New Update 2023: Quick Fix to Format WD My Passport for Mac (2023)

I recently bought a WD My Passport drive for his Mac, but how do you do it?format WD My Passport for Mac? For Windows users, this drive is easy to use. You don't need to format it for plug and play. However, for Mac users, the process is a complex procedure due to the difference between the standard Windows and Mac operating systems. However, this article will show you how to format WD My Passport for Mac and also cover everything you need to know beforehand need to format the drive and tips for safe use. You will also learn how to recover data if you lost it due to formatting. So, just read below to learn.

1. Part 1: Steps to format WD My Passport for Mac
2. Part 2: Why do we need to format WD My Passport for Mac?
3. Bonus Tip: Why was my data lost after formatting WD My Passport for Mac and how do I fix it?
4. Part 3: What should you know before formatting WD My Passport?
Part 4: Overview of WD My Passport

• Benefits of using WD My Passport
• Need-to-know tips for using WD My Passport for Mac

Part 1: Steps to format WD My Passport for Mac

To format WD My Passport for Mac computer, MacBook or iMac:

Step 1: Connect the WD My Passport drive to your Mac.

step 2: Look for the drive icon on your Mac. It should appear on your desktop.

step 3: If for some reason the WD My Passport drive icon does not appear, launch Finder. Choose Preferences in Finder. On the General tab of the Settings window, select the External Drive check box.

step 4: Your WD My Passport drive icon should now appear on your Mac desktop. Then open Disk Utility from Spotlight search.

step 5: You can find the list of internal and external drives in the left pane of Disk Utility. Under the External option, you can see your WD My Passport drive. If you cannot see the drive, disconnect your WD My Passport drive, shut down and restart your Mac. This should solve the problem.

step 6: Follow the above steps. When the WD My Passport drive appears under the External option in the top left menu, select View and then Show All Devices.

step 7: Choose Erase again from the top menu to reformat My Passport for Mac. In the pop-up window, choose format options by naming the drive and selecting the format type. Set Mac OS Extended (Journaled ) as the format type and GUID Partition Map for the scheme.

Press Erase and the WD, My Passport for Mac format will begin. Once the format is complete, close Disk Utility. The newly formatted WD My Passport drive icon will appear on your Mac desktop.

Part 2: Why do we need to format WD My Passport for Mac?

Depending on the type of WD My Passport drive, you may or may not need to format it. Two versions are available for this device. The NTFS and Mac versions.

Die NTFS-Version

The NTFS version of the WD My Passport drive comes preformatted and is cheaper to buy. You can connect it to your Windows PC and the system allows you to copy files to or from the drive. However, when connected to your Mac, the NTFS version only allows you to read files and not copy them to or from the drive. You need to reformat WD Passport for Mac.

Mac-Version

The Mac version of the WD My Passport drive is designed for Mac users only and is preformatted with a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. It is also the default file system on Mac. So if you want to reformat the Mac version of your WD My Passport drive, do it on a Mac. Otherwise, the formatted drive may bring you troubles.

Bonus Tip: Why did I lose data after formatting WD My Passport for Mac and how do I fix it?

If you reformat WD Passport for Mac, the formatting will erase all data on the drive. For example, if you bought the NTFS version of this drive, your software will only work on a Windows PC. However, if you want to format it for Mac, it is advisable to copy all your personal files and software to a Windows PC before formatting the drive. However, if you don't have a backup and somehow lose your data, don't worry. You haven't lost it permanently yet as your files are hidden somewhere on the drive. So you can easily restore it with a third party tool likeTenorshare 4DDiG Mac data recovery software. You can recover formatted, corrupted, hidden or lost data in three easy steps.

What you get with the 4DDiG Mac tool:

• You can recover data from Mac based drives, USB drives, SD cards and cameras.
• A high recovery rate to recover permanently deleted, formatted, hidden or corrupted data.
• Safely recovers Mac files including audio, video, archives, emails, documents and images.
• It is compatible with macOS Ventura, Chip T2, M1, M1 Pro and M1 Max.
• Recovers data lost due to upgrade or CPU failure, system crash, partition loss and malware attack.

Let's find out how to recover data lost while formatting WD My Passport drive with 4DDiG Mac in 3 easy steps:

1. Once installed, open 4DDiG Mac and select the formatted WD My Passport drive. Hover the mouse over the hard drive and the word "Scan" will appear in the lower right corner. Click this button and the tool will search for lost data on the drive.

2. Wait for the scan to finish. However, you can also pause the scanning process to preview the details of specific file types.

3. Click the "Recover" button to save the files you recovered from the formatted WD My Passport drive.

Part 3: What should you know before formatting WD My Passport?

• To transfer your data between your Mac and Windows system, format the WD My Passport drive in FAT32 or ex-FAT file systems.
• Before choosing a file format, check if you plan to read and write Sony PlayStation and digital camcorder programs on the drive. These programs require FAT32 or ex-FAT file systems to perform operations on a drive.
• The FAT32 file system can support up to 8 terabytes maximum volume and up to 4 gigabytes maximum file size. In contrast, ex-FAT can support up to 1 petabyte maximum volume and 16 exabyte maximum file size. That means you should choose Ex-FAT format instead of FAT32. The latter has many limitations that affect the performance of your Windows PC and Mac.
• Check if your third-party programs support Ex-FAT format before formatting the WD My Passport drive. Since the ex-FAT file system is rare, many programs do not support it.
• A tip is to back up your data regularly before sharing the drive between Windows and Mac systems. Because it is used on different operating systems, your WD My Passport for Mac is more prone to file system corruption.

Part 4: Overview of WD My Passport

Benefits of using WD My Passport

There are several benefits to using the WD My Passport drive:

• The 1TB drive size offers plenty of storage space, especially if you want to store large digital SLR video, music and data files.
• It is made by Western Digital Company, a trusted company that has been making drives for over 20 years.
• The device weighs around 0.44 pounds, making it portable enough to carry around and fit in your pocket or pocket.
• It doesn't require an extra power cord, nor does it make the screeching noises that are all too common with many drives.
• It supports a USB 3.0 port, which can access and save files three times faster than a USB 2.0 port.

Need-to-know tips for using WD My Passport for Mac

Here are some tips for using your WD My Passport drive safely:

• Plug in the power strip and connect one end of the USB cable to the device.
• If your Mac system has a USB 3.0 port, connect the other end of the cable to this port. It offers faster file access and transfer.
• On your Mac, you can see the WD My Passport drive named "My Book" under "My Machine".
• Double click on it and select "Create WD Applications" to start the backup installation. Look for the WD Apps for Mac folder if you cannot find WD Apps Setup.
• Just follow the instructions in the program settings.

Conclusion

So here is the process to format WD My Passport for Mac if you have purchased this drive but don't know how to format it. Hopefully our tips above will help you. If you lost data on the drive due to formatting and don't have a backup, don't worry. We have your back. ConsiderTenorshare 4DDiG Datenwiederherstellungssoftwareto recover formatted, hidden, lost or corrupted data from WD My Passport for Mac. It has high recovery rate and can recover all Mac based files in no time.