Before you get the answer, you must figure out what kind of file system can work well on both the macOS and the Windows system. macOS supports a handful of common file systems - HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT, with read-only support for NTFS. While Windows employs two major file systems: NTFS and FAT. FAT was inherited from old DOS and has exFAT as its later extension. In addition, the ReFS file system was developed as a new generation file system for server computers starting from Windows Server 2012.
Can I Use WD Hard Drive on Mac and PC
That is to say, only FAT32 and exFAT can work on both Mac and PC. If you want to share digital files between Mac and Windows system easily, you must convert WD My Passport to FAT or exFAT. Here are three ways to format a WD My Passport, follow any one of them to convert to FAT.
Aug 16, 2019 Hello all, Today I bought the 4tb “My Passport” from Best Buy. I came home to set it up and backup my computer (a 2015 MacBook Pro running El Capitan 10.11.6) Before I did anything to it, I read through the user’s guide and saw that I needed to format it to use with my MacBook. So, I followed the steps- I went into Disk Utility, selected “My Passport,” clicked “erase,” selected. Ntfs driver for mac free download - Paragon NTFS for Mac, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, Paragon NTFS for Mac Special Edition, and many more programs.
How to Format WD My Passport in Windows Platform (Free)
You can format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to ex-FAT or FAT32 format using a free ex-FAT or FAT32 converter - EaseUS Partition Master or use built-in applications Windows.
Solution 1. Format WD My Passport Using Software (Free)
It is a wise choice to use a professional format tool. With the help of EaseUS Partition Master Free, you can perfectly bypass the format limitation of the Windows disk management tool and help you format WD My Passport to FAT32 or exFAT easily without any obstacles. What's more, this Windows partition software helps you create, resize, clone, move, and merge partitions without difficulty. Follow the details below to convert WD My Passport to FAT32 or exFAT.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2: Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.
Solution 2. Format WD My Passport Using File Explorer
Windows limits FAT32 partitions to 32GB. It does not offer the ability to format a drive larger than 32GB to FAT32, the only available choices are NTFS or exFAT. If you want to format your WD My Passport to FAT32, you must make sure that the size is smaller than 32GB. If it is larger than 32GB, you can only format it to exFAT.
Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer, locate and right-click on WD My Passport that you need to format, select 'Format'.
Step 2. Rename the drive, reset its file system to FAT32 or exFAT.
Step 3. Click 'Start' to begin the formatting.
How to Format WD My Passport in macOS/OS X Platform
The easiest way to format the drive to FAT32 or exFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32 or exFAT.
Tips: The instructions below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. Once the process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost!
Step 1. Connect WD My Passport to your Mac.
Step 2. Once that's done, double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen.Select 'Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility'.
Step 3. Select your WD My Passport on the sidebar, choose 'Erase'.
Step 4. Rename the drive, select the 'Volume Format' drop-down list and choose 'MS-DOS (FAT)' or 'ex-FAT File System'. Then click 'Erase'.
Wait for the process to complete and let the macOS erase data on the drive and reformat it by FAT32 or ex-FAT format. Then, you can use the drive in macOS or OS X as a regular hard drive.
Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS
FAT is known as the File Allocation Table. The successive major versions of the FAT format are named after the number of table element bits: FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. FAT32 is the oldest of the three file systems available to Windows. Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB in size. A FAT32 partition must also be less than 8 TB, which admittedly is less of a limitation unless you’re using super-high-capacity drives.
exFAT, Extended File Allocation Table, is optimized for flash drives. It was added to older versions of Windows with updates to Windows XP and Windows Vista. This file system doesn't have the limitations of FAT32. You can use it when you need a bigger file size and partition limits than FAT32 offers.
NTFS, NT File System, is the modern file system Windows likes to use by default. It is packed with modern features not available to FAT32 and exFAT. However, it only works with all versions of Windows, but read-only with Mac by default.
![]()
If you want to use WD My Passport or any other hard drive on Mac and PC, you need to format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive in exFAT or FAT32 format.
Tips to Avoid Formatting WD My Passport Without Backup
Just as I have mentioned above, once the process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost. To avoid unnecessary data loss issues, we highly recommended all users extract or back up important data to another device or partition in advance. You can copy files one by one to a new disk or drive. If you have quite a lot of data to be transferred, professional backup software shall be your best choice. Here we recommend you try EaseUS Todo Backup which allows you to directly back up target data with simple steps.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Todo Backup software and then choose 'File Backup', 'Disk/partition Backup' or 'System Backup' for different backup purpose.
Step 2: Choose the system, disk partition, files or apps that you want to back up. Then select a destination where you want to store the backup file.
Step 3: Click 'Proceed' to start the data backup process.
Hot Topics - People Also Ask These QuestionsWhat is the difference between NTFS, fat32, and exFAT?
NTFS is the commonly used file system for Windows internal drives. Windows OS can only be installed on an NTFS partition. FAT32 is an older file system used for external drives due to its great compatibility. exFAT is a replacement for FAT32, which is not as compatible as FAT32 but without the limitations of FAT32.
Can I use WD hard drive on Mac and PC?
Yes. If you want to use WD My Passport or any other hard drive on Mac and PC, you need to format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive in exFAT or FAT32 format.
Can I convert exFAT to NTFS without losing data?
You are unable to directly convert exFAT to NTFS without losing data, as there is no such utility that can help you perform the exFAT to NTFS conversion. You can back up exFAT partition data to another drive and then format the exFAT partition to NTFS with EaseUS Partition Master Free.
Wd Ntfs DriverHow do I format my WD Passport?
Step 1. Run EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose Format.
Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/exFAT), and Cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click OK.
Step 3. Click OK in it to continue.
Step 4. Click the Execute Operation button on the top-left corner to review the changes, then click Apply.
ConclusionWestern Digital Ntfs Driver For Mac
You can format your Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to FAT32 or exFAT format to transfer the data between a Mac and Windows system conveniently. According to the solutions above, the EaseUS partition tool stands out for its convenience and easiness. It's always your best choice.
Disk Utility will begin the formatting and repartitioning process. Now right-click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will appear. Now, click on Apply. Paragon Customer Portal https: For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below: If at any time an error occurs stating that the drive can not be dismounted or unmounted , this is not caused by an issue with the hard drive.
Western Digital Ntfs Driver For Mac Os X 10 13 Download
How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 8 or 8. File and partition size limitations using the Wesetrn file system. How can I fix my Mac not recognizing my WD external hard drive? The file may need western digital mac ntfs be uncompressed using some type of uncompression or unzipping utility.
How to format a WD hard drive to exFAT or FAT32 file system | WD Support
It is western digital mac ntfs directly above the name of the drive, and is the drive selection that has the total size being displayed. In case the answer did not answer your question, you can maf visit the WD Community for help from WD users. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1 TB and continue to the next step. Steps for macOS Still have a question?
Wd Ntfs Driver For Mac
Then, click Disk Management right below Storage. To partition and format the drive with Disk Utility, follow these steps: Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists western digital mac ntfs a particular drive. The final popup will warn again that this will erase all the data on the drive. Left-click on Next to proceed to the next screen Choose the volume size and click Next.
While in there, open Utilitiesand lastly double-click on Disk Utility. For more information about what these limitations are please see Answer ID Get deep insights into MongoDB health and performance divital Datadog.
The drive is now formatting and a status bar will be seen western digital mac ntfs the bottom that says formatting the disk and wewtern the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name ntfd was specified.
Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive. If at any western digital mac ntfs an error occurs stating that the drive can not be dismounted or unmountedthis is not caused by an issue with the hard drive.
Please see Answer ID Paragon Support Services https: If the error message persists, restarting the computer may resolve the issue.
Partitioning a drive is only necessary if ngfs to use multiple partitions on the drive. When the Erasing process is completed, click on Done.
From the drop-down, select ExFAT. The feedback you provide will help us show you more relevant content in the future.
This page may be out of date. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives.
No further action is required. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted. Right-click western digital mac ntfs Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume.
There are some free alternatives, I’ve tried a few but western digital mac ntfs wrote very slowly to NTFS formatted disks. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocatedwith a black bar on top. Once selected, click on Partition on the right-side area.
See AlsoComments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |