When i first got it i used it on my pc then reailzied i had to format it to fat32 from ntfs to use on my mac to write stuff to it. 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. 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. This is at least in part because the secure digital memory. 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. A friend formatted the wd passport external hard drive and removed my files from it. After having confirmed that the wd my passport is formatted with ntfs, many people will choose to convert ntfs to apfs for macos catalina, mojave and high sierra or reformat the wd my passport hard drive to make the wd external hard drive compatible with mac. Every time youll try to copy itll say not much space on the disk. Wd quick formatter is short for western digital quick formatter, a format tool developed by western digital technologies, inc. 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.
Feb 03, 2011 you should use ntfs because exfat, fat or fat32 are old school and new sata drives better support ntfs. Jan 23, 2009 ntfs will give you one big advantage for backups over fat32, it will allow you to create files over 4gb in size which you will likely encounter when trying to do the backup. Je voudrais changer le format pour brancher le disque dur sur ma playstation 3. Trying to format my passport ultra 1tb to fat32 wd community.
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. Also is it ok to erase all the present files on the disc. Format new external drive as an ntfs partition it services. As writing is frequently required, it is urgent for us to fix readonly wd hard drive on mac. The first one i made fat32 for moving files between windows and linux. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. How to format an external hard drive for ps4 ryli gaming. Wd my passport essential ntfs on mac i recently bought a macbook air, but i used to use a desktop pc as my only computer, and a westerndigital my passport essential 500gb as my portable hd, so it is formated in ntfs because my pc as windows for os.
How to format an external hard drive with wd quick formatter. If thats what you want to use the drive for then by all means convert it to ntfs. I dont need the entire hdd reformatted, but about 500gb would be fine. What is the best software free to reformat a 2 tb western digital external hard drive from ntfs to fat32. Bonjour, je voudrais savoir comment formater mon disque dur externe wertern digital my passport essentail 500gbgo qui est actuellement en ntfs en fat32. The difference in mac and windows native format systems are to blame for this. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. Here, wed like to recommend a reliable wd ntfs driver, iboysoft ntfs for mac to you. There is widespread support for fat32 across different operating systems and devices. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac. But before we go through the guide, we must address a very important issue in this regard, which is.
I noticed it was faster write and read under ntfs than it is now with fat32. How do i format my external hard drive to exfat on mac. Not sure what extended format is and if its suitable. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. I want to format my wd my passport essential 500gb into fat32 but i only see the options ntfs or exfat. The drive was previously formatted to ntfs when he was using his hp by. You can format a western digital my passport external hard drive to exfat or fat32 format using a free exfat or fat32 converter. Finally, format our new partition with the fat32 filesystem using 4k sectors and 64k cluster size. So i went to the instruction page on wd as and its give instruction on how to format tp exfat or fat32. Wd my passport essential ntfs on mac apple community. Most of time, when our wd hard drive is ntfs formatted, it turns to be readonly on macos. Download wd quick formatter to format external drive in. Fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system. This is a file system limitation that affects both macs and.
How to convert my portable hard drive to ntfs microsoft. My passport usb not working on my ipad apple community. I plug in my wd passport and it welcomes me to wd smartware, i click on set up drive and it tells me no readable partition found on your my passport essential drive. I just read this and maybe windows cant format drives larger than 32gb into fat32.
Wd passport not able to make exfat or fat32 wd community. Also is ntfs a better format make it last longer than fat32. The reason is because i am planning on using my ps3 to watch all my video off of, and a ps3 only recognizes fat32 drives, not ntfs which is currently what my hdd is. On the pc, use the western digital disk management utility to format the drive as raid1. I want to know what i should do to make the hard disk compatible with bot mac os and pc. Apr 16, 2020 format wd my passport using file explorer. Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd community. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. 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. You should use ntfs because exfat, fat or fat32 are old school and new sata drives better support ntfs. I bought a my passport a few years ago to remove data from my pc. Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32. 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. Wd quick formatter tool allows you to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc.
In this video i go over how to format an external hard drive to fat 32 on a mac. This is a file system limitation that affects both mac s and. 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. In fact, installing an ntfs for mac driver is a much easier way. In this case, we only need a professional wd ntfs driver to help write to wd ntfs hard drive. Im pretty sure the guy i got if off plugged it into his mac laptop and tried tosuccessfully formatted to use with a mac. Right click on the drive icon for the external drive and choose format from the menu. I want to create a system image and save it onto the drive but to do so, it needs to be formatted in ntfs. 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. External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. Help connecting a wd ntfs external hdd to a mac neowin. I have a wd passport essential 320gb external hard drive that i want to use to backup my dual boot system w7 and xp.
Transferring files between the two operating systems is less of a hassle, since you dont have to constantly back up and reformat each time. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. Help connecting a wd ntfs external hdd to a mac apple. Your choice is msdos aka fat32 or exfat and i go over the difference in the video. Fat32 is an older file system thats largely relegated to usb flash drives and other external drives.
Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. Download wd quick formatter to reformat wd external hard drive to ntfs, fat32, etc in windows 1087. Using the xp disk management utility under computer management, select the disk, initialize the drive, but dont format. Another thing is that on any other format than ntfs you wouldnt be able to keep any single file above 4gb. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. Formatting wd my passport to fat32 videohelp forum. Ntfs will give you one big advantage for backups over fat32, it will allow you to create files over 4gb in size which you will likely encounter when trying to do the backup. Locate the icon assigned to western digital my passport drive and rightclick the connected drive icon and click format in the popup menu.
I currently use lubuntu as my only os on my main computer, but i also have a win10 boo. Windows users dont need to do much other than plug in the wd passport to use it, but for mac, its not as straightforward as that. All the time, macos can only read from windowsformatted ntfs drives, but cant write to them out of the box. Should i reformat my passport to ntfs tech support guy. Wd my passport essential formater en fat32 comment ca marche. Wd my passport essential formater en fat32 forum materiel. 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 convert my portable hard drive to ntfs i have a western digital my passport essential 500gb portable hard drive from 2 years ago that came preformatted in the fat32 file system. Select ntfs for the file system type and check the quick format checkbox. Be sure you selected the correct drive icon for the my passport external drive. But ps4 only supports two of these file systems fat32 and exfat. Nov 26, 2011 in this video i go over how to format an external hard drive to fat 32 on a mac. This article will illustrate to the differences between the three, analyzing their pros and cons, compatibility and usage in an allrounded way.
A file system uses a set of rules to control how data is stored and retrieved on a storage device. Apr 23, 2020 fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system. Should i use fat32 when formatting an external hdd wd. 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. Use the mac os disk utility to format the drive to msdos fat32. Do i use disc utilities fat32 or is there some other format. Unfortunately, the software included wont install to w7 and i am too lazy to switch over atm. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page.
In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. Fat32 is readwrite compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including dos, most flavors of windows up to and. Formatting nfts to fat32 external drives for pc wd. How to format a wd external hard drive in exfat or fat32 to use in windows or mac osx. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system. Which is better and faster format for a 500gb my passport essential ntfs or fat32. It does not offer the ability to format a drive larger than 32gb to fat32, the only available choices are ntfs or exfat. Use full scan to recover data from how to format my wd my passport for mac on to windows 10 which can not be found with undelete and unformat and recover partition,after showing an error,display as raw file system,unformatted,unknown partition,unpartitioned,needs to be formatted,or the file system is not exfat,not fat32,not ntfs. 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. Dec 25, 2016 your choice is msdos aka fat32 or exfat and i go over the difference in the video. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. Format your western digital my passport external hard drive to fat32 or exfat format so to transfer the data between a mac and windows system conveniently. Jul 16, 20 fat32 is readwrite compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including dos, most flavors of windows up to and including 8, mac os x, and many flavors of unix.
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