WD Elements™ portable hard drives with USB 3.0 offer reliable, high-capacity storage to go, fast data transfer rates, universal connectivity and massive capacity for value-conscious consumers. How to Partition an External Hard Drive on Mac. If you want to create multiple partitions on your external hard drive (in fact, you should for better file organization), here’s a step-by-step guide: Step 1: Highlight your drive and click “Partition” in Disk Utility.
Using yourWD Elements drive for both your home Mac and work Windows PC means. A 1TB, 2TBor larger drive could make your life so much easier. Because both of your computerscan get to the same document.
After allhow else could you so easily move, look at and work on your docs on bothcomputers?
And it’squick and easy for you to do on your iMac or MacBook Pro or Air.
And you canfind out here.
Top LevelView of Formatting WD Elements for a Mac and a PC
1. Connectup your WD Elements drive to your Mac
2. You useDisk Utility. First to format your WD Elements external drive to Mac OSExtended (Journaled) file system.
3. Then youquickly follow up by formatting to ExFAT.
4. Thenyour Western Digital external hard drive is ready to use on your Mac and onyour Windows PC.
Ahead ofStarting Your WD Elements Mac and PC Formatting
You’ll needyour Mac on and you logged in. Little snitch for mac.
You maywant to think about connecting your MacBook Pro or Air to external power. Why?
Because youdon’t want your Mac’s battery to fail half way through formatting your WesternDigital Elements drive. And because theUSB cable powers your Elements drive. It’s taking its power from your Mac. You’llwant to make sure there’s enough power to drive the drive.
Your WD Elements drive comes with a USB cable that has a type A connector that plugs into your Mac.
Do you havea Macbook Pro 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018? Yes?
Your Mac will have a USB C port and you’ll need an adaptor cable.
They areeasy enough to get on Amazon.
Want to find out more about connection options for your Mac? Do take a look at this article on the site.
You mayalso need to use the adaptor cable on your Windows PC if it has USB C ports onit.
All pluggedin?
Great youcan start.
How toFormat WD Elements for Mac and PC?
The stepsbelow will format your WD Elements drive so that the whole drive is shareable.This means that both your Mac and PC can see all the drive.
Side Note:Erase will wipe any files you have on your WD Elements drive. If you have files on there and you want tokeep them, copy them off onto a Windows PC first.
1. Can yousee your WD Elements external drive on your desktop?
No?
Open up afinder window. You need to change your finder window preferences.
Check theoptions to show ‘Hard Disks’ and ‘External Disks’ on your desktop.
2. Start UpDisk Utility.Can't Format Wd Elements For Mac
You’ll find Disk Utility inside your Utilities folder. And your Utilities folder is inside your Application folder.
Open up afinder window. Type Disk Utility intothe search bar.
Click tosearch your Applications folder.
Then doubleDisk Utility in the finder window.
The yellowarrows in the above picture shows you where.
3. Pickyour Western Digital Elements Drive.
Once DiskUtility has started up you’ll see the Disk Utility pop up window.
On the lefthand side of your pop up window you’ll find the drives attached to yourMac. Your Mac’s internal disk drive is underthe heading ‘Internal’. And you’ll find your Elements drive under the‘External’ Heading. Click to select yourWD Elements drive.
Be sure topick it at the top level. The yellow arrow shows you where.
Can’t seethe different drive levels as shown in the picture?
Go to thetop left of the Disk Utility Window.
Click onView
And chooseto ‘Show all Devices’. This allows Disk Utility to show you the drive and thevolume.
Now pickyour WD Elements drive under the ‘External’ heading at the top level.
It’simportant you choose your WD Elements drive at the top level. If you don’t,you’ll have all sorts of problems formatting your Elements drive.
4. SelectErase.
At the topof your Disk Utility pop up window you’ll see a button for Erase. Click on that.
Worriedabout clicking Erase? Don’t. As the next windows shows you a bunch of thingsyou need to do first.
5. Giveyour WD Elements Hard Drive a Name.
You’ll begoing through this stage of the formatting twice. Giving the name Untitled at this point isfine.
This firsttime round you format your Elements drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) filesystem.
Choose thatoption for the drive format. The red arrow on the picture shows you where toclick. By clicking there you open up the up down arrows to expand the list ofavailable file formats.
Pick GUIDPartition Map for the scheme.
Then Clickon Erase on the bottom right of the pop up window.
DiskUtility now takes a few minutes to format your WD Elements drive.
Your drivewill change from NTFS to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system.
Once yourformatting is done.
6. NowFormat Your WD Elements Drive as ExFAT
Go though steps 3 and 4 again.
This timewhen naming your drive choose a name that is easy for you to remember. Onethat’ll help you know exactly what you’re using your WD Elements drivefor. Sharing between a Mac and a PC.
This timeyou select the file system format of ExFAT.
Choose theScheme as GUID Partition Map as you did before.
7. Click toErase.
You Clickon Erase on the bottom right hand corner of the pop up window. Garageband for mac free.
And in afew minutes your WD Elements drive is ExFAT formatted ready for you to use onyour Mac and Windows PC.
Your WDElements drive will be on your Mac’s Desktop under the name you gave it.
Now yourentire WD Elements external hard drive is in a format both computers can use.
You cancreate folders. Copy files from your Mac onto your Elements drive.
Plug yourWestern Digital Elements drive into your PC. Work on documents on the drive and put docs from your PC onto the drive.
And whenyou plug back into your Mac your Mac can see and use those files.
What if youwant a separate area on Your WD Elements drive for Mac and PC?
You would dothis by creating partitions on the hard drive.
Think ofpartitions as slicing your WD Elements drive into different size pieces. And youuse each piece for different things.
Say you maywant two partitions.
One partition for your Time Machine back up of your Mac.
And anotherfor both Mac and your PC to share files.
Thepartition that you want your Mac to use for backup you format as Mac OS Extended(Journaled) file system.
YourWindows PC will not see that partition when you plug your Elements drive intoyour PC.
Thepartition you want to share with both Mac and Windows you partition as ExFAT.
To FormatYour WD Elements With a Partition for Mac and PC1. Follow steps 1 through to 5 above.
Your whole drive is now formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system.
Once youhave formatted your Western Digital Elements drive …
2. In DiskUtility, Click on Partition.
At the topof your Disk Utility screen you’ll see the button to partition.
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Click onit.
This timeDisk Utility shows you the partition pop up Window.
3. Createyour first Partition.
Give yourpartition a name. In this example our first partition is for a Time Machinebackup. You could call it Time Machine. Makes it easy to remember.
Just like whenyou formatted choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. And the Scheme asGUID Partition Map.
4. Click the+ button under the large circle.
The largecircle is a picture showing your whole disk. When you click + you’re tellingDisk Utility to create a second partition. Disk Utility splits your WD Elements drive into two equal parts.
5. Click onthe New Partition.
Click onthe picture of your WD Elements drive. Click on the side of the picture withyour unnamed partition.
Give thepartition you plan to share a name.
ChooseExFAT for the format. And GUID Partition Map for the scheme.
6. Don’twant Equal sizes?
If youdon’t want a 50/50 split. Then you can type in the size you want eitherpartition to be. Right there on the screen where it says size.
The picturewill move and adjust to show you the percentage each partition has.
7. ClickApply.
When you’rehappy press Apply.
Your Macwill create the partitions, and format them as you want. And after a shortwhile your partitioning is done.
And yourpartitions will appear on your Mac’s desktop as drive icons.
You candouble click on them to open up finder windows. Finder windows that you cancopy and paste to and drag and drop to.
Why Doesn’tYour WD Elements Drive Work Out of the Box on your Mac and PC?
Western Digital ships the Elements external hard drive formatted as NTFS.
This meansyour PC will be able to use the drive right away.
Your Mac can read the files on an NTFS formatted WD Elements drive but can’t update those files. Or put more files on the Elements Drive.
ExFATluckily is a file format that both your Windows PC and your Mac can use.
Plug yourWD Elements drive into either and they can see all the files on the drive. Notonly that, they can write files onto the drive.
This makesthe drive completely shareable.
Saving youmoney because you won’t have to use a more complicated way to share files.
And all thefiles you want to use are right there on the one drive.
Last Words
And now you can relax because you have your WD Elements drive formatted for your Mac and PC. Success. You’ve formatted your WD Elements for a Mac and PC. And now you can get on with sharing your files between them both.
You’ll find other documents here all about your WD Elements drive. Please take a look.
IsWD Elements Compatible with Mac?
And therelated question can you use your WD Elements on a Mac?
The answeris yes. Your WD Elements drive can work great on your Mac.
But thereare a couple of things you need to know and do to get it set up just fine.
You’lllearn here the things you need to know about using your WD Elements for Mac.
And some ofthe potential pitfalls.
Plugging in your WD Elements USB Cable into your Mac
Your WD Elements portable hard drive has a USB 3.0 type A connection to your Mac.
Why is thatimportant?
Is your Macan iMac 2017 or later? Or MacBook Pro 2016 or newer?
Or MacBookAir 2018?
If youranswer is yes then your Mac will have a USB C (Thunderbolt) port on it.
You’ll beable to use your WD Elements drive. But you will need an adaptor to plug theUSB cable from your Elements drive into your Mac.
Theseadaptor cables are easy to get from Amazon.
And shouldyour Mac be an older Mac with USB 2.0.
Yourfine.
The USBcable provided will fit. And your WD elements drive will work at USB 2.0 speedto match your Mac.
You’ve Plugged in and WD Elements not Showing up on Mac?
You’ve loggedin and connected up your WD Elements external hard drive on your Mac. You wereexpecting to see the drive icon on the desktop.
But it’snot there?
The firstthing to check is your Finder Window Preferences.
Open up afinder window. Go to preferences.
In thefinder preferences pop up window be sure you’ve checked the ‘Hard Drive’ and ‘ExternalDrive’ boxes.
Then yourWD Elements external drive’s icon should appear.
What if your WD Elements is Still not Showing up on Mac?Using Your WD Elements On Mac?
Your WDElements drive is bus powered.
What doesthat mean?
It meansthat your Elements drive takes its power from your Mac. Your USB cable bothpowers your Elements drive. And transfers your documents backwards andforwards.
Great. Becauseyou don’t have to worry about carrying another power plug and its cable aroundwith you. Particularly when you take your Elements drive out and about withyour Mac.
But becauseyour WD Elements drive gets its power from your Mac check your Mac is chargedenough. Or plug in your Mac so that your Mac doesn’t run out of power part waythrough a large transfer of files.
Is Your WDElements Drive Read Only on your Mac?
When shipped to you your Western Digital Elements drive is in a format called NTFS. NTFS is a PC format that a Windows PC uses. Your Mac can see and read your NTFS Elements drive.
But whenyou want to put documents on the drive, or update any files on the drive yourMac says no. You can only read your Elements external hard drive.
Don’t fretyou can change the formatting. Byreformatting your WD Elements for your Mac.
How do IFormat WD Elements for Mac?
To use yourWD Elements drive on your Mac you need your Elements drive in HFS+ format. Thisformatting is also known as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. Don’t worry about the name.
Just know that this is a file system that your Mac uses for a Time Machine backup.
And if youwant to copy and paste files.
Or drag anddrop files from your Mac onto your WD Elements drive.
It’s theformat you use when you want to use your WD Elements drive just for yourMac. Because a Windows PC can’t see aHFS+ drive when it’s plugged in.
To set upyour WD Elements drive to work on your Mac you’ll need to format it for Mac.
You’ll find my article on how you format the WD Elements hard drive here.
Click overand in a few minutes you’ll have the formatting all done.
How Can YouUse Your WD Elements Drive without Reformatting?
Formattingwill erase any documents you have on your WD Elements drive. So if you’ve put files on there from yourWindows PC. And really what you want to do is use the drive without changinganything on there.
There issoftware you can use that leaves your Elements drive in NTFS formatting. Butmakes it read and writeable from your Mac.
It’s theoption to choose when you mainly use your WD Elements drive on your Windows PC.And sometimes you use your Elements drive on your Mac.
Using YourWD Elements Drive on Your Mac and a PC
Yes you canuse your WD Elements drive for both a Mac and a PC if you want.
And particularlyif you want to use for both without using special software. And its easy to do.
You justconnect up your WD Elements drive to your Mac and format it to ExFAT.
There aresome articles around on the web suggesting FAT32. And yes you can set your Mac to format yourElements drive to FAT32. FAT32 is compatible with Mac and Windows. But thesedays the FAT32 file system is outdated, not as sturdy and has file sizerestrictions.
ExFAT is freelyread and writable by both your Mac and Windows PC. Both operating systems cansee an ExFAT file system. And use the files, photos, movies, music, in fact anyfiles that are on there.
You can find out how to Format your WD Elements external hard drive for Mac and PC using my article here.
Your WDElements Drive Not Working on Mac?
Havingproblems with your Western Digital Elements drive working. And then not workingon your Mac?
1. When you formatted your WD Elements did you check that the format scheme was ‘GUID Partition Map’? You’ll have problems with formatting the drive without setting the scheme right. Because NTFS is set up differently. And a set up hang over from NTFS will mean odd problems with your Elements drive.
2. You should try repairing your Elements drive in Disk Utility using the First Aid option. That may solve your problem.
If thedrive is in a poor state First Aid may well tell you to erase the drive.
Which meansstarting from scratch and loosing the files on there.
3. Did you download Drive Utilities from the Western Digital site onto your Mac?
Yes, DriveUtilities allows you to run a check on your WD Elements drive. And you can seeif the software reports any errors on the drive.
But didyour problems with the drive show up after you downloaded this software?
Check thatyour version of the Western Digital software is compatible with your Mac’soperating system.
You could haveproblems with your Mac OS clashing with the WD Drive Utilities software.
If you’reone of those having problems with your WD Elements drive working and then not.And for no real reason you can see. Then uninstall the Western DigitalUtilities.
You can dothat by using the WD Uninstaller in your Application’s folder.
And your onand off issues with your WD Elements drive should go away.
Why won’t MyWD Elements Drive Backup?
Having problemswith your Time Machine backups failing to your WD elements drive? This seems another type of conflict with theWD Disk Utilities software.
Check thesoftware version your using. Is it for your version of Mac OS?
Tryuninstalling the WD Disk Utilities. Then see if your Time Machine Backup issuesdisappear.
Last Words
Yes, WDElements is basic storage for your Mac. And it usually works great on Mac. Butif you have problems use my tips here. And have your WD Elements for Mac andlose your issues.
You candiscover other articles on the site all about your WD Elements drive.
Why notcheck them out.
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