Just because you dont see the option to format your hard drive to fat32 in windows user interface doesnt mean the ability is gone completely. 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 external hard drive to fat32 in windows. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. Not sure what extended format is and if its suitable. Your choice is msdos aka fat32 or exfat and i go over the difference in the video. In mac os x, what is disk utility, and how do i use it. You can apply either the windows cmd or the thirdparty partition manager to format fat32 in windows 10 even when there is no fat32 option in windows 10 file explorer or disk management. How to format a wd external hard drive in exfat or fat32 to use in windows or mac osx. Step 5 give the command select partition 1 to select the partition that you want to format with the fat32 system. How to format usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on. I have a wd passport which i have set up to work with my mac, now i need to use it on a normal pc and have been advised to put fat32 onto it. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x admfactory. Oct 15, 2015 hi ferrarid, welcome to the wd community.
But dont fret, because this article will show you simple ways to go about formatting your wd passport so you can easily use it on both mac and windows. You can find effective ways here to format wd my passport for mac and pc to fat32 or exfat file. Free download western digital fat32 formatting tool for. If you are not similar with cluster size, please do not change the cluster size. Which is fine but i have absolutely no idea how to do it and every time i try to download fat32 it says it is not a mac program. If youre using a mac, you dont need special software to format a usb drive in the fat32 format. Once the process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost. Connect the usb fash drive to the mac os x computer. Whether you need to know how to format wd my passport for your mac.
Formatting with this tool is much quicker than the command. I just read this and maybe windows cant format drives larger than 32gb into fat32. Formatting wd my passport will not only allow you to have full storage of your wd my passport, but will also remove virusinfected files. Lg said it needs to be formatted to fat32 or ntfs for. This is a file system limitation that affects both mac s and pcs, and the only workaround is to format the drive. Step 6 once the partition is selected, you need to enter the final command format fsfat32. Easily use your wd my passport for mac and windows in 7 steps. Luckily, you can easily format wd my passport for your mac. 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.
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. 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. Formatting would erase data completely, make sure that you have a data backup. How to format external hard drive to fat32 for mac youtube. Format external hard drive in fat32 using professional format tool. Oct 25, 2018 format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. This is because there are limitations on fat32, which makes it not useful for every user. For instance, some of the modern video doorbells you buy require your storage devices to be in the fat32 format. This is useful if a drive is being used under both operating system osto. You can reformat the drive with a file system that mac can read. Im pretty sure the guy i got if off plugged it into his mac laptop and tried tosuccessfully formatted to use with a mac. A file system uses a set of rules to control how data is stored and retrieved on a storage device. You can have a drive format to fat32 on an apple mac computer using apples disk utility, which comes with macos. Fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system.
Usbc ready, usba compatible my passport for mac includes usbc and usba cables for universal compatibility with mac computers of yesterday and today. Personally, i would try to access the data on a mac, backup all the files and format the drive, choosing fat32 or ntfs format. Dec 11, 2019 fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing files on disks and drives. I am formatting a new 1 tb western digital hard drive. Bonjour, je voudrais savoir comment formater mon disque dur externe wertern digital my passport essentail 500gbgo qui est actuellement en ntfs en. Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on windows 2000 xp vista win7, mac, linux, the ipod. I recommend ntfs over fat32, but fat32 can be great because it will work anywhere and is great if you have legacy equipment. To format a usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x follow these steps. By formatting the passport as an exfat or fat32 drive, you.
A single high resolution file can easily go over 4 gb, so fat32 may not the best format. Please go to utilities disk utility to get the window below. Wd passport for mac to fat32 or ntfs other software. If youre lucky, you can just rightclick each partition on the mac drive and select delete volume to remove the partitions. Format western digital passport to fat32 with wd quick formatter. 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. Western digital manufactures the passport line of portable external hard drives. One partition is of mac os journal which can also be used for time machine also.
As of now, fat32 formatter has worked on disks 2tb. 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 usb drives larger than 32gb with fat32 on windows. I want to know what i should do to make the hard disk compatible with bot mac os and pc. The instructions below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This is a file system limitation that affects both macs and pcs, and the only workaround is to format the drive. If you originally used a passport drive with an apple computer, you most likely formatted it in the mac os extended format, which is not compatible with the windows operating system. Below the format options field, make sure to checkmark the box next to the quick format option.
How to format hard drive to fat32 file system up to 2tb. Youll find below the ten quick steps, using words and pictures. How to format a flash drive with a mac to fat32 techwalla. Apr 16, 2020 format wd my passport in macosos x platform. I want to format my wd my passport essential 500gb into fat32 but i only see the options ntfs or exfat. Can i reformat my wd passport external hd to work for a. Quickly format an external hard drive for mac and windows pc. 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. Wd my passport ultra 1tb setup and troubleshooting guide. In this video i go over how to format an external hard drive to fat 32 on a mac. Before proceeding further, it is recommended to take a backup of your important files. Fat32 has several limitations, including a 4 gb perfile limit. Apr 17, 2020 step 5 give the command select partition 1 to select the partition that you want to format with the fat32 system. The my passport for mac device works straight out of the box with mac computers and is apple time machine ready so you can easily get going.
On this popup screen, choose ntfs, fat32 or exfat among listed file systems and click ok. The difference in mac and windows native format systems are to blame for this. And the whole thing takes only a few minutes to do. Trying to format my passport ultra 1tb to fat32 wd community. If your product is not listed above, please visit the product page.
External drive like wd elements, my book and my passport can be formatted to fat32 via this tool. A western digital external hard drive can be used on both windows and mac osx. This article will illustrate to the differences between the three, analyzing their pros and cons, compatibility and usage in an allrounded way. Western digitals passport external drive for mac isnt eternally bound to macos. Apple does not support the ntfs files system but does support fat32. The mac drive may have an efi system partition on it. Western digital my passport ultra 1tb external hard drive is. Format an external hard drive to fat32 using command prompt. You will see a display line on the command prompt window stating partition 1 is now the selected partition. Choosing the right format for your external hard drive b. Also is it ok to erase all the present files on the disc. Fat32 is often used among general users, but fat32 has limitations that can affect filmmakers. Western digital my passport ultra 1tb external hard drive. Back to the main window, last but not the least, you.
Interfaces tested include idepata, sata, esata, usb and firewire the formatted disks work on. 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. 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. You can also format the drive in a variety of other formats depending on your needs. Linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation. Fat32 is a system used by microsoft windows for organizing. In the format window, navigate to the file system field, and select either the exfat or fat32 option. A window pops up to warn you that all data on the drive will be lost. You format your wd my passport to mac os extended journaled file system. Mar, 2020 follow the windows 10 fat32 format tutorial to format hdd to fat32 or format external hard drive to fat32 in windows 10. Nov 26, 2011 in this video i go over how to format an external hard drive to fat 32 on a mac. Then, select the external hard drive and click partition tab on the top. Mar 31, 2016 linux will format fat 32 on a 1 tb or larger drive, and do it without hesitation.
There is a video after that you can watch as extra help. Do i use disc utilities fat32 or is there some other format. 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. For apple mac users, the easier way to format usb flash drive to fat32 is using the disk utility. How to convert a macformatted drive to a windows drive. I recently got a wd my passport ultra and apple community. 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 download files on the passport to then watch on my lg tv using the usb port. How to format a wd hard drive to exfat or fat32 file system.
Windows 10 will go ahead and begin formatting the drive in fat32. The easiest way to format the drive to fat32 or exfat is by using macoss builtin disk utility for fat32 or exfat. Dec 25, 2016 your choice is msdos aka fat32 or exfat and i go over the difference in the video. In the main console, locate the partition on the wd passport external hard drive, right click it and choose format partition. Apr 23, 2020 fat32, ntfs, and exfat are the three file systems users commonly use for windows system. You can have a drive format to fat32 on an apple mac. On the main panel, click the wd my passport ultra 1tb drives icon, and select the format button. Finally, format our new partition with the fat32 filesystem using 4k sectors and 64k cluster size. 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. I made it work both for mac as well as for windows. How to format usb flash drive to fat32 in mac os x.
How to format external hard drives for mac and windows. Wd my passport format problem high sierr apple community. 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. When you plug it in to the computer, does it power on. How do i format my external hard drive to exfat on mac.
After that you can use your wd passport on both mac and pc. How to format wd my passport for mac and pc easeus. Im pretty sure the guy i got if off plugged it into his mac laptop and tried to successfully formatted to use with a mac. Next you format your wd my passport drive to an exfat file system. Fist thing you need to do is to completly format your hard disk and then make two partitions. So i got a wd my passport ultra which seems to be in ntfs format and i can only read it on my mac.
Select the quick format option, and then click the start button. How to format your drive to fat32 system using diskpart. In the fat32 format window, select the drive to format and type a volume label if you want to. Miniaide fat32 formatter free download and software. While on the mac, you can run the disk utility or wd drive utilities links with more information provided below to search for disk errors and fix them. H is the drive letter of your external hard drive in windows 10. 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. 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.
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