Often switch between a Mac and PC? Want to use one USB flash storage device for both? The thing is that by default, these platforms use different file systems – discs are formatted differently. Windows uses NTFS, and Mac OS uses HFS, these file systems are not compatible with each other. However there is a simple solution – you can format the drive to FAT32 or exFAT that performs better than FAT32. In the resulut, your external hard drive will work just fine with Mac and Windows.
You can format your external hard drive from either the PC or Mac. Just keep in mind if you want to use your drive also for OS X’s Time Machine backups, we advise you to format your drive through Mac because there is an additional step to make drive compatible with “Time Machine Backups”. And you can only do this with exFAT as with FAT32 Mac OS X’s Time Machine backup won’t work.
Portable external hard drives with a wide array of options to store and back up your photos and files. Find the perfect drive, for gaming, RAID or wireless streaming. Best Mac External Hard Drive We spent over 30 hours researching and testing 20 different external hard drives and found that HDD capacity, warranty, and backup speed were most important. The Western Digital External hard drive scored high marks in every category and is our top pick.
FAT32 or exFAT?
You can format your external hard drive in both – exFAT and FAT32. They both will work just fine. Mac and PC can read and write on both. However, each of these filesystems has their own pros and cons. FAT32 has a maximum 4GB file size limit, but exFAT can work with files as large as 16EB, that’s more than you will ever need. If you have to work with large video clips, games or any other kind of massive files, FAT32 may not be the best choice. Many still choose FAT32 over exFAT despite its slower performance, as it’s also compatible with Linux Os and is supported on many gaming consoles.
Once you have done with formatting, your external hard drive will be able to write and read files from both a PC and Mac. The resulting FAT32 file system will be compatible with all versions of Mac OS X, and Windows including Windows 10 back to 95. This is one of the most widely recognized file system formats.
- FAT32 – a file system normally used on USB disks
- exFAT – a newer file system optimized for flash devices and has improved performance overFAT32
Why I can’t use NTFS on Mac?
The default file system for Windows is NTFS (New Technology File System). Macs that run Snow Leopard or Lion can read data from drives that are formatted as NTFS. However, they can’t write. To make your Mac compatible writing on NTFS you have to get and install a third-party driver. So in the end, it’s possible to make your NTFS external hard drive compatible with Mac. But we advise to just format it to “FAT” file system as it’s less time consuming and easier.
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Windows 7 can’t read nor write files to external drives that are formatted as HFS. To do so you also have to install third-party software like Paragon HFS+ for Windows.
How to format an External Drive in Windows
1)Connect the drive to your Windows PC.
2) Open Disk Management.
3) Right click on unallocated or any other disk partition and select “New Simple Volume”
4) Choose your desired size
5) Assign your external hard drive with any letter.
6) Choose exFAT as the file system.
7) Follow the instructions and at the end click “Finish“
How to Format an External Drive in OS X
1) Connect your external hard drive to the Mac.
2)Open Disk Utility. You can do this quickly by pressing CMD and the spacebar at the same time. Then type in “Disk Utility”.
3) Select the drive you want to format.
4) Click the Partition tab.
6)Change the Partition Layout from Current to 1 Partition.
7) Click Options, SelectMaster Boot Record, and click OK.
8)Name the hard drive with a name of your choice.
9)Click the Format drop-down menu.
10) Select exFAT or MS-DOS FAT(FAT32).
11) At last press Apply, then click onPartition.
Hello.
WD My Book would be best for desktop, Seagate Backup Plus Slim would be one of the best portable hard drives. Both are all-around decent drives and will do fine for any backup, pictures included.
As for cross-platform encryption, if you intend to use the same drive on both Mac and Windows, the best option would be using a cross-platform compatible encryption tool, like VeraCrypt, while formatting the drive in exFAT to avoid compatibility issues. This is because Windows won’t recognize Mac’s native encryption and vice versa. VeraCrypt is well-renowned, so it should function well without any problems, just be prepared to learn how to use the tool. Try testing this setup with just a couple files before you perform entire backups.
As a Western Digital hard drive user, you may have the habit to store most of your digital media in the hard drive. The big capacity make it convenient to store your file and take it to anywhere. But it has a fatal defect that if you mistakenly deleted some important files from the hard drive, you possibly can not recover them from trash. Does it mean that you will lost the files forever? No, we have a solution to recover files from Western Digital external hard drive easily. Also with this method, you do not need to worry about the data loss led by virus attack, power loss, accidental formatting or any other factors.
Part 1. Western Digital External Hard Drive Recovery Software
Data loss may occur in everyone's life. Most people do not know what they have to do in order to save their files or documents in their external hard drives. Luckily, there is a powerful program called iSkysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
It is considered as the best Western Digital data recovery mac software (macOS 10.12 Sierra supported), which is able to pull back any documents, audio, videos, pictures, and any other deleted files from any Western Digital hard drives. This Western Digital hard drive recovery software can go back to the previous state before the hard drive is broken. Then, it can restore all files to Mac computers, especially when the hard drives cannot be used anymore. Another benefit of using this western digital recovery software is its ability to work with any storage devices like memory cards, USB drive, external hard drives and more.
Part 2. How to Recover Western Digital Lost Data on Mac (El Capitan, macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra)
Step 1. Select File Types
Connect your Western Digital hard drive with computer and launch iSkysoft Data Recovery for Mac. Choose the target file types you want to scan and recover. Then click 'Next' button on the bottom of the window.
Step 2. Scan Western Digital Lost Data
Select your Western Digital hard drive from the list displayed and click the 'Start' button on the bottom of the window to start scanning the lost data on your portable disk.
Step 3. Retrieve Lost File from WD Hard Drive
You can check the scanning status on main window and in a few minutes, all the recoverable files will be shown to you. Choose the one you want to restore and click the 'Recover' button on top. Then designate a folder to save the file to be recovered. Please don't save these files to the original Western hard disk, or they will be overwritten permanently.
Part 3. Recovering Western Digital External Hard Drive on Windows
If you are using Western Digital external hard disk, you can follow the steps laid out in this post to retrieve lost or accidentally deleted content. In order to get back the data, you will need iSkysoft Data Recovery for Windows. The data recovery tool from iSkysoft excels in its field and helps you in recovering files such as pictures, videos, documents, and any other data from your Western Digital hard drive.
Wd External Hard Drive Software
Why Choose This Windows Western Digital External Hard Drive Data Recovery Software:
- Raw data recovery, partition and resume recovery
- A three-step operation for quick retrieval of content
- Flexible recovery settings and preview ability
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Step-by-Step Guide to Recover Files from Western Digital External Hard Drive on Windows
Step 1. Download and Install the Software
Visit the website of iSkysoft Data Recovery to download Windows operating system version. Continue with the installation procedure like a regular program or Windows PC. After finishing, launch the software. As the main interface appears on the screen, you will notice 6 different file type options. Click on the file types you want to recover, and then click 'Next' button.
Wd External Hard Drive Not Recognized
Step 2. Scan the Drive
Wd External Hard Drive Instructions
A new screen appears where you will see the partitions of the local hard disk. You have to browse to the connected Western Digital external hard drive from the Explorer window. Press the 'Start' button at the bottom to begin the scan.
Step 3. Recover Files from Western Digital External Hard Drive on Windows
Western Digital Support
Upon completion of scanning, iSkysoft Data Recovery for Windows will display all the recoverable content categorized according to files format. You can select the necessary files from the left pane of the screen and have a peek at the content in the preview screen to the right. You can have the necessary files and press the 'Recover' button. A small pop-up appears asking you to select the destination path. Choose a folder on your computer and wait for the program to complete the process.
