When I bought the WD My Passport Ultra drive, I was surprised to see that it didn’t support OS X out of the box. Yes, it had some software specifically made for OS X on it, but even that didn’t help. Turns out, it just wasn’t in the right format. These hard drives are customized to run well on Windows (as you’d expect), and they don’t run well with OS X.
So to get it running, what we’ll need to do is format it in Journaled format, which is OS X only format or MS-DOS (FAT), which means it will run with both OS X and Windows. If you’re only going to be using the hard drive on a Mac, I recommend you stick with Journaled.
Why You Need to Re-Format the External Hard Drive
Dec 07, 2018 I have a WD My Home connected to my system and I couldn't see the volume through the entire Mojave beta trials and even after the official release. For some reason when I logged in this morning my WD volume is there to be used; I'm guessing that WD FINALLY pushed an update. Some WD hardware requires WD drivers.
- 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.
- Jun 25, 2019 I finally talked my mom into replacing her 2008 MacBook (El Capitan 10.11.6) with a 2019 iMac (Mojave 10.14.5). Last year I bought her a WD Passport Ultra 1Tb to serve as her Time Machine. I have a 2016 MacBook Pro (High Sierra 10.13.6). I backed her 2008 MacBook up tonight with her Passport.
- Feb 07, 2016 Question: Q: WD My Passport for Mac won't mount on my Mac Pro My 1TB external hard drive is less than six months old and was working fine; now won't mount on my Mac. I don't remember disconnecting it without ejecting it but I do think I got a message about needing to.
When I first got the hard drive, I wasn’t able to copy anything over to it (but I was able to copy from it). Disk Utility showed that it was formatted to MS-DOS (FAT) but I’m pretty sure it would have been NTFS instead. If you experience the same issue, your only recourse is to reformat it in one of two formats.
If you’re only going to use the external hard drive with Macs or you want to use it for Time Machine backups, format it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you’re like me who also needs to use at least a part of the hard drive from Windows PCs, you’ll need to choose MS-DOS (FAT) format. But here you won’t get great support for Time Machine. Plus you can’t make partitions bigger than 2 TB or move files larger than 4 GB around.
How to Re-Format the External Hard Drive
First, connect the external hard drive, bring up Spotlight Search by using the keyboard shortcut Cmd + Space and type in Disk Utility. Press Enter and Disk Utility will launch. You can also find it in Utilities folder in Applications.
Now, from the left column select 1 TB WD My Passport (or whatever your hard drive name is), and click on the Erase tab.
From here, in Format, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled), give it a name if you want, and click Erase.
You’ll get a warning. Again, click Erase.
In a couple of seconds, you’ll have an OS X ready hard drive to go.
Related: Check out our Ultimate Guide to OS X Yosemite.How to Create Partitions
I’m planning on using my hard drive for both Time Machine backups and to carry media files around. I might need to use the hard drive with Windows computers so I’m going to format one of the partitions as MS-DOS (FAT), fully aware of its limitations. The other one, for Time Machine backups, will be in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
To create a partition, select the hard drive from the left column and click the Partition tab.
From the drop-down below Partition Layout, select the number of partitions you want. Don’t go overboard here.
Now, just below, you’ll see a visual representation of the partitions. You can use the breakpoint to change the size of the partitions by moving it up or down. You can also click on a partition, give it a name and select the format.
Once you’ve decided all the details, simply click the Apply button. From the pop-up, select Partition.
Disk Utility: Check out the two tips for using Disk Utility and 8 ways to free up space on your Mac.
What Do You Use It For?
What are you planning on doing with the external hard drive? Time Machine backups perhaps? Or just storing media? Share with us in our forums section.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#backup
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Read this article till the end to fix My Passport not opening on Mac or unable to copy or transfer date between them. Some users have recently reported that their My passport for Mac not showing up on Mac which is a very serious issue. What can be the reasons external hard drive not showing up on macOS Mojave? Is there is connectivity issues? Is hardware corrupted? System malfunctioning? For no reasons, the hard drive is not showing up then follow our guide to fixing My passport for Mac not showing up on Mac.
Primarily we have mentioned the steps that you need to go through so that if you lack one of them, then your hard drive will not visible in Mac. Moreover, if you are correctly doing as mentioned in the basic steps (Fix 1) then follow the next fix to get positive results.
we are happy to help you, submit this Form, if your solution is not covered in this article.
Tested MacOS and Macs
- MacOS Mojave, MacOS High Sierra, MacOS Sierra, MacOS EI Capitan, MacOS Yosemite
- MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Mini,
Certain priority check for this issues
- USB not working, Try another USB drive or Flash Drive
- USB access blocked or Disabled
- Hard Drive Cable damaged or Shorted
- Driver is incompatible
- Mac is affected with Virus: try Best Antivirus software for Mac
My Passport for Mac not showing up on Mac MacOS Mojave or Earlier
Fix 1: Check the basics
- Connect the hard drive to the Mac properly. Also, check the cable of drive and USB port of the Mac.
- Connect the hard drive to another computer and then check it is responding or not.
- Restart the Mac and then try to connect My passport to the Mac.
Is the problem is My passport is not showing up on desktop or finder? Then try below fix.
Fix 2: Show my passport for Mac or on desktop
It is also possible that you haven’t enabled Show external drive on desktop or Finder. In this case, first of all, check that option and enable it.
Step #1: Launch “Finder”.
Step #2: Click on “Preferences”.
Step #3: Select the “General” tab.
Step #4: Now, click on the “External Disks” beneath “Devices” or else click on “Show these items on the desktop”.
My Passport For Mac 4tb
Step #5: From now onwards you can see the external drive on the desktop.
Fix 3: Check My Passport in Disk Utility
Still, if you are unable to find out the My Passport on the Finder or desktop, then we will look for the external drive from the Disk Utility.
Step #1: Go to “Disk Utility” from the Spotlight.
Step #2: Click on the “Mount” button by right-clicking on the My Passport external hard drive on the left side of the screen.
Fix 4: Repair the My Passport
Fortunately, in Mac, we have First Aid to repair the external drives such as My Passport.
Step #1: From the “Disk Utility” click on the connected external drive.
Step #2: Now click on “First Aid” from the top of the screen.
Step #3: Finally select “Run” and start diagnosis.
Wd My Passport For Mac Os Mojave 10 14 4
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That’s it.
Wd Passport Mac Compatibility
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