By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you. Download wd quick formatter to format external drive in. The difference in mac and windows native format systems are to blame for this. Heres how to format a drive using a mac including how to format a drive for windows and mac so the contents can be read on both platforms, and what format to use for time machine. As of now, fat32 formatter has worked on disks 2tb. This my passport recovery tool has a userfriendly interface to help users retrieve files from a corrupted, unrecognized and formatted wd my passport external hard drive in just 5 simple steps. It will format a western digital external usb or firewire hard drive back to its original fat32 partition and format. Wait for the process to complete and let the macos erase data on the drive and reformat it by fat32 or exfat format. Open windows file explorer, locate and rightclick on wd my passport that you need to format, select format. Wd my passport usb drive i used the wd quick drive format to format my passport 0820. How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. 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. Hi there, i use a macbook pro and have a wd passport for mac.
Locate the icon assigned to western digital my passport drive and rightclick the connected drive icon and click format in the popup menu. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. How to format an external hard drive with wd quick formatter. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition it services. How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb.
How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. No worry, actually it is not impossible to realize it no matter you use an external or internal drive of your windows system. Lg said it needs to be formatted to fat32 or ntfs for the tv to reco. Therefore, some user needs western digital fat32 formatting utility because he wants to connect his ntfsformatted my passport ultra to mac os. If using on both mac and windows could use exfat formatting. How to format your drive to fat32 system using diskpart. My passport ultra for mac is formatted for time machine and ready to deliver plugandplay storage out of the box. Mar, 2020 follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. Ensure that restore factory original fat32 partition is selected. Apr 16, 2020 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. I just read this and maybe windows cant format drives larger than 32gb into fat32. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. 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.
I used to make a point of having my c drive in fat32 so i could access the boot partition from a floppy, and converted. Click the icon for your external hard drive in the sidebar on the left. I want to format it to work on my macbook pro for time machine, so i looked into how to do that. It told me to open the disk utility, and to choose the drive and then choose erase. From the volume format menu, choose mac os extended. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Once the install process is finished, the wd fat32 formatter will put a software icon on the desktop that you can doubleclick on, and start the format process.
How to format a wd external hard drive in exfat or fat32 to use in windows or mac osx. It is worth using the fat32 formatter in macrorit free partition software and other advanced editions. Format wd my passport for mac and pc with ms dos fat 32 or exfat. On the main panel, click the wd my passport ultra 1tb drives icon, and select the format button.
Fat32 is a solid file system for external drives, so long. Feb 14, 2017 how to format a wd my passport portable hard drive for. I have 2 wdc 4tb usb drives that came as exfat, the packaging is marked as usable on both mac and windows. Your choice is msdos aka fat32 or exfat and i go over the difference in the video. Two easy methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. My passport ultra was previously used on my windows 7 pc. If you want to use the drive with a windows computer, see reformatting the drive and troubleshooting. Oct 20, 2019 youre mad as hell because your new wd my passport drive is read only on your mac. Linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. I recently came into possession of a 500gb passport marked for macintosh, needed to be repartitioned and formatted for use on windows. In this blog post, we will walk you through the formatting process and share.
So if you want your external hard drive to be backward compatible with both oss then you need to reformat it with fat32 or exfat. Wd my passport portable hard drive and auto backup software the my passport portable hard drive is trusted to store the massive amounts of photos, videos and music you love. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. For a hard drive to be able to be read from and written to on both a windows and macos computer, it must be formatted to exfat or fat32 file format. How to format and use wd my passport for mac just like on windows, your wd passport can be used on your mac too. Jul 18, 2014 download wd fat32 formatter format western digital usb drives or wirefire hard disk drives to bring them to factory configurations as well as restore wd disk icon files. Mac os extended journaled file system is how its referred to on your mac. Format wd my passport for mac to windows scoutfile. Of course, there are more than two methods that can help you format a wd my passport portable hard drive under mac os. Wd passport for mac to fat32 or ntfs other software.
Fat32 formatter is a windows program that was designed mainly to restore original factory fat32 partiton for wd external drives. You can apply the thirdparty solution to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 explorer or disk management. Western digitals passport external drive for mac isnt eternally bound to macos. This is useful if a drive is being used under both to move files between the two. 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. You are able to format a 500gb, 1tb, 2tb wd elements external drive to fat32. I wait more than 15 to 20 mins but still it display as loading. Open the fat32 formatting utility and select the desired external hard drive. Wd my passport 0748 usb device driver for windows 7 32 bit, windows. Download wd fat32 formatter format western digital usb drives or wirefire hard disk drives to bring them to factory configurations as well as restore wd disk icon files. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. The easiest way to format the drive to fat32 or exfat is by using macoss built.
Available in an array of vibrant, fun colors, the sleek style fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, so you can easily take your treasured content everywhere you go. In the format window, navigate to the file system field, and select either the exfat or fat32 option. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. Many people think it is hard to format the windows drive on macintosh. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. If its in ntfs, nothing but 32 bit windows will write to an ntfs drive, but osx will read the drive. Now it shows that the whole disk is full blue and the file system has changed to udf. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter.
There are specific thirdparty systems, like digital camcorders, and sony playstation 3, which need the drives to be formatted in either fat32 or exfat format to perform read from and. Readwrite fat32 from both native windows and native mac os x. Someone had formatted my external to only work with mac. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file. Jan 30, 2019 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.
Be sure to connect the passport directly to the pc, avoid using usb extension cables or usb hubs, if possible you can also format the passport on a mac using disk utility. Sep 05, 2011 very easy way to format an external hard drive into fat32 with a mac using the disk utility. The free specific utility format fat32 drives beyond. In the new window, choose fat32 in the dropdown in file system area, then set the related info as your wish, click ok to confirm the task and add it to pending task list. End a western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. Ill store my media files on it while keeping the internal hard drive clear for apps and the os. Oct 15, 2015 hi ferrarid, welcome to the wd community. Can someone please take me through step by step on how to reformat the hard drive. Download wd quick formatter to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc in windows 1087. If you are not similar with cluster size, please do not change the cluster size. I recently purchased a 500gb western digital my passport elite external hard drive for my macbook pro. Back to the main window, last but not the least, you. I want to know what i should do to make the hard disk compatible with bot mac os and pc.
Trying to format my passport ultra 1tb to fat32 wd community. It would not give me permission to back up files on it, so i formatted it using windows 7 format tool. If so, here is everything you should know about my passport wd, and how to format on your system. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. Digital my passport external hard drive in exfat or fat32 format, you. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit.
To format the drive in windows, rightclick it in the file explorer window and select format. This allows the drive to be used on both windows and macos. Miniaide fat32 formatter lets you format or create fully customizable partitions in any hard drive. Everything you need to know about sata hard drive and the best way to format it if you would like to know about the best way to format sata hard drive then follow this simple stepbystep guide to format sata drive easily in your windows pc. For a hard drive to be able to be read from and written to on both a windows and macos computer, it must be formatted to or file format. For instance, some of the modern video doorbells you buy require your storage devices to be in the fat32 format. 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. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. 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. Please help me format my 1tb western digital hd to fat32 which was the original format when i bought it. Jul 24, 2017 for whatever reason, the option to format usb drives larger than 32gb with the fat32 file system isnt present in the regular windows format tool. Format my passport for both mac and windows fasrbug.
So you figured, fine, ill just get an external hard drive. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for windows. The other type of wd my passport hard drive comes in a for mac version. How do i initialize my external usb hdd wd my passport. We here will show you the full guides on how to format fat32 and ntfs drives on mac as an example. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx.
Below the format options field, make sure to checkmark the box next to the quick format option. Recover deleted, lost, inaccessible photos, videos, audio, documents, etc. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page. Formatting wd my passport to fat32 videohelp forum. Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc. Rather than use a mac formatted drive, you should get the important files off of it and use exfat formatted drives for moving data between macs and pcs. So i got a wd my passport ultra which seems to be in ntfs format and i can only read it on my mac. How to format a 4tb hard drive to a fat32 format wd hard. Mar 03, 2016 i mistakenly ordered the wd my passport ultra drive for windows instead of my passport for mac. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Enter a name for the external hard drive in the name field.
Find quick workarounds to formatting wd elements for mac from this. I want to format my wd my passport essential 500gb into fat32 but i only see the options ntfs or exfat. Silicon power 1tb ultra slim armor a75 shockproofantiscratch usb 3. But, the good news is that msdos exfat and fat32 formats come quite in handy in such cases. If its in ntfs, i would back it up and format in fat32. If it is larger than 32gb, you can only format it to exfat. Select the file system from the dropdown list, which is available in the format expansion and choose either exfat or fat32. Here is a stepbystep guide on how to format wd passport. Bonjour, je voudrais savoir comment formater mon disque dur externe wertern digital my passport essentail 500gbgo qui est actuellement en ntfs en fat32. However, all of the solutions can be divided into two types. Formatting wd elements for mac by quick workarounds. I have a 4tb gpt external usb hard drive that i need to format as fat32. You will be able to copy data from, but not to, the external hard drive. A wd my passport formatted with the windows file system will be useless on the mac and viceversa.
Reformat wd my passport ultra for mac not apple community. Hello, when i connect hard drive to my pc then it shows just blank h. This answer explains how to format a drive in the exfat or fat32 file system. 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. With fat32, it is recommended that the volumepartition size of. Online shopping from a great selection at electronics store. According to this page and a few others, the maximum fat32 partition is 2tb, so you will need to create two partitions. Please note the instructions do not differ when formatting different capacity. Wd quick formatter is short for western digital quick formatter, a format tool developed by western digital technologies, inc.
But if you are not using such brand hard drive, in that case, you might turn some 3rd party programs for help which will allow you to format an external hard drive with the larger size. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition a new western digital external drive is configured by default out of the box as a fat32 partition. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. My passport usb not working on my ipad apple community. I have since reformatted it on my pc just to get all the info off of it. Rather than send it back, id like to format it for my macbook air. The format is still in use though and there are even situations where this is the only format that works. With wd discovery software, you can also work across both mac and pc. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on windows 2000 xp vista win7, mac. Miniaide fat32 formatter free download and software. Format an external hard drive to fat32 using command prompt. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Wd fat32 formatter is a external usbfirewire fat32 formatting utility. How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows.
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