The hard drive is already formatted in mac os extended. My book western digital speichern western digital store. Aborted lacie setup assistant while it was formatting. Aug 17, 2012 i just bought a wd my book essential 3tb hard drive and want to use on both my mac book pro mac os x lion and my pc laptop windows 7. The secret to reformatting a western digital wd 1tb my. I would really appreciate some assistance with this. So if you want your external hard drive to be backward compatible with both oss then you need to reformat it. Jul 26, 2019 exfat is a file system format that is understood by both mac and pc and when you plug in the wd my passport that partition will be visible to both. The pc will not see or recognize partitions formatted as mac os extended journaled file system or afs. A hard drive can be used on any type of computer pc or mac. The secret to reformatting a western digital wd 1tb my book. My book for mac features the ultrafast transfer speed of usb 3. In this guide, well show you how to format an external hard drive so you can not only get rid of the.
I think it is necessary to reformat the wd portable hard drive and permanently erase my private data. Following site procedures for reformatting to mac os extended journaled and erasing the disk using mac disk utility, i received the message unmounting disk mediakit reports not enough space on device for requested operation. Bought wd 6t external my book to use with time machine. I recently downloaded something with a virus in it onto my 80gb my book and now its messing everything up on my computer. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided. Formatting a 3tb external hard drive microsoft community. Its formatted for mac and compatible with apple time machine making backups quick and easy. Format wd my passport for mac and pc with ms dos fat 32 or exfat file. Password protection the my book drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with wd security tools helps keep your content private and safe. The my book desktop hard drive also works great with acronis true image wd edition software to schedule full system backups. I just bought a wd my book essential 3tb hard drive and want to use on both my mac book pro mac os x lion and my pc laptop windows 7. Partition wd my passport for mac, teach yourself in 10 steps. 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.
Hello all, i am switching completely from mac to windows. I have asked this problem at seagate forum and the one guy who replied didnt know how to solve it. My book essential user manual about your wd drive 1 about your wd drive welcome to your my book essential external hard drive, an elegant, highcapacity storage solution for all the chapters of your di gital life. Our latest edition features visual, easytouse, automatic, continuous backup software and drive lock security protection. Xp, 2000 and mac os x 3865 reformat from mac gpt to windows xp ntfs 3645. There may be occasions, however, when you want to reformat your mac s hard drive. You can format a drive using the disk utility in mac. I have been trying to walk her through reformatting it but nothing is working. Since i was gambling with all of my data i dont regret the lost time. If you want to get on with formatting your wd my passport on your mac, youll find the step by step walk through just below. How to reinstall macos from macos recovery apple support. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. How to installuse 100gb 200gb 300gb 400gb 500gb 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, 4tb. To format a western digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or.
Want to use one external drive for both your windows pc and your mac. And thanks to my endless knack for figuring things out on my own, ive clogged up the majority of them with useless software, damaging commands, adware, duplicate files and just about anything else you can add to a hard drive to slow it to a crawl. Complete backup 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. Is it okay to keep it and reformat it for mac or am i much better off returning it and buying another one specifically for mac.
Anyway, i use a wd my cloud 3tb as my time machine. But in order for the computer and drive to talk to one another, the drive has to be formatted. She has a mac mini and a wd passport external hard drive. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on.
If anything happens to my lap top and i need to purchase another i just have to plug in my hard drive and i am back. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. 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. Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Jan 04, 2012 i purchased a wd my passport 1 tb external hard drive through. Make sure mac os extended journaled is selected in the format menu for. Before formatting any hard drive, its a good idea to backup. Hello all, today i bought the 4tb my passport from best buy. Western digital manufactures two types of the wd my passport hard drive. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the wifi menu in the menu bar. Highlight your drive and click partition in disk utility. Therfore, you can connect backup plus desktop to a windows pc without formatting the hard drive. List of all wd firmware and software available for download.
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. Feb 08, 2020 how to partition an external hard drive on mac. The other type is ntfs formatted and is simply called wd my passport no for mac after the title whether you have the wd my passport for mac or have bought the ntfs version they both. Equipped with password protection and perfectly paired with wd backup or apple time machine, my book desktop storage helps keep your files safe. How to reformat western digital portable hard drive. This wikihow teaches you how to format a seagate hard drive on a mac computer. Moving the data off the drive while i reformat will be a challenge. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. My book studio desktop hard drive features blazingfast superspeed usb 3. This is really a super hard drive and very easy to use and i just like to know that i have my back covered. Is there any fast way to reformat the wd portable hard drive and erase all the data on the hard drive. For instructions on how to format a drive in mac os 10. Make sure your external hard drive is attached and mounted to your mac. However, ntfs is not fully compatible with mac computers.
My book studio, nearly 30 wd drives play nicely with apples macos. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different. Hi, you can restore your mac to factory settings by erasing your mac, then reinstalling macos using the builtin recovery disk. Thisll be the first external hd ive owned that has been mac plug and play. Jan 15, 2020 macos recovery makes it easy to reinstall the mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. 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.
The new drives feature a redesigned enclosure that better. Trouble formatting external hard drive macrumors forums. I have updated this tutorial to include macos sierra which is a free download from apple for all mac users. How to reformat mac external harddrive for pc march 2014. Xp, 2000 and mac os x 3865 reformat from mac gpt to windows xp ntfs 3645 reformat the drive from mac gpt to windows 7 or vista ntfs format.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. Does this mean that they cannot be converted to windows. Interestingly, ive just unboxed my new 6tb my book, installed the wd. That said, if you are using both a pc and mac in the workflow, youll need to use a different format. I have a mac and downloaded and formatted my 3tb hard drive to ntfs3g, but when i plug it into my xbox it wont even recognize it. If you are running on mac, you will have to reformat the hard drives. How to format an external hard drive the easy way in 2020.
Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. I mainly want to use it to store pictures and music. Now, click the erase, button and wait a few minutes and let the macos erase data on the drive and reformat it by fat32 or exfat format. Reformatting a 3tb ntfs usb hd in exfat so it works with macs. Reformatting 3tb wd my book for mac to windows wd community. Buy wd 3tb my book for mac desktop external hard drive usb 3. The two my book products are essentially the same, the core difference is in the formatting of the drive. The backup drives i have are 3tb my book s for mac. Now, a new hard drive icon will appear on the desktop. Its matte silver chassis matches the aluminum case of your new imac, mac mini. Make external harddrive compatible with mac and windows computer, how to format using disk utility on mac.
Lacie setup assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs. I wonder if i could reformat one of the 3tb drives as i have 2 configured for raid mirror. Open the disk utility app and highlight your external hard drive. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Instructions for how to format your external drive so that it will be fully usable in macos. Reformat macbook pro to make brand new again josh benson. Wd external hard drive set up guide how to use on mac. These steps can be used for both internal and external drives. I have a 3tb western digital mybook that i have formatted as msdos from disk utility, the ps4 notes that the drive is there because it does take me to the backup screen and lists the size of everything it will backup, however, no matter what it shows 0 for the data available on the backup drive. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. External hard drives free delivery possible on eligible purchases.
One thing you really must check is the compatibility with your existing systems. Your backup plus desktop is formatted as ntfs for compatibility with windows out of the box. Store and protect your creative life with my book for mac desktop storage. All is connected via my wireless network apple airport. You can use lacie setup assistant to format your lacie hard drive when it is first connected to a computer windows or mac. Operation failed dont understand the space issue and since the disk is unmounted ii am unable to do. The my book drive is trusted desktop storage designed to complement your personal style with a massive amount of space to store your photos, videos, music and documents. The my book for pc comes in 2tb, 3tb and 4tb capacities while the my book for mac tops out at 3tb. As i read on your website, i should format to fat of or exfat.
Format an external hard drive or usb flash drive for mac os x. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you can use it. Wd elements, wd my book western digital, my passport wd, we my cloud,wd my passport ultra, how to installuse 100gb 200gb 300gb 400gb 500gb 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, 4tb, 5tb, 6tb 7tb 8tb.
Jul 27, 2014 the hd in question is a brand new unmodified seagate backup plus 3tb usb i picked up at costco. I am trying to format my new 3tb harddrive for my mac computer. If you have already written any data to the drive, back it up before proceeding to. This mac ready drive is compatible with apple time machine for. Connect your western digital my passport drive to mac computer, and let the os detect and mount the drive for use. 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. Dec, 2007 how to reformat mac external harddrive for pc.
You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. Format external drive for backup of ps4 data, from a mac. The western digital my book studio gives you a capacious 4tb drive to match your aluminum imac or mac mini. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive in fact, you should for better file organization, heres a stepbystep guide. Installed in drive bays 3 and 4 reboot, get message that computer cant read drive, click initialize to open disk utility choose erase tab, mac os extended. For mac computers, go to the apple menu and select software update or app store. Advice youll find useful ahead of formatting your my passport drive on your mac. Is there any way i can reformat the hd to work on my pc without losing the movie content. When the finder window opens, on the menu bar, select go and then utilities. Jul 24, 20 nearly all mac s sold after july 20, 2011 came with factory installs of os x 10. May 08, 2012 i just got two new 3tb seagate drives for my mac pro at work 4,1 snow leopard that disk utility will not format. What i didnt realize was that it wasnt one for mac. But unfortunately it bit the dust and i decided to get a pc.
How to format or partition an external hard drive for mac. Oct 15, 2015 hello all, i am switching completely from mac to windows. A vast majority of video production will be done on a mac or windows operating system, so we arent going to cover linux. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. Confused, i went back into disk utility, and tried to format the untitled drive, this time as msdos. I bought the seagate barracuda 3tb and it shows as 746gb on my windows vista sp2 32bit in gpt mode. Disk wont format external drives for mac wd community. In this tutorial, i will show you how to reformat the hard drive in your mac and reinstall os x for that factory fresh finish.
The wd elements desktop hard drive and the wd my book desktop hard drive and plug and play for windows, so this means it is ready to use as soon as you take it out of the box. I just got two new 3tb seagate drives for my mac pro at work 4,1 snow leopard that disk utility will not format. Wd elements, wd my book western digital, my passport wd, we my cloud. Transferring files between the two operating systems is less of a hassle, since you dont have to constantly back up and reformat each time. Wd recently updated their my book external desktop hard drive line for both the mac and pc audiences. Formatting a 3tb external hard drive i recently purchased a wd elements 3tb hard drive to be used to backup my files. Sep 17, 2015 how to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10 i have a lacie d2 quadra 1tb external hard drive. View and download western digital my book user manual online. Wd external hard drive set up guide how to use on mac youtube. How to reformat my external hard drive for windows 10. Interestingly, ive just unboxed my new 6tb my book, installed the wd discovery app on my mac, and the drive is already formatted to exfat. People told me that if i reformat the hd to exfat i will be able to use it with both my windows machines and the mac at work. Buying and using an external hd is one thing, getting the most out of it is quite another. When you buy a western digital wd 1 tb my book external hard drive, they usually come formatted for windows using fat32.
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