My Mac My Passport
Aug 30, 2018 - Western Digital's Passport external drive for Mac isn't eternally bound to macOS. By formatting the Passport as an exFAT or FAT32 drive, you.
- Product Features Wirelessly stream 4K videos and view photos with the My Cloud mobile app.
- Dec 19, 2017 - This happens because OSX 'forces' a disk check/repair in the background before mounting the drive (since it was ejected improperly), so it will.
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.
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 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.
Add FireWire 800, and the Western Digital My Passport Studio could make for the perfect pocket-size external hard drive. Offering FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 connections, this 320GB drive still impressed us with its compact design, decent capacity and performance, and competitive cost per gigabyte. Western Digital lists it for $210, but it can be found online for less (Buy.com, for example, sells it for $185-for 58 cents per gigabyte). If you don't need the FireWire connection and are looking for something even a little more compact and colorful, the USB-only is a good bet. Moving in the other direction, the is a bit bulkier and costs slightly more per gigabyte, but it supplies FireWire 800. For those looking for the middle ground, however, Western Digital's 320GB My Passport Studio resides in a sweet spot.
Drive type External hard drive Connector options FireWire 400, USB 2.0 Available capacities 160GB; 250GB; 320GB Capacity of test unit 320GB Drive size 2.5-inch Drive speed 5400rpm Cache 8MB Dimensions (LWH) 4.9 x 3.2 x 0.71 inches Notable design features Sleek aluminum casing with capacity gauge OSes supported Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS X Software included Hard=drive management tool for Mac Service and Support 5-year warranty Design and features As the name suggests, the My Passport Studio has about the same footprint as an actual passport and is about three times thicker. It's also very lightweight at 6.7 ounces. The drive looks somewhat like a book, with a sleek aluminum casing that takes the place of the cover, and black plastic taking the place of the pages. The My Passport features dual interfaces: FireWire 400 and USB 2.0. It doesn't offer FireWire 800, which is a bit disappointing as this option allows for the highest possible speed for a pocket-size external hard drive.
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On the plus side, it has a capacity gauge. It's just a ballpark measurement with four blocks that glow white as you gobble up another 80GB of space. And when not in use, the gauge can be slid to the side to cover the ports, protecting them from dust.
The drive ships with two data cables (FireWire 400 and USB 2.0), a quick setup poster, and a velour string purse. The drive is bus-powered. You just have to plug it into a Mac and it works. Preformatted for OS X, the My Passport Studio needs to be reformatted for use with Windows. This is a very simple process that requires a few mouse clicks using Windows' built-in disk-management utility. The My Passport Studio is the first pocket-size external hard drive that doesn't come with a power port.
Mac Wd My Passport Ultra
This means it relies entirely on the power provided by the computer's port. We didn't run into any instances where the drive failed to operate, but we suspect there might be some computers, especially older computers with USB 1.1 ports, that don't provide enough juice to operate the drive. While the chance of the drive not working with your computer is low, if you can, it's a good idea to test the drive with your laptop before purchasing it.