how to format wd elements hard drive for mac

Once you have every option how you want it, click “Start” to begin the formatting process. Unchecking “Quick Format” makes Windows check the disk sector-by-sector with a low-level format that takes much longer, but it will also wipe all traces of any old data completely. The data is still on the drive but all references to it are lost, so it will be overwritten as you use the newly formatted drive. Give your drive a name and select the file.

Resolve External Drive Not Detected by Windows or macOS Guided Assist. How to Format a Drive for Use on Both Windows and macOS Using exFat or FAT32. Cannot Find My WD Drive on Windows or macOS. Instructions to Format a Drive for Use with Windows or macOS. Choose your external drive from the left sidebar and click Erase. Troubleshooting & Tips for Your External Hard Drive or Portable SSD. Format Options (Quick Format): If the drive is in good working order, you can select “Quick Format,” which performs a high-level format and finishes quickly. Click the Go menu, select Utilities from the drop-down menu, and open Disk Utility.Volume Label: This is the drive name that will appear when you see your formatted drive in File Explorer.Generally, you never need to modify this setting, so use the default allocation unit size that appears (usually 4096 bytes for NTFS) when you select the file system you want.

Allocation Unit Size: This is the basic block size used by the file system when you format your drive.If you want the drive to be readable and writable on a Mac as well, choose exFAT. In general, you’ll want to select NTFS if the drive will only be used with Windows. Depending on the drive’s size, your options will be FAT, FAT32, NTFS, or exFAT. File System: A file system is a data structure that tells an operating system how to save and load files to or from a disk.Formatting takes up some of the raw disk space because of how file systems work. Find WD Elements in Disk Management, right-click on it, and choose Format from the contextual menu. Msc, then tap the Enter key to open Disk Management. Connect your external hard drive to the Windows computer.

Capacity: This will be the data capacity of your hard drive or SSD once it is formatted. Check the below steps to learn how to format WD Elements for Mac on Windows PC.

How to format wd elements hard drive for mac