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. How to format a flash drive with a mac to fat32 techwalla. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. A fat32 partition can reach up to 32gb when formatted on a windows pc. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition it services. Compare the different options for formatting an external hard drive to work with windows and mac. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. My passport ultra 2tb hard drive is inaccessible and i am unable to reformat. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. You can find effective ways here to format wd my passport for mac and pc to fat32 or exfat file. Reformat a wd my passport ultra, etc to use without the. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. Fat32 will let you directly plug the drive into both windows and mac.
Formatting a wd my passport for a macbook air macrumors. Now you regain the ability to use xbox one external hard drive in windows pc and you can save files to that external hard drive. Windows 10 will go ahead and begin formatting the drive in fat32. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x. This may be a problem for larger files, such as video files, disk images, or large outlook pst files.
There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. How to format an external hard drive with wd quick formatter. According to this page and a few others, the maximum fat32 partition is 2tb, so you will need to create two partitions.
You can help protect yourself from scammers by verifying that the contact is a microsoft agent or microsoft employee and that the phone number is an official microsoft global customer service number. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on windows 2000 xp vista win7, mac, linux, the ipod. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. However, you can format the drive to work with both windows and mac by. You can reformat the drive with a file system that mac can read. How do i format a wd my passport ultra hard drive from. Rightclick in the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select new simple volume. It is possible to reformat the drive and keep your files by formatting your drive and then using a data recovery tool to restore your information. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. 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. Use the wizard to create a partition with the ntfs or fat32 file system.
Jul 24, 2017 in the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. I want to format it to work on my macbook pro for time machine, so i looked into how to do that. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Hi, we understand that you wanted to use your hard drive now for windows. With my passport, i usually erase it completely and use it as an encrypted drive for time machine. To resolve the issue, please convert the usb drive format from ntfs to fat32. Reformat wd my passport ultra for mac not apple community. I just read this and maybe windows cant format drives larger than 32gb into fat32. You could save the file to an ntfs partition or a dvd. Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command. However, you need to make doubly sure that you complete a quick format. However, fat32 is a legacy file system designed for low capacity hard drives and it is not recommended for modern hard drives or operating systems.
How to erase my passport and reformat wd portable drives. It will list all the hard drives and devices on your mac computer. But before we go through the guide, we must address a very important issue in this regard, which is. The maximum size of the file you can store in the hard drive with fat32 is 4 gb along with 8tb maximum partition size.
Apr 16, 2020 the big advantage of the fat32 file system is that its very old. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. Are the external backup drives like the wd my passport ultra, etc able to be reformatted and used in the same way. But, the good news is that msdos exfat and fat32 formats come quite in handy in such cases. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. Easeus partition master free is more than just a disk formatting tool. Rename the drive, reset its file system to fat32 or exfat. Miniaide fat32 formatter free download and software. Dec 03, 2007 you can reformat the drive with a file system that mac can read. How to format an external hard drive for xbox one minitool. It lets you create, delete, and clone partitions in addition to formatting hard drives to chosen formats. The big advantage of the fat32 file system is that its very old.
Deborah, if you plan to use drive for quicken backup only, the drive needs no special formatting. By following the methods offered, i can work with my xbox one external hard drive. I can still though add files later, as i change them add more pics, music, etc. However, you can format the drive to work with both windows and mac by using the exfat filesystem. By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you.
Im having some trouble formatting my wd my passport in high sierra. Format an exfat external hard drive to fat32 with easeus. Should i reformat my passport to ntfs tech support guy. When you plug it in to the computer, does it power on. Have you tried formatting your hard drive from the file explorer by rightclicking the drive and choosing format. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. Trying to format my passport ultra 1tb to fat32 wd community. Im pretty sure the guy i got if off plugged it into his mac laptop and tried tosuccessfully formatted to use with a mac. Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc. Can i reformat my wd passport external hd to work for a mac. If the format of the usb drive is ntfs, the bios file wont be recognized by the computer. Select the file system from the dropdown list, which is available in the format expansion and choose either exfat or fat32.
Wd my passport format problem high sierr apple community. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Download wd quick formatter to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc in windows 1087. Seagate backup plus desktop user manual optional formatting. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. Mar 31, 2016 linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation.
Click create and manage disk partitions, and see if you can format your. 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. Nov 26, 20 fat32 will let you directly plug the drive into both windows and mac. What is important is if you are using a pc you use a pc formatted drive, but if you are using a mac you should use a preformatted for mac drive, it will make your life easier. 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. It has been the standard format for hard drives and floppy disks so to maximize the compatibility across modern systems including mac, linux, and windows. The drive will now be formatted for use by windows systems. Jan 22, 2009 two stupid, im thinking follow up questions. Now, i will show you the two methods to format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. Select the quick format option, and then click the start button. 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. How do i format a wd my passport ultra hard drive from xbox. When trying to copy files to the drive you may get prompted to do a disk clean up but this will not resolve the problem.
The best ways to format an external drive for windows and mac. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for windows. How to format a hard drive for both windows and mac. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. These file systems can help you to make your wd my passport work with a windows pc and mac at the same time. As formatting will going to erase everything on your drive and thats why avoid formatting. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. As of now, fat32 formatter has worked on disks 2tb. My passport ultra was previously used on my windows 7 pc. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows.
I have since reformatted it on my pc just to get all the info off of it. It told me to open the disk utility, and to choose the drive and then choose erase. Please go to utilities disk utility to get the window below. You can then rightclick in the empty space and select new simple volume to create a partition and format it with the windows ntfs or fat32 file systems. Click the finder, open the applications folder, open the utilities folder and choose disk utility. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Whether youre formatting an internal drive, external drive, usb flash drive, or sd card, windows will give you the choice of ntfs, fat32, and exfat. Wd quick formatter is short for western digital quick formatter, a format tool developed by western digital technologies, inc. Another useful tool is too erase it completely, and use 2 partitions. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. Sep 05, 2011 very easy way to format an external hard drive into fat32 with a mac using the disk utility. Tech support scams are an industrywide issue where scammers trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services. Im assuming when i reformat, my backup files will be erased which is fine, i guess with a total computer backup, they will be there anyway. Disk utility is a mac application, you can run it on your mac.
How to format external hard drive to fat32 in windows. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. One in os x format for time machine, and other in exfat for all files that is also compatible with windows, if you need it. There will be no space wasted by protected mac partitions. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. Nov 27, 2012 how to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures.
You can use apples builtin disk utility before you format the drive, make sure theres nothing valuable on it thats not also backed up elsewhere, since all data will be lost. How to format a wd external hard drive in exfat or fat32 to use in windows or mac osx. How to free create fat32 partition on external hard drive. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. What is important is if you are using a pc you use a pc formatted drive, but if you are using a mac you should use a pre formatted for mac drive, it will make your life easier. Locate the icon assigned to western digital my passport drive and rightclick the connected drive icon and click format in the popup menu. A wd my passport formatted with the windows file system will be useless on the mac and viceversa.
Western digitals passport external drive for mac isnt eternally bound to macos. Windows uses ntfs and mac os uses hfs and theyre incompatible with each other. H is the drive letter of your external hard drive in windows 10. Aug 18, 2008 ive converted my wd hd 1tb from fat32 to ntfs, but after it cant be read by my dvd player lg dvd player with usb slot. Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32. Reformatting a drive on windows is a pretty straightforward process. How to reformat passport external hard drive from read only to read and write for use with mac computersimportant. Dec 29, 2015 windows uses ntfs and mac os uses hfs and theyre incompatible with each other. Therefore, some user needs western digital fat32 formatting utility because he wants to connect his ntfsformatted my passport ultra to mac os. How can i convert the usb drive format from ntfs to fat32. Reformat a wd my passport ultra, etc to use without the preinstalled software. Can i reformat my wd passport external hd to work for a. Easily format wd my passport portable hard drive on mac. I usually get an internal drive and install it in a external case as a back up drive for windows 7.
If youre using a mac, you dont need special software to format a usb drive in the fat32 format. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. Then, select the external hard drive and click partition tab on the top. Now, the erase dialogue window appears, here select the volume format dropdown list and choose msdos fat or exfat file system. Format external hard drive in fat32 using professional format tool. How to reformat an external hard drive without losing your. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on.
1676 472 895 653 703 954 113 849 752 593 543 1109 1 557 382 1625 296 682 7 729 999 911 1511 538 122 22 74 1166 413 324 955 1419 178 1113 1140