I have a WD Ultra 'My Passport' external hard drive and had originally configured it to my MacBook pro, but I just received the surface pro 4 as a gift and I'm trying to use the external hard drive with this device. I saw a post about getting the WD app,and I did that, but it doesn't recognize my device, or at least it is not detecting it. Can I reconfigure it to be read by my surface?
The regular My Passport Ultra is compatible with Mac OS after. This device is optimized and preconfigured for Mac, setup is quick and easy.
I'm not really 100% sure what to do.Hi,We want to make sure that you get the best out of your Surface Pro 4. To all of you; Apple uses a customized NTFS file system which does not exist in the drive table recognized by Windows and there is no patch or fix unless WD may have an app that can be installed.
A hard disk formatted from a Windows computer can be readon a Mac but you cannot write to it (it will tell you it is locked).Since you already have the hard disk formatted for your Windows system, keep it that way.On the Mac, go to the App Store and download/install OneDrive for Mac and transfer your files in that fashion.If you want a drive to backup your Mac, you can get another WD hard disk and reformat it via the Disk utility on the Mac and it will be totally usable 'on the Mac only'. You can use it to backup all your files on the Mac. The hard disk you have now, useit to backup you Windows system.Apple did this deliberately a long time ago and there is only one universal solution and that is to get a NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive which hooks up to your router. Those are not machine dependent and both systems can use it. Yea, I had hooked up my mini-HD to my Mac mini to test it out and thought to explore 'why'.
Apple modified a NTFS file system format which does not exist on the drive table listing for formats. There was a regular hard disk at one time that would but itcame with a program that you installed on the Mac.
The app would act as a 'converter' when accessing the drive and allowed read/write operations.Another reason why Apple never really makes it in the business world.I found out the format structure on my Linux system by taking a spare hard disk and formatting it with my Mac mini and then plugged it into the Linux system which can read/write to both formats.La Cie' may be the maker of that hard disk I mentioned before but has been a really long time before I looked at the issue of using external hard disks with Apple machines.USB pendrives and SD cards are no problem. Just hard disks.Oh, early OS/1 through 9 and early versions of OS/X where FAT32. When they made the change is unknown.
Professional Photographers and videographers have their hands laid upon various digital devices. Usually, their arsenal includes a cutting-edge Windows 10 desktop, the latest and the magnificent MacBook Pro, DSLR & SD-Cards of-course and the trusted & loved external drives such as the WD My Passport. The role of the WD My Passport drive is crucial since the individual will leverage the portable media to safely store their collection of pictures, videos, audio, and docs. But despite the best of the best device specifications; there remains one small glitch to rectify.
We know, Macs and Windows have their native file systems such as the new APFS or HFS and the NTFS. A WD My Passport formatted with Mac file system will be a dud on the Windows and vice-versa. Thankfully, MS-DOS FAT32 and ex-FAT 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. In the next 5 minutes read, you will master yourself in formatting a WD My Passport safely and in a manner best suited for sharing your digital files between a macOS and Windows OS.
To format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive in ex-FAT or FAT32 format, you can bank on built-in applications of Mac & PC. However, while doing this, there are things you have to keep in mind and follow the correct steps. Here you will get to know about the process to format your “My passport” portable drive in FAT32 and ex-FAT file system in both Windows and Mac platforms.
In Windows Platform:
1. Connect your Western Digital My Passport hard drive to your Windows PC through the USB cable. Wait till the Windows detects the external hard drive and configure it as an expansion drive automatically.
2. Now, click the Start button and select ‘This PC’. A new Windows Explorer window opens, on the left side of the screen; you will see a list of installed drives and their drive letters.
3. Locate the icon assigned to Western Digital My Passport drive and Right-click the connected drive icon and click ‘Format’ in the pop-up menu.
4. Select the ‘File System’ from the drop-down list, which is available in the format expansion and choose either ‘ex-FAT’ or ‘FAT32’.
5. Enter a relevant name in the ‘Volume Label’ field. This name will represent your drive when you connect it with Windows Explorer or Mac and will be mentioned above the drive letter for the My Passport drive. Therefore, enter a descriptive name.
6. Now, again select a ‘Quick Format’ option, then click ‘Start’ option, wait for a few minutes to get your drive reformatted with the FAT32 file system, so that you can use it. After successful formatting, you can directly save or move files to it like any other external hard drive.
In macOS / OS X Platform
Window’s Disk Management and Mac’s Disk Utility applications are secure platforms to erase your WD My Passport easily. You don’t require any third-party software to format your WD My Passport with FAT or ex-FAT.
Caution: Avoid Formatting your WD My Passport without Backup
We can’t rule out the possibilities of human errors resulting in the accidental formatting of the WD My Passport external drive. A silly man-made mistake will permanently remove all of the contained pictures, videos, audio files, and docs instantly from the WD My Passport. Hence, fasten your seat-belts and backup your WD My Passport before erasing. If you have already joined the data loss club unwillingly, then try running D-I-Y applications to recover data from Mac and Windows.
Tips for Effective Formatting
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January 2023
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