As the cost per GB of hard drive space falls, it becomes practical to buy a larger external hard drive and use it for several purposes. And that is exactly what partitioning up – splitting using the Mac operating system software allows you to do.
WesternDigital WDBP6A0040BBK-JESE オンライン My Passport オンライン for Macポータブルハードディスク 4TB：ECカレント WesternDigital WDBP6A0040BBK-JESE My Passport for Macポータブルハードディスク 4TB. WESTERN DIGITAL/ウエスタンデジタル Mac用ポータブルハードディスク My Passport for Mac（2018年モデル） 4TB WDBP6A0040BBK-JESEオンライン販売 2013.06.13 WESTERN DIGITAL/ウエスタンデジタル Mac用ポータブルハードディスク My Passport for Mac（2018年モデル） 4TB WDBP6A0040BBK-JESE速達. WD Passport Shows Up on my Mac but not on Windows t0pher Apr 2, 2014, 5:32 PM I just built a new PC and my WD 1TB Passport external hard drive shows up fine on my Mac laptop but won't appear on.
Let me teach you in 10 steps how to partition WD My Passport for Mac. Manufactures two types of the WD My Passport hard drive. One has for Mac as part of the description and is preformatted to HFS+ (equivalent to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System. The other type is formatted and is simply called WD My Passport – no for Mac after the title. Whether you have the WD My Passport for Mac or have bought the NTFS version they both need to be formatted first before partitioning.
If you are not sure how to format your WD My Passport drive take a look at. If you would like to take a look at some detail on the WD My Passport hard drive I have an article that so you can fully gen up. Your WD My Passport all formatted?
Now you’re ready to partition your My Passport external drive. Table of Contents. Not sure what partitioning is?
It’s a software process for dividing up your external drive into different sized sectors so that you can devote a particular part to a certain job. For example; You want to use your drive for Time Machine backups and you also want to copy and paste files onto the drive. Although in theory you could do that without partitioning, it is best practice to devote a section to Time Machine and another section to copying and pasting. When you are using the copy and pasting part you won’t see the Time Machine backups and visa versa.
If you want a section of your WD Passport for Mac and PC, it needs to be formatted in a particular way so that both the Mac and PC can read and write from the drive. And you can’t share that partition with Time Machine. In addition PCs are more prone to getting viruses. Having a partition won’t prevent the most destructive viruses from trashing the drive, though it will restrict some. Before you Partition Think about what you plan to do with the hard drive and the size of partitions you are going to need for each section.
Creating a Partition for Time Machine Time Machine needs a partition formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System. The partition needs to be about twice the size of the amount of data you are backing up. Or to keep things simple twice the size of the hard drive you are backing up.
If you have two Macs you want to back up using the WD My Passport hard drive then you could create two partitions of the right sizes and dedicate each partition to a particular Mac. Creating a Partition to Copy and Paste Files To You may need to take files with you to use on another Mac in a different location. Or your plan may be to simply free up space on your Mac by copying files you use less often off onto a separate drive. Or store files from a particular project on your My Passport external drive. Copy and Pasting, Drag and Drop to the external drive are all easy to do.
And you can have a partition on a larger drive dedicated to doing this. Note: If the only copy of these files is on the WD My Passport external drive you will need a backup of those files. Hard drives fail over time and the best practice is to have at least two copies on separate drives if not three copies of your data.
Partitions used for copy, pasting, drag and drop are formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System. Or if you have one of the latest Macs running Mac OS High Sierra, you can also format the partition to AFS (the new Apple File System). Both Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System and AFS are only read and writable from a Mac. Creating a Partition to Use between Mac and PC? A partition where you want to read and write files between a Mac and a PC needs to be formatted to. ExFAT is a file system format that is understood by both Mac and PC and when you plug in the WD My Passport that partition will be visible to both.
The PC will not see or recognize partitions formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System or AFS. Partition WD My Passport for Mac The information and recommendations here are focused on the version of operating system for the Mac called Mac OS Sierra. Prior releases operate in a similar way although the screen displays may vary in the detail of their look. That said this guidance is still very relevant. I’ll just reiterate that before partitioning your WD My Passport external hard drive that you format the entire drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System before partitioning and if you are not sure how, look at my.
Formatting and partitioning are destructive processes, and by that I mean that both processes removes links to existing files and documents on the hard drive. Copy off any data somewhere safe before you start. Now we can get to the bones of partitioning up your WD My Passport for Mac. I use images and I have a link to a video that you can watch to help you feel confident to do this yourself. Armed with the information on the number of partitions you want to divide your WD My Passport drive into and the size of those partitions you’re ready to start. Go on it’s easy. Teach yourself in 10 quick steps.
Turn on, log into your Mac and plug in your. The My Passport hard drive already formatted to Mac OS extended (Journaled) File System?
Then you are good to go. Open up the application by heading to spotlight search at the top of your desktop.
Second Partition Screen. Click the plus sign again if you want to create a third partition. Or if you have the number of partitions and type you need jump down to instruction 10. If you want WD Passport for Mac and PC and need to create a partition that you will use to transfer files. Or use between a Mac and a PC choose ExFAT as the partition format.
That way files will be visible to, readable and writable by both operating systems. Often you will find the partition sizes adjusted when you have entered specific figures. This is because the act of partitioning uses up file system space.
You can use the circles around the partition pie. What do I mean by that?
Partition desktop icons You can now dismiss the Disk Utility window because the partitions on your WD My Passport drive are ready for you to use. YouTube Partitioning WD My Passport on your Mac Here is a YouTube video showing the partitioning of WD My Passport. I have set the video to the point where Acquevara shows the hard drive being partitioned. WD My Passport External Hard-drive Set Up Guide for Mac Video Credit: Acquevara Partition WD My Passport Frequently Asked Questions. Why Does Creating Partitions and Formatting reduce my hard drive space? Formatting and the creation of partitions takes up room on your WD My Passport drive.
This is why it is a good idea to buy an external hard drive larger than you need particularly if your requirement is right on the size capacity of a hard drive. What I mean by this is that if you total up your data needs and have 3TB of data.
Don’t buy a 3TB disk, buy a 4TB disk. Because formatting and writing file systems take up space and you won’t have the space you hoped for. I have a corrupted partition how can I get to my files?
This is one reason a back up of your entire disk is always a good idea. Failing that enter disk utility and run first aid on your drive to see if Mac OS can recover the corrupted drive. As a second option, you can also download a Mac compatible version of the WD Discovery software and use that to run a disk health check. This can sometimes recover the partition enough for you to use. I try to partition and I get an error from Disk Utility.
My Passport For Mac
Unfortunately, this is sometimes the case and something that seems to have arrived with Sierra and High Sierra. Just try again. If the disk has successfully formatted on your Mac, just retry.
You can also take a look at my. – link to how to format WD doc. How do I repartition my WD My Passport drive?
Want to change the size of your partitions or remove a partition or add a partition. You use disk utility in the same way I’ve described above to put in your new partitioning information.
However and this is important. If you have existing data in the partition you must copy it off first as partitioning will remove the existing file system information. And this will mean you will lose access to your information. In any major change like that to your disks, make sure you have a copy of your data elsewhere.
Last words I hope you have enjoyed my article ‘Partition WD My Passport for Mac, Teach Yourself in 10 Steps’ – I trust you feel confident to do this yourself and that I have shown you how straight forward and easy it is. Feel Free to check out some of my other articles on the site.
Table of Contents. WD My Passport Which One? There two products under the WD My Passport title.
One is WD My Passport and is designed to be plugged into and work straight away with a Windows PC. The other is called WD My Passport for Mac and is designed to be plugged into a Mac and work straight away. Regardless of which one you have you can use both on a Mac. So why pay the extra dollars for the one sold and branded for Mac when they both will work? Getting started Go ahead unbox. Inside you’ll find your WD My Passport external drive, USB cable and quick start guide. If you haven’t purchased the WD My Passport drive yet and are thinking about your options, make sure you purchase a drive that is large enough for your needs.
I won’t go into the ins and outs of that here. Take a look at Still thinking about which to choose? Take a look a Or take Connecting up the WD Passport Drive on Mac Turn on and log into your Mac then you’ll be ready to connect up the My Passport drive. Understand what connections you have on your Mac The WD My Passport hard drive is powered from your Macs.
One end of the cable is USB 3.0 (and USB 2.0) compatible and that is the end you connect to your Mac. And assuming your Mac has a USB 3.0 or 2.0 port you can plug straight in. Macbook 3.0 USB Ports The other end of the WD cable has a Micro USB B port and plugs into the My Passport drive.
Should your Mac be of the latest variety then it will have USB 3.1 ports also referred to as USB C or Thunderbolt They are physically different as you can see but backwards compatible with the right USB cable. You will need to get yourself an adaptor cable that will plug into your Thunderbolt port at one end and the Micro USB B port at the other. Don’t panic, they are available on Amazon and my favorite ones are; 1. The My Passport drive won’t run as fast as a Thunderbolt drive – but then you pay a lot more for those drives. The My Passport drive will run just fine on the Thunderbolt port of your newer Mac at the USB 3.0 speed specifications. Once Plugged In There is an LED light on the front of the WD My Passport drive, it blinks slow and steady when the drive is on standby, fast flashing when the drive is being read or written to by your Mac a steady light when the drive is not doing anything LED Off, when the drive is off. Your Mac should recognize the drive is plugged in and you’ll see a icon appear on your desktop representing the hard drive.
External Drive Icon On Desktop Now you are ready to set up and use your My Passport drive. Decide what you would like to use the My Passport on your Mac for And then set it up that way. What do I mean by that?. For copy or pasting files of specific types of e.g. Music or Photos. Transfer files from one Mac to another, perhaps taking your My Passport to another location. as a Backup destination for Time Machine.
Share files between a Mac and a PC You can have your Passport drive specific to one thing. Say backups or split up or partitioned for several roles. How do I Start to use WD My Passport for Mac? To start, particularly if you have a WD My Passport no Mac in the title, you will need to format your external hard drive.
I have a specific article to for Mac use the link to find out how. Then you may want to partition your WD My Passport drive. Again I have an article covering ‘How to Partition WD My Passport for Mac’ Why Partition? Partitioning allows you to take advantage of the cheaper cost per terabyte of larger hard drives. Divide your drive into sections and use the drive for different things. Depending on what you plan to use your WD My Passport drive for I have 5 ways – how to use WD My Passport for Mac. Way 1: Creating Folders on your WD My Passport Drive With your Passport drive connected you double click on the desktop icon for the hard drive.
Important Note If the copy of the files on the WD My Passport hard drive is the only copy of the files you have, then you are in a vulnerable position should anything happen to the My Passport drive. Do make sure you have a copy of the entire drive or copies of the files elsewhere just in case the drive should fail. Should you have files on the WD My Passport drive you want to copy across or move to your internal hard drive, you follow the same procedure. Open up a finder window on your My Passport hard drive and a separate window on your internal drive. Select and Copy the files from where they are to where you want them to be on your internal drive. Create first a folder on your internal drive if you want the files collected together in a particular place. Be sure to eject the My Passport drive safely when you are done using it.
Right click on the drive icon on your desktop and select Eject. Right Click to Eject External Drive YouTube Video Showing How to Use For Mac Acquevara’s YouTube video shows how to Use WD My Passport for Mac. I give you a link to it here as an additional resource should you appreciate watching a video. WD My Passport External Hard-drive Set Up Guide for Mac Video Credit: Acquevara I have set the video to start where he shows how to use the external hard drive on a Mac. Hope you find the video useful. Way 3: Using a WD My Passport Partition Once partitions are set up it is easy to use them. When the My Passport drive is connected to your Mac and it has partitions those partitions will appear on your desktop similar to when you have multiple hard drives connected.
Partition desktop icons Each icon represents a partition. You can,. Double click on each partition icon to open up a finder window looking into that partition.
My Passport For Mac Manual
Copy and paste or drag and drop to it as I have described in the copy and paste section above. To use the partition as a place for storing your files. Way 4: WD My Passport How to Share with a Mac and a PC?. Plug the USB cable for the WD My Passport drive into your Mac. Double click on the desktop icon for your partition. You can copy and paste or drag and drop as I have described above to put your files in a partition you have set up for sharing between a Mac and a PC.
Want to find out how to between a Mac and a PC? Follow this Link. Eject the drive by right clicking on the drive or partition icon and then you can connect the USB cable into your Windows PC and view and use the files there. Want to use a partition and allocate it to Time Machine for backup? The following section tells you how. Way 5: How to Set Up WD My Passport to work with Time Machine?
Rest assured this is really easy to do. The first thing to do is to ensure your entire disk – if you are using the whole disk for Time Machine is formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System. Or you have a partition of a sufficient size formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) File System. If you haven’t already done that, l for mac via this link to my article Now you are ready to tell Time Machine on your Mac to use your WD My Passport hard drive.
Open up System Preferences. You can do that by going to spotlight search at the top of your Mac desktop window. Time Machine Available Drives.
Click on Use Disk. If you want an encrypted backup, you can also select the check box to encrypt backups here. You’ll see the option at the bottom left corner of the Time Machine screen. If it is the first time you are setting up Time Machine and the check box isn’t already selected. On the next screen check the box to ‘Show Time Machine in menu bar’. You can also check the box to ‘Back Up Automatically’ if you would like your Mac to kick off a backup when your WD My Passport backup drive is connected to your Mac.
You can kick off a Time Machine backup straight away, when your My Passport drive is connected to your Mac, by heading to the top of your desktop and selecting the Time Machine Symbol. Right Click to Eject External Drive Ejecting The WD My Passport hard drive and Ejecting a partition To ensure you do not corrupt the data held on your WD My Passport drive always, always right click on the drive or on all the partition icons to eject the drive partitions before removing the USB Cable. Frequently Asked Questions. If I use Time Machine Do I only have access to the drive from the one Computer? There are a few parts to this question and answers.
Firstly because the drive is connected to your Mac via a physical cable, a USB cable. The My Passport drive can only be connected onto one Mac at a time. The second part of the answer really depends on the intension for having the drive connected to more than one Mac. There is absolutely no reason why a My Passport drive that is large enough can’t be split into two partitions. One partition acting as the backup partition for one Mac when it is plugged into that Mac.
And the other partition as the backup to the second Mac when it is plugged in there. In addition Time Machine can be used to backup one Mac and restore onto another. This is particularly useful when you have upgraded your Mac and want to restore your files to your new Mac.
By telling Time Machine what drive and/or partition to backup to and restore from you have full flexibility. Can I use My Passport for Mac with a PC? Yes, but to do that you need to create a partition that the PC can read. Copy off any files that are on the hard drive that you still want to use. Then format and create one partition for your Mac to use formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. Create another partition formatted to.
Both your Mac and a PC can see the ExFAT partition. Of course if you want the whole drive shareable between a Mac and PC you can format the entire hard drive to ExFAT and then both can read and write to the complete hard drive. Last Words I trust that I have helped you stay nice and calm as you learnt how to use WD My Passport for Mac. And I have put your mind at rest that not only can you use WD My Passport on a Mac, it works really well on a Mac. Don’t be shy I invite you to check out my other articles here on the site.