Wd elements 2tb portable external hard drive black buy wd. But there are a couple of things you need to know and do to get it set up just fine. Need to reformat wd hard drive for mac if you connect your wd hard drive without reformatting, youll be unable to copy files to the disk as mac read only supports ntfs file system. Wd 2tb elements portable external hard drive usb 3. Just know that this is a file system that your mac uses for a time machine backup. The pocketsized 2tb hard drive comes with a user guide and a power cable. I m attaching the drive using the supplied usd cable and it appears on my desktop as an elements disk, but when i use disk utility to format the disk for mac os extended journaled it gives me the following message. How can i use my wd elements drive with my samsung hdtv. List of all wd firmware and software available for download.
Western digital 2tb elements portable externals harddrive. Naturally, this means im able to transfer files to it at the normal usb 2. A 5tb hard drive can hold approximately 2000 netflix videos. I show you how to format a western digital or any brandhard drive for use on any device be it a mac, pc, linux, ps3, xbox 360, etc. I have found that this wd elements 2tb usb external hard drive is fully compatible with my windows 7 64bit laptop straight out of the box, even though the laptop has only got usb 2. You may wonder how to reformat an external hard drive on mac. Buy wd 2tb silver my passport for mac portable external hard drive usb 3. Wd 2tb external hard drive setup and driver download. Jun 07, 2010 unboxing wd elements portable hard drive and reformatting for mac. Wd elements portable hard drives offer reliable, high capacity storage, fast data transfer rates and universal connectivity with usb 3.
Tutorial on how to format a western digital elements harddrive for a mac. Buy wd 5 tb my passport ultra for mac portable hard drive time machine ready with password protection at amazon uk. Thankfully, msdos fat32 and exfat formats have survived to date, and these are the file system to make your wd my passport work with a mac and a windows pc simultaneously. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Reformatting required for mac os compatibility wd support. I came home to set it up and backup my computer a 2015 macbook pro running. You can also format it to exfat file systems if youll. This formatting is also known as mac os extended journaled file system.
This is because you must format the drive with a specific file system before using it with a computer, and windows and mac computers run on different file systems. Mac cant read wd elements external drives for mac wd. I just went through some hoops when i got a 2tb mybook studio drive recently for christmas. How to format wd external drive for mac apple community. You can get to know how to reformat wd hard drive for mac and pc from this post, if you need to use a western digital external hard drive, like wd elements both under mac and pc. Wd elements is preconfigured for usage on a windows pc. Your disk utility program lives within a folder called utilities. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. Thankfully, msdos fat32 and exfat formats have survived to date, and these are the file system to make your wd my passport work with a mac and a windows pc. Since i use a mac, i need to reformat the hard drive in order for it to be used. How can you use your wd elements drive without reformatting. A wd my passport formatted with mac file system will be a dud on the windows and viceversa. Im wondering how i reformat the hard drive, which comes from the factory formatted for pcs.
Mac cant read wd elements external drive solved mac data. Dec 16, 2014 drive wont show up and making clicking sound. How to reformat a wd external hard drive it still works. Wd 1tb elements portable external hard drive usb 3. 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. This is a file system limitation that affects both mac s and. How to format new portable hard disk for macos wd elements. Buy wd elements 2tb portable external hard drive black online at low price in india on. While its convenient to purchase the hard drive that will work with your computer right out of the box, most external hard drives can also be reformatted so youre not limited to your initial choice. How to backup mac to an external hard drive 5 steps.
Unboxing wd elements portable hard drive and reformatting for mac. With its compact size, this wd elements portable hard drive fits conveniently in your briefcase or backpack. Yo just got a new external hard drive and want to use it on your mac. How to format new portable hard disk for macos wd elements 2tb usb 3. With a new, stylish design that fits in the palm of your hand, theres space to store, organize, and share all the photos. However, the mac os does not allow you to write data to the drive. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use with your mac in just a. How to reformat western digital portable hard drive. How to reformat western digital element 1 tb solved. Hello all, today i bought the 4tb my passport from best buy. Wd externe festplatte fur mac formatieren loschen youtube. Formatting and reformatting a drive erases everything. All three sorts of files work when i connect the hd to my computer mac. Jan 03, 2018 new december 2017 wd elements drive will not format to mac os extended journaled.
I know i am supposed to format it for mac via disk utility before i can use it, but this process also fails. For a larger capacity, the hard drive becomes a fraction bigger in size and logically more expensive. I want to use this new disk as a time machine backup disk. Wd elements portable hard drives offer reliable, highcapacity storage, fast data transfer rates and universal connectivity with usb 3. Choose your wd elements external hard drive on your. Out of the both its not mac compatible, but you can format it for use. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. Finally i decided that the information was not that critical and decided to reformat the disk.
Youll learn here the things you need to know about using your wd elements for mac. How to partition and format a wd drive on windows and macos. To make your western digital hard drive work on both mac and windows computers, you need to format the drive with the fat32 file system. We reformat a hard drive if we are switching from one platform to another windows to mac and vice verse back to the main topic, below is a step by step instruction on how to format reformat a hard drive for mac os.
Unexpectedly as expected, when booting up the computer the drive came back with only part of the information. Fix wd external hard drive not workingrecognizedshowing up. There are many good tools on the market, but having a dependable hard drive on the receiving end as important, too. In such a case, its necessary to reformat wd hard drive to make it compatible with mac operating system. Sep 06, 2019 how to solve my wd hard drive not recognized in windows 10. I think it is necessary to reformat the wd portable hard drive and permanently erase my private data. The drive was not recognized by my dell laptop running windows xp. Having attempted this now says erase process failed and has called the disk disk 2s1 and is all greyed out.
The my passport for mac drive is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your onthego lifestyle. Wd 2 tb my passport for mac portable hard drive time. And the related question can you use your wd elements on a mac. After some searching i found the latest disk utility from western digital, acronis true image wd edition. Hello, i just bought a western digital wd elements 1. My passport wont format external drives for mac wd community. External hard drives free delivery possible on eligible purchases. Formatting wd elements for mac by quick workarounds. If disk utility is unable to repair the wd external drive, do not erase the content as doing so will reformat the entire volume but recover all data and. I recently purchased a 4tb wd my passport external hard drive from costco. Can be reformatted for mac or other operating systems.
Buy wd 2 tb my passport for mac portable hard drive time machine ready with password protection at amazon uk. Purchasing the best hard drive is all about what you need out of it. Jan 29, 2012 failed wd elements external drive i hace a 1 tb wd elements hd connected to a mac mini. The small, lightweight drive features up to 5tb of storage with wd quality and reliability. Similarly to the elements, it comes in 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, and 4tb. Please see below on how to reformat your external hard drive on mac and windows. When it comes to backups, software is only part of the equation. This article demonstrates you how to solve wd hard drive like wd elements or wd my book being not recognized windows 10 in detail. Partition failed partion failed with the following error. For the 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. It has a large capacity of up to 2 tb and can be considered as reliable.
Hello all, im on my second elements 2tb drive that i cannot format using disk utility. Wd 5 tb my passport ultra for mac portable hard drive. Aside from the 4tb, you can also buy a 1tb, 2tb, 3tb, or 5tb hard drive. Wd elements drive will not format to mac os extended journaled. Follow the tutorial below, youll get everything covered. You are able to format a 500gb, 1tb, 2tb wd elements external drive to fat32, thus making the drive readable and writable on mac.
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