to store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents. If your usb drive is formatted as ntfs, you will have readonly access while connected to a netcenter, wd my book world edition, or wd my book world edition ii. Now right click on the external drive and click on format option doublecheck the drive name and capacity to make sure you are going to format the right drive. Sep 17, 2015 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. How to partition and format a drive on windows 10 and 8. I was worried about my ability to format it for mac use, but the wd support information that detailed how to do it made it surprisingly easy.

Verify that the my book drive appears under devices in the sidebar area of your finder display. Open time machine and choose the new my essentials book as the drive to backup as a time machine drive. Wd my book 2tb shows up in device manager but doesnt open im a mac girl so forgive me if this is a dumb question. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. Follow the onscreen wizard to complete the process. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. My book drive, with the wd backup, wd drive utilities, and wd security software usb 3. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. This is at least in part because the secure digital memory. Oct 03, 20 the my book for pc comes in 2tb, 3tb and 4tb capacities while the my book for mac tops out at 3tb. For example, in the screenshot below, the macformatted drive is disk 2. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. 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.

Which external hard drive can be used with both windows. How to fix wd my passport for mac hard drive not mounting. I can find it under device manager and disk management but thats it. Rightclick on the slow wd external hard drive and choose properties. In fact, installing an ntfs for mac driver is a much easier way. Overwrite exfat format of 8tb external drive with ntfs. 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. While the external hard drive connected to the windows computer or mac, and the device did not show up. A wd my passport formatted with mac file system will be a dud on the windows and viceversa. A solid state drive is primarily used on mac machine.

Should i use fat32 when formatting an external hdd wd. Steps on how to recover data from external hard drive download and install recoverit data recovery on your computer. You can run easytouse mac disk formatting software to easily format internal ssd or external ssd under mac os. 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. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for.

Depending on your region, if required, change the power adapter as follows. I just purchased a 24 all in one desktop from dell with windows 10 for videopicture editing. I should also say that i am running a very old mac os 10. I tried to use the mac disk utility to make the drive useable with a mac but it was not recognised. Download western digital my book office edition external. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. The software come with a fast quick scan more and an indepth deep scan mode windows and mac hard drive support. Fat32exfatntfsrefhs are all read and writeable by most microsoft windows operating systems. How do i make my wd passport work on both windows and mac. Dec, 2019 open disk management tool by rightclicking on start menu icon and then select disk management. Thankfully, msdos fat32 and exfat formats have survived to date, and these are the file system to make your wd my passport work with a mac and a windows pc simultaneously. The wd my passport for mac hard drive is specially designed for mac mini computers, imacs and macbooks. Today, we will talk about how to format or reformat ssd on mac. For example, in the screenshot below, the mac formatted drive is disk 2.