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- Western Digital My Passport Studio For Mac 2tb External Hard
- My Passport Studio 500gb
- Western Digital My Passport Studio For Mac 2tb Hard
- Western Digital introduced its newest generation of My Passport portable hard drives specifically designed for use with Mac computers and Apple Time Machine, featuring compact, elegant Mac-inspired designs with high capacity storage options and exceptional security for today’s active lifestyles.
- Unboxing the brand new WD My Passport Studio 2TB. A 2.5' external hard drive with both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 connections. All metal housing, fits a MacBook or iMac perfectly.
- 1 Make a Western Digital HD Work for Mac & Windows
- 2 Can I Back up a Mac & PC Data to the Same Hard Drive?
- 3 Format a Removable Hard Disk
- 4 Clean a Jump Drive
Purchased 2TB My Passport for Mac in February 2017 to replace an aging WD MyBook. In May Time Machine failed to back-up to new 2TB drive - could access drive and file structure but no back-up. Would work again after Mac reboot only to stop backing up within a day.
As of 2018, Western Digital offers no shortage of external drives for Mac computers – from the My Book Essential to the My Book Pro and the My Book Studio, nearly 30 WD drives play nicely with Apple’s macOS operating system, as does the My Passport Studio model.
But with more than 262.5 million PCs shipped in 2017, according to data from Statista, there’s a good chance your Passport Studio will need to play nicely with a Windows computer, too. When it comes to cross-platform flexibility, you’ve got a few options for crossing the Mac and PC streams.
About eFAT and FAT32
Here’s something your My Passport for Mac Quick Install Guide might not tell you: Hard drives usually come formatted in two different ways, one catering to Windows and one catering to Mac. NTFS-formatted drives work with Windows computers, and HFS+ drives work with Mac.
Western Digital My Passport Studio For Mac 2tb External Hard
However, by formatting your My Passport differently, you can ensure compatibility in a variety of different ways. Hard drives formatted to exFAT or FAT32 can read and write data on both Mac and PC operating systems, though FAT32 is limited to a 4-gigabyte-per-file size limit. Formatting your drive will erase all its data, so be sure to back it up before making the change.
External Drive for Mac to Windows 10
My Passport Studio 500gb
If you’ve got a WD external drive for Mac platforms and you want it to work on a Windows 10 PC, exFAT format is your best bet. To start formatting, connect your WD Passport to your Mac; then open “Mac HD” and click “Applications,” “Utilities” and “Disk Utility.” From the Disk Utility window, select the Passport hard drive.
Here, you’ll usually see two listings of partitions available on the drive – select the listing that is furthest left. Click the Disk Utility’s “Erase” button; assign the drive a name in the “Name” field; then hit “Erase,” and click “Done” when the erasing process is complete. Now, click the “Partition” button at the top of the Disk Utility and click “Format.” Choose “exFAT” from the drop-down menu that appears and click “Apply” to format the drive, which will take a few minutes. Once the formatting is complete and you get a message that says “Operation successful,” click “Done.”
To Windows 8 and Earlier
The external drive for Mac to Windows 8 transition makes use of Window’s built-in Disk Management software rather than the macOS Disk Utility, but you’ll still want to format your WD Passport as an exFAT drive.
To do so, connect the Passport to your PC, enter the Windows 8 Start menu and choose “Disk Management.” In the Disk Management app, right-click on the drive and select “New Simple Volume...” from the menu that appears. This brings up the New Simple Volume Wizard. Click the “Next” button until you get to the “Format Partition” window and choose “exFAT” under “File System” (you can also change the name of the drive under “Volume label” if you wish). Make sure the “Perform a quick format” box is checked, and click “Next” when you’re ready. Click “Partition” and then “Finish” to format the drive to a cross-platform compatible exFAT mode.
References (4)
About the Author
As the co-founder of an LLC, the owner of a small business and a partner at an S-corporation (all working in media), Dan is no stranger to small business. As a business writer, he's contributed to publications including Chron.com, AZCentral, Fortune, GlobalPost, MSN Money, GoBankingRates, Zacks.com, The Motley Fool and more.
Cite this Article Choose Citation Style
Ketchum, Dan. 'How to Switch a WD Passport From a Mac to PC.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/switch-wd-passport-mac-pc-49146.html. 30 August 2018.
Ketchum, Dan. (2018, August 30). How to Switch a WD Passport From a Mac to PC. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/switch-wd-passport-mac-pc-49146.html
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Two Digital Gypsies Rating – 4.5 Stars
Western Digital My Passport for Mac 2TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0
Features:
Western Digital My Passport Studio For Mac 2tb Hard
- Blazing-fast USB 3.0 connectivity
- Sleek compact design, measures 3.2 x 4.4 x .8″ and weighs only 8.2 oz.
- Compatible with Apple Time Machine
- Password protection and hardware encryption
- 2 TB of storage. It’s the ideal companion for anyone with lots of photos, movies, videos and files that they want to take with them.
- HFS+ Journaled so it works right out of the box Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard , Lion or Mountain Lion. Can be reformatted for Windows.
- Comes with USB Cable and Quick Install Guide
This is the perfect companion for any traveler. When we travel I have my MacBook Pro computer & my Panasonic video camera. As everyone knows, video and image files are large files that require a lot of storage space. This external hard drive has 2 TB of storage, enough for 40 hours of video recording. At only 4″ long and less than an inch thick, it fits nicely in my laptop bag. PLUS it doesn’t need a power cable. You just plug it in to the USB port on your computer.
To protect the WD My Passport I bought an AmazonBasics Hard Carrying Case for My Passport-Essential. The cost seemed very reasonable, only $6. The semi-hard case gives good protection to the hard drive. Inside the case is a nice elastic band that secures the hard drive and there is a pouch on the other side of the case to hold the USB cord.
Pros – The WD My Passport is small, lightweight, and attractive. But most of all it has a lot of storage space.
Cons – None evident yet. It is a little pricey at $149 but I remember a couple of years ago I paid the same amount for a WD Hard Drive that was only 500 GB, required a power cord, and would never fit in a laptop bag.