This answer explains how to format a WD drive for use on Windows and macOS.END External hard drives and external solid state drives come pre-formatted and ready for use. Internal HDD and internal SSD drives do not ship pre-formatted and will need to be Partitioned and formatted before being used.
Please note the instructions do not differ when formatting different capacity sizes, this is not capacity specific. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Important: Please note if this is the first time connecting an external device to a macOS, there is a Reformatting Required for Mac OS Compatibility, please see. Select an Operating System (OS) Operating System Instructions Windows 10 and 8.1 Windows 7 and Windows Vista macOS 10.14.x (Mojave) macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra) macOS 10.11.x (El Capitan) and macOS 10.12.x (Sierra) macOS 10.9.x (Mavericks), and macOS 10.10.x (Yosemite) macOS 10.7.x (Lion), and macOS 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) Both Windows and macOS (exFAT & FAT32).
Welcome to your My Passport® portable hard drive, an elegant. Windows® Mac OS X. My Passport Portable Hard Drive USB 3.0 Cable Quick Install Guide. MY PASSPORT USER MANUAL ABOUT YOUR WD DRIVE – 3 The WD SmartWare software is compatible with the following operating systems: Compatibility can vary, depending on hardware configuration.
APFS formatted volumes can be read by a macOS High Sierra (10.13), but not by a macOS Sierra (10.12) or earlier. For more information, please refer to. If the following message occurs during the format procedure, MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation. Operation failed., please refer to. For instructions to convert a drive to (APFS) Apple File System Format on macOS High Sierra (10.13), please refer to Important: If at any time an error occurs stating that the drive can not be dismounted or unmounted, this is not caused by an issue with the hard drive. Please see for additional information on this particular issue. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 10 and 8.1 Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use.
Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows 10 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive.
To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps:. Right-click on Start, the Windows logo on the bottom-left of the screen, and click Disk Management. In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives.
Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue.
If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized.
For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right-click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume. The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will open. Click Next to proceed.
Choose the volume size and click Next. By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space.
Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default.
The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Book or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 8 or 8.1 Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use.
Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows 8 includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive.
To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps:. Right-click on the lower-left corner of the desktop screen and click Disk Management.
In the Disk Management window, the lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted, and make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue, which indicates the drive is already formatted and may contain data. If there is no critical data on the drive, or the data has been successfully backed up, right-click the bar and click Delete Volume. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized.
For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is no partition and data on the drive, it will appear as Unallocated, with a black bar on top. Right-click the Unallocated space or the black bar, and click New Simple Volume. Click Next to proceed. Choose the volume size and click Next.
By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next.
By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how the data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and leave the Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. When complete, the drive will appear with a blue bar as in the image below.
How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows 7 and Windows Vista Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Management, follow these steps:. Click on Start and right-click Computer.
Click on Manage. A window called Computer Management will open, displaying two panes. On the left-side pane, under Storage, click on Disk Management. This will load Disk Management on the right-side pane. Disk Management will proceed to display all the hard drives detected by Windows. The window may need to be maximized in order to see all the drives listed. The lower pane will display a list of available drives.
Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted. It typically has a black bar indicating unallocated space. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see.
If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue. This indicates that the drive is already formatted and may contain data. Make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. When ready to proceed, right-click on the blue bar and choose Delete Volume. The bar should now be black. Right-click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume. The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will appear.
Left-click on Next to proceed to the next screen. Choose the volume size and click Next.
By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space. Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step. When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition.
Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how to data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and set Allocation unit size to Default.
The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1. Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive. Note: If an error message is received stating that Windows is unable to unmount the drive, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive.
Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down, and then try again. Please see for assistance with this error under Windows. The listing for the drive (Disk 3 in the picture below) will say Formatting as it formats the drive.
This process may take a few seconds. When the drive is done (Disk 3 in the picture below), the bar will be blue and the drive will say Healthy. How to Partition and Format a Drive on Windows Vista Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the Operating System to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone.
Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Windows Vista includes a built in utility known as Disk Management that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. Please see for more information. Please follow the steps outlined below:. The lower pane will display a list of available drives. Identify the drive that needs to be partitioned and formatted.
It typically has a black bar indicating unallocated space. Important: If Disk Management shows the drive as Not Initialized, the drive will have to be initialized. For assistance initializing a hard drive, please see. If there is already a partition on the drive, the bar above that drive will appear blue.
This indicates that the drive is already formatted and may contain data. Make sure that all critical data on this drive has been backed up elsewhere. When ready to proceed, right-click on the blue bar and choose Delete Volume. The bar should now be black. Now right-click on the unallocated space or the black bar to see a menu of available options, and click on New Simple Volume.
The Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard will appear. Left-click on Next to proceed to the next screen. Choose the volume size and click Next. By default, the maximum disk space is already selected and it is recommended to leave it at the maximum disk space. Note: To create multiple partitions, select or type a specific number of megabytes (MB) for the first partition and continue to the next step. Once done with this process, the remaining space will display as unallocated space.
Now, create another New Simple Volume in the remaining unallocated space for the next partition. For example, on a 2TB drive, set the volume size to 1000000 (1 TB) and continue to the next step.
When done, begin the New Simple Volume process again and select the remaining capacity, the unallocated space, for another 1TB partition. Assign a drive letter to represent the volume being created, and click Next. By default, this is the next available letter. Next is the File System, which controls how to data is read and written. Set the file system to NTFS, which is the default Windows file system, and set Allocation unit size to Default. The Volume Label field can be customized in order to give the volume a desired name, such as My Passport or WD Black 1.
Check the box labeled Perform a quick format and click Next. Click Finish to begin formatting the drive.
Note: If an error message is received stating that Windows is unable to unmount the drive, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive. Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down, and then try again. Please see for assistance with this error under Windows.
The listing for the drive (Disk 1 in the picture below) will say Formatting as it formats the drive. This process may take a few seconds. When the drive is done (Disk 1 in the picture below), the bar will be blue and the drive will say Healthy. How to format a drive on macOS 10.14.x (mojave) Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive.
This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!. Open Disk Utility.
Please See. From the left Column chose the External drive (My Passport, My Book, etc.). Click the Erase Button.
Type the drive new Name (My Passport, My Book, etc.). Click the Format drop down. Choose a new Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click Erase button. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button.
How to partition and format A DRIVE ON macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra) Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!.
Open Disk Utility. Please See. In the top menu bar, go to View, and choose Show All Devices. Click the eject button next to the drive volume (My Passport, etc) The drive Volume will now be greyed out.
Select the drive (WD My Passport Media, etc). Click the Erase button.
Choose a new Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Choose Scheme: GUID Partition Map. Type the drive new Name.
Click the Erase button. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone.
Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Steps for macOS 10.11.x (El Capitan) and macOS 10.12.x (Sierra). Open Disk Utility.
Please See. Click the Eject button next to the external hard drive volume (My Passport, etc).
The drive will now be greyed out. Click the Erase button. Choose a new Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Choose Scheme: GUID Partition Map. Type the drive new Name. Click the Erase button. When finished, the drive will be formatted and repartitioned successfully. Click the Done button.
How to Format or Partition a Drive on Mac OSX 10.9.x (Mavericks) and 10.10.x (Yosemite) Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume. Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST!
Mac OSX 10.9.x, and 10.10.x include a built in utility known as Disk Utility that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Utility, follow these steps:. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen. Choose Applications from the left-side panel. While in there, open Utilities, and lastly double-click on Disk Utility. Disk Utility will now be open.
In the left-side pane, choose the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive unless more than one partition exists on a particular drive. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that will be formatted.
It is usually directly above the name of the drive. In the example below, the one to be selected would be 495.78 GB WD My Passport 0830 Media. After selecting the appropriate drive, additional options will appear on the right-side pane. Click on Partition. In the Partition area, click on the drop-down box under Partition Layout and select 1 Partition.
Note: Partitioning a drive is only necessary if planning to use multiple partitions on the drive. It's recommended using a single partition in most cases, if the primary objective is to simply prepare the drive for use with the computer, no partitioning is required. No further action is required. Click on the drop-down next to Format and from the drop-down menu select Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This is the format that the drive will be formatted to.
In the Name area, a drive name can be given to the drive by just typing in the desired name or drive label. Click the Options button and choose Apple Partition Map. Then, click on Ok.
Lastly, click on Apply. Important: If the Mac computer being used is an Intel-based Mac, Apple recommends to use the GUID Partition Table instead.
A confirmation box will appear, reminding users that partitioning and formatting the drive will erase all information that is on the drive. Make sure that all critical information on the drive is backed up elsewhere before continuing. If not, copy the data to another location. When ready, click on Partition. The disk will be unmounted before being formatted. Note: If an error message is received stating that the drive is unable to be unmounted, this means that there is a program or service currently reading or writing data on the drive.
Determine what program is accessing the drive and shut it down before trying to format the drive again. If the error message persists, restarting the computer may resolve the issue. If additional assistance is required, please. The drive is now formatting and at the bottom of the Disk Utility panel a Status Bar displaying the name of the drive, the format that's being applied to it, as well as the given name. When finished, the bar will go away and the drive will now be listed on the desktop. How to Format or Partition a Drive on Mac OSX 10.7.x (Lion) and 10.8.x (Mountain Lion) Partitioning a hard drive means preparing it to be used by the, creating a Volume for the OS to use. Formatting, however, deletes the content of a volume to clean it, and assigns a file system to it so that data can be moved into and out of the volume.
Both processes are normally done together. Critical: The instructions in the article below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive.
This process is Data Destructive and cannot be undone. Once the process begins, ALL THE DATA ON THE DRIVE WILL BE LOST! Mac OSX 10.7.x, and 10.8.x include a built in utility known as Disk Utility that can be used to partition and format a hard drive. To partition and format the drive with Disk Utility, follow these steps:. Double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac drive.
Choose Applications, then Utilities, and double-click on Disk Utilities. Note: If the screen does not look like the one in the picture below, the folder view may be set to a different one. Click on the Columns button (it's highlighted in blue in the screenshot) in the upper left corner of the window to change to the same view used here.
In the far left pane, choose the drive that is to be partitioned and formatted. Typically there are two listings for each drive, unless that particular drive has more than one partition in it. Choose the drive listing that is farthest to the left for the drive that is to be formatted. It is usually directly above the name of the drive. Once the drive has been selected, click on the Partition tab. Under Volume Scheme click the drop-down box and select 1 partition. Now, click the Options button and choose Apple Partition Map, then click on Ok.
Important: If the Mac computer being used is an Intel-based Mac, Apple recommends to use the GUID Partition Table instead. Click on the drop-down next to the Format option and change the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). A name can also be given to the drive by typing it into the Name box.
When done, click on Apply. A box will come up warning that formatting and partitioning the drive will erase all of the information that is on the drive. If the information on the drive is no longer needed, then click on Partition.
If the data on the drive is still needed, it will need to be copied to another location before proceeding. The drive is now formatting, and a status bar will be displayed at the bottom of the Disk Utility window.
This status bar will say formatting the disk, and gives the name of the drive, the format it is applying, and the name that was specified for it. When it is done, this bar will go away and the drive should now be listed on the desktop. If additional assistance is required, or more information is needed, please. Do not use the answer rating below to report technical issues.
Advertisement Updated by Tina Sieber. Windows and Mac OS X use What is a file system and why do they matter? Learn the differences between FAT32, NTFS, HPS+, EXT, and more. Windows uses the NTFS file system for its internal drives, while Macs use HFS+. External hard disks and USB drives are generally formatted with the Windows FAT32 file system for maximum compatibility — most devices, including Macs, can read and write from FAT32 devices.
Some Mac drives may be formatted with the HFS+ file system — some drives marketed to Mac users may even come pre-formatted with HFS+. Windows can’t read this file system by default, but there are ways to read that HFS+ drive from Windows.
We show you how to access your Mac-formatted drive on Windows. Install Apple HFS+ Drivers If read access to the files is all you need, you can install the Apple HFS+ drivers for Windows. Be sure to remove Paragon or MacDrive before proceeding. Download your, then follow these steps. You’ll probably want to use HFSExplorer for this. Unlike all the other options available here, HFSExplorer is completely free. You can use it to access Mac file systems from Windows without paying a dime.
Note that you need to run it as Administrator in Windows. HFSExplorer does require installed. We generally recommend against having Java installed, but it’s necessary here unless you want to spend money.
Be sure to disable the Java browser plug-in after installing Java to stay as safe as possible. This tool is fairly simple to use. Connect your Mac-formatted drive to your Windows system, open HFSExplorer, and click File Load File System From Device.
HFSExplorer can automatically locate any connected devices with HFS+ file systems and open them. You can then extract files from the HFSExplorer window to your Windows drive. Note that HFSExplorer is read-only, so you can’t actually modify files stored on your Mac drive or delete them. It also doesn’t integrate with Windows Explorer or File Explorer — files are available in the HFSExplorer application and you must copy them elsewhere. Price: $20, 10-day free trial Paragon HFS+ for Windows is a paid application, but it distinguishes itself with additional features. Unlike HFSExplorer, Paragon HFS+ for Windows provides full read/write access to Mac drives and promises high performance.
It even integrates HFS+ file systems with Windows Explorer or File Explorer on Windows. Any Windows program can read from or write to the Mac drive. This application does cost $20, but it also offers a 10-day free trial. If you just need to recover files from a drive, 10 days is plenty of time to install this file system driver, copy your files over, and uninstall it. If you want to use Mac drives on Windows on an ongoing basis, paying $20 so you can use the drive properly is a pretty good deal. As a bonus, Paragon HFS+ doesn’t require you have the insecure Java installed.
Readers noted that this cool caused them an inaccessiblebootdevice error. The fix appears to be to Inside the BIOS you can change basic computer settings, like the boot order.
The exact key you need to strike depends on your hardware. We have compiled a list of strategies & keys to enter., setting SATA mode to IDEA, Safe Mode is an inbuilt troubleshooting feature that allows you to fix issues at the root, without non-essential applications interfering. You can access Safe Mode in various ways, even if Windows 10 no longer boots., doing a System Restore, followed by switching SATA mode back to AHCI in the BIOS. Price: $50, 5-day free trial (trial appears to no longer work) MacDrive is another fairly popular option here. It’s a paid application and is both more expensive and has a shorter free trial than Paragon HFS+.
Like Paragon HFS+, MacDrive offers full read/write access via Windows File Explorer fast performance. It also offers disk repair and partitioning tools for working with and creating Mac file systems. These are additional features, but you probably won’t need them. This tool is a bit pricier than Paragon HFS+, so you’ll likely want to stick with Paragon HFS+ if you want a paid application. If Paragon HFS+ doesn’t work well for you for some reason, you may want to go with MacDrive. Luckily, thanks to the free trials, you can try it out to see if that extra $30 over Paragon HFS+ is actually worth it. Workaround: Linux Live USB Price: free The next best way to access and copy your Mac drive on a Windows system requires a little workaround called Linux Live CD / USB.
The concept is simple: You run Linux from a Live CD or USB drive, which will recognize your Mac device. Now you can copy the files to your Windows computer. Use to create a Installing an operating system from a USB drive is quick and portable. We test a few ISO to USB tools to find the best one for you. , then reboot your system — make sure your BIOS is set to Learn how to change the boot order of your computer. It's important for troubleshooting issues and tweaking settings, and it's a lot easier than you think. — and boot into Ubuntu, where you should be able to read your Mac-formatted drive. Bonus: Format the Drive Let’s say you have a Mac drive lying around and you no longer have a Mac.
You’re not stuck with the Mac file system forever. After recovering the files from your drive with one of the tools above, you can then format the drive and convert it to a standard FAT32 partition that will work with most devices.
Formatting will erase all the files on your drive, so be sure you’ve recovered your files first. To format the drive, just use the dialog that appears when you connect the drive to your computer.
You can also Your external hard drive may not show up in Windows 10 due to partition, driver, or many other issues. We'll help you fix it!
To erase the Mac partition and create a new partition. Explore more about:,.