Aug 30, 2018 - Western Digital's Passport external drive for Mac isn't eternally bound. Using onboard disk management utilities to format your drive to exFAT. How to format a WD hard drive to exFAT or FAT32 file system. A Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and macOS. This is useful if a drive is being used under both Operating System. (Windows and Mac). The easiest way to format the drive to FAT32 or ExFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32.
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This answer explains how to format a drive in the exFAT or FAT32 file system. This allows the drive to be used on both Windows and macOS.*END
A Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and macOS. This is useful if a drive is being used under both Operating System (OS) to move files between the two environments. Most WD Drives come formatted in the NTFS (Windows) or HFS+ (macOS) format.
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. FAT32 has several limitations, including a 4 GB per-file limit. This is a file system limitation that affects both macOS's and Window's, and the only workaround is to format the drive to exFAT. For more information about what these limitations are please see Answer ID 20778: File and partition size limitations using the FAT32 file system (Windows and Mac).
The easiest way to format the drive to FAT32 or ExFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32, or both macOS and Windows' built-in tools, Disk Utility or Disk Management respectively for exFAT.
![]() Please select the Operating System (OS) in which the drive is to be formatted from the list above to display the instructions.exFAT in macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) and above
There are two easy ways to format a drive to use ExFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility; using Erase (Step 4) or Partition (Step 7). For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:
exFAT in macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) and earlier
One of the easiest ways to format a drive to use ExFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:
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exFAT in Windows 10
Another easy way to format a drive to use ExFAT is by using Windows' built-in Disk Management. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:
exFAT in Windows 8 and earlier
Another easy way to format a drive to use ExFAT is by using Windows' built-in Disk Management. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:
Unix/Linux (All Distributions)
Western Digital technical support only provides jumper configuration (for internal hard drive) and physical installation support for hard drives used in systems running the Linux/Unix operating systems. For setup questions beyond physical installation of your Western Digital hard drive, please contact your Linux/Unix vendor. You may also wish to post on our Community Forums for assistance from other users of our products who may be able to assist you with your issue.
FAT32 in macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) and above
The easiest way to format a drive to use FAT32 is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:
FAT32 in macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) and earlier
The easiest way to format a drive to use FAT32 is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility. For instructions on how to do this, please see the instructions below:
FAT32 in Windows 10 and earlier
Using Acronis True Image WD Edition for Windows (For Western Digital internal hard drives)
Acronis True Image WD Edition can format any capacity internal single drive unit made by Western Digital. Please see the following article on how to format a drive to FAT32 using Acronis True Image WD Edition: Answer ID 23035: How to partition and format a WD drive using Acronis True Image WD Edition.
Using Third-Party Software (For newer (made after 2007) external hard drives)
As Windows is unable to format a drive over 32 GB in FAT32, the use of third-party software is required. Western Digital cannot assist in acquiring or using third-party software to format a drive as FAT32. There are many different applications (many of them free) that can accomplish this. We recommend doing a search on Google or Bing by Microsoft for more information. Should a Mac computer be available, we are able to provide support for formatting the drive as FAT32 under that OS. Another option is to ask on our Community Forums for community assistance in finding or using a FAT32 formatting application.
Using the FAT32 Formatter for older WD drives
Western Digital has a Windows based utility that will reformat an older Western Digital external USB or FireWire hard drive back to the factory default FAT32 partition. The FAT32 formatter software is only for older external single drive units and can only format a drive that is 1TB and below. It will not work on an external drive that is greater than 1TB in size. It also may not work on models released after 2007.
When run, this utility can only create a single FAT32 partition for the full capacity of the hard drive. Please follow the directions below to download and use the Western Digital FAT32 formatting utility.
Unix/Linux (All Distributions)
Western Digital technical support only provides jumper configuration (for internal hard drive) and physical installation support for hard drives used in systems running the Linux/Unix operating systems. For setup questions beyond physical installation of your Western Digital hard drive, please contact your Linux/Unix vendor. You may also wish to post on our Community Forums for assistance from other users of our products who may be able to assist you with your issue.
External hard drives are handy tools in storing files, data and documents. There are various reasons why you might need to format external hard drives. If you purchase an external hard drive as an addition to expand the storage space of your computer, most likely you would need to format it. More often than not, a lot of external hard drives are impacted by incurable virus infection. A lot of people would format their hard drives as soon as it is infected to avoid more damage. If there are errors or system failure where the external hard drives are not accessible, this would prompt for the action of formatting as well. This article will teach you how to format external hard drive for Mac and PC.
Part 1. How to Format External Hard Drive on Mac
If you need to format your external hard drive, do not worry as you can do it as easy as the following steps:
Step 1. Launch Disk Utility
After you have connected your external hard drive on you Mac, launch the 'Disk Utility' application which can be found under 'Applications'. Once the application is open, you would be able to see a list of available drives on the left side of the window. Identify and click the drive that you would like to format. Next, click the 'Erase' button on the top of the window. It is located next to 'First Aid' button.
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Step 2. Choose the Format Option
In the 'Format' option, you can find that there are four options for formatting under its drop-down button. The 'Disk Utility' function will automatically choose 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' as the default format and this format is the most chosen format by users.
You can name your drive with any name that you like. You can change this at any point in time.
Step 3. Format the Drive
Finally, click the 'Erase' button at the bottom of the window and confirm it again at the next pop-up window. This action will begin the formatting of the external hard drive and erases everything in it. A progress bar will appear and will show you how long it will take to complete.
Part 2. The Steps for Formatting an External Hard Drive on Windows
If you are a Windows user, formatting an external hard drive on your Windows is as easy. Simply follow the following steps:
Step 1. Launch 'My Computer' and Choose 'Format'
After you have connected the external hard drive, launch 'My Computer' and you would be able to see the list of drives on the left side of the window or in the main window. Right click on your external hard drive and click Format.
Step 2. Format the External Hard Drive
Another window will pop-out. Simply click the 'Start' button and the formatting process will start and you are good to go!
Part 3. The Steps for Unformatting External Hard Drive on Mac and Windows Computer
I formatted my external hard drive on Mac by accident! The drive contains thousands of photos! Can I restore it back and retrieve my files again? Worry not, with iSkysoft Data Recovery for Mac (or iSkysoft Data Recovery for Windows) (macOS High Sierra supported), you can do just that and recover your precious photos and files. With powerful feature like the ease of use, flexible recovery settings and comprehensive 'Deep Scan' mode, the chances of recovering your formatted files are heightened!
![]() Step by Step Guide to Unformat External Hard DriveStep 1. Launch the Software
Connect the newly formatted external hard drive on your Mac computer. Once this is completed launch iSkysoft Data Recovery. Next, simply choose the right file type tabs from the main window interface and click 'Next' button. This option will allow the quick and accurate retrieval of data from accidental reformatting activity.
Step 2. Choose the External Hard Drive
Select the hard drive that you have formatted after it has been detected by the software. If it does not detect your desired external hard drive, click the 'Refresh' icon on the right of 'External Removable Device'. Thereafter, click the 'Start' button at the bottom of the window to start scanning.
Step 3. Restore the Formatted Data
After scanning process is completed, a list of files that can be retrieved will be available for your preview. Highlight the file name and you should be able to see the content in the preview window. Once you are satisfied on which files you want, choose the files that you would like to recover by clicking on the boxes on the left side of the file names. Click 'Recover' in order to retrieve them back and save it to your desired folder. Remember to save it locally in your Mac or in another removable drive, not in the newly formatted external hard drive. If needed, you can do this later.
As you can see, it is really easy to recover files that you once thought to be gone forever. Thanks to the iSkysoft Data Recovery software, you can now breathe a sigh of relief that this will never be the case in the future.
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