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Can I Use WD Hard Drive on Mac and PC
The Steps: How to Format WD My Passport for Mac. Whether you need to know how to Format WD My Passport For your Mac. Or you need to reformat My Passport for Mac. You follow the same steps. You’ll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. First power up your Mac. WD My Passport Go 1TB Mac Driver. The Western Digital My Passport Go 1 TB driver can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s site. Search for your product and click Submit. Now, under the Software for Mac tab, select WD drive utilities for Mac. The WD drive utilities software allows you to configure, manage, and recognize your WD drive. DRIVER MY PASSPORT WD 2TB FOR WINDOWS 8.1 DOWNLOAD. Wd passport ultra, western digital nomad rugged, plenty files safe, western digital passport, palm online computer hardware overview. Microsoft software destination passport. Buy western digital wd 2tb my passport ultra usb. One black ink cartridge. Fingerprint commercial attendance machine.
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.
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.
- Solution 1. Format WD HDD with Software (FREE)
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.
![Passport Passport](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126376585/973015047.jpg)
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
Wd My Passport Driver Mac
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.
My Passport For Mac Drivers
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126376585/962912814.png)
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.
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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 Questions
What 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.
Wd Passport For Mac Instructions
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.
How 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.
My Passport Backup Software For Mac
Step 4. Click the Execute Operation button on the top-left corner to review the changes, then click Apply.
Conclusion
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.
Apr 09,2020 • Filed to: Hard Drive Recovery • Proven solutions
If you were to look at the most popular external hard disks on the market, WD My Passport will surely make it in the top three spots. They have gained much fanfare due to their portable size and high capacities.
Everything about WD My Passport is great except one, reparability. The small form factor means that WD My Passport repair is not the easiest one to do. And hard disk errors can happen from both the hardware and software side of things. So before you jump into conclusions, you need to understand the root of the problem. Hence, the first part of that process is to identify the errors that your WD My Passport is showing in the first place. Let go over some of them. More Keynote Or Powerpoint For Mac videos.
Part 1: Signs of Western Digital Hard Drive Errors
All hard drives show some specific signs before they go out altogether. For the user, this is a great thing because you will get some time to find a solution or move your files to another storage unit. Spotting these signs will help you a great deal in doing preventive maintenance.
- Clicking or scratching noises: The WD My passport runs very silent and in normal use, you won’t even know that it’s working. However, if you hear strange clicking noises or scratching noises from the hard drive, it signifies a hardware problem, most commonly it is observed to be faulty bearings.
- Frequent crashes: Nowadays, hard drives are very well made and they rarely crash. If your hard drive experience crashes with a frequency like once in a month or two, it is fine. However, when the crashes occur multiple times every single day, then you must look for western digital hard drive repair solutions.
- Frequent disconnections and error message: If the hard drive causes disconnections even when you are not using the hard drive, there might be a problem with the controller. This sign is very easy to spot as you will be seeing the hard drive repeatedly connecting and disconnecting on its own even when it is firmly plugged into the computer.
- Very long response time: Response time is the measure of time that it takes the hard drive to respond to a read or write request. Hence, you would want this time to be as low as possible. However, faulty hard drives can show a severe delay between a request and an actual response.
- Data loss: The data that you have copied over to the WD My Password seems to be not there the next time you look for it. This happens when the drive is no longer able to hold the data that is being written on it.
- Broken files: Files that perfectly worked on your internal hard drive seems to be broken if you move it over to the external hard drive. This arises from the inability of the hard disk to save a file or properly read a saved file.
Part 2: How to Fix My WD Passport Not Recognized/Working Issue?
Thankfully, there are ways in which you can resolve many of the hard disk errors without having to take them apart. These fixes are aimed at optimizing your WD My Passport so that they run better. We have listed some of the most common and easy fixes below that you can try out when experiencing errors with your drive.
Fix 1. Check the USB port: The USB port is the hardware interface between the hard drive and your computer. If there is a problem with the interface, then it affects the communication between the connected devices. The frequent disconnections of your hard drive maybe because of a loose connection or a faulty hard drive rather than a problem with the hard drive. Check the USB port and or try plug in the hard drive into another USB port to see if it would solve the issue.
Fix 2. Try another PC: The best way to determine whether the fault is with the hard drive or your computer is to plug the hard drive in a different computer. This will narrow your search for the cause of the problem by a great deal.
Fix 3. Change WD hard drive letter and path: Hard drive letter is an alphabet assigned to a drive for easy recognition. If your computer is having trouble registering the hard drive, try renaming the hard drive and see how it works.
Fix 4. Update WD hard disk device driver: Drivers are the software suite that facilitates different hardware components to talk to each other. Without drivers, the different hardware will not send data to each other. Outdated drivers mean that the device doesn’t have the latest optimizations made for it by Western Digital. The update WD hard disk device driver to ensure that your device has the latest software on it.
Fix 5. Update the USB controller driver: The USB controller is the driver present on your computer that facilitates all the connections made through the computer’s USB ports. A faulty or outdated USB controller can cause a disruption in communication between the connected devices.
Part 3: How to Extend the Life of Your WD Hard Drive
With a bit of care and concern, you can definitely improve the lifespan of your WD My Passport hard drive. Best practices in drive management ensure that your hard drive is working in top shape for years. Some of the ways in which you can extend the life of your WD hard drive are:
- Keep it safe from physical shocks: Physical shocks are sudden impacts that are inflicted on the hard drive in the form of vibrations, movement, fall from a height, etc. Such occurrences can tamper with the disks that are working inside the hard drive.
- Defragment drive occasionally: Defragmentation is the process of grouping together similar data. This process is an important part of hard drive maintenance because your computer may often break up data into smaller pieces and store them in parts based on the availability of storage. Fragmentation improves drive speed and overall longevity of the drive.
- Keep it within optimum conditions: Every device has a range of optimum conditions where it performs the best. Keep your hard drive working in the right temperature and humidity so that the external conditions do not affect its internals.
- Install an antivirus on your computer: Viruses and malware are harmful programs that can affect not just software, but also your hardware. They can exert unnecessary stress on the hard drive, causing it to wear out faster. Keep your files and devices safe by installing a reliable antivirus program.
- Keep your drivers up-to-date: As we discussed earlier, drivers play a major role in helping devices communicate with each other. Make sure that the drivers installed on your computer are up-to-date and working properly.
Conclusion
My Passport Ntfs Driver For Mac
WD My Password is an impressive piece of tech that makes data transfer easy and efficient. Keep your drive safe from errors and damages by following some simple steps mentioned in this guide. With just the right amount of care, you can have your hard drive working for years without a hassle!
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