Can WD Passport Essentail be used for PC and MAC ??

[AKKK47]

I have a question: I possess a Passport Essential (USB 3.0) and I previously used it with my macbook pro and now I changed back to windows and I want to transfer all my files from my WD Passport to my PC, HOWEVER my computer doesn't recognize the hard drive. I mean this is cannot be. Why should I ever use a hard drive of WD if it isn't compatible with different operating systems. I hope you can help me out to solve this issue. 

[ThePizzaMatrix]

The drive itself is compatible with the 2 operating systems, the FILE SYSTEM is not. You can format any drive as you like it and it will behave as the FILE SYSTEM tells it to behave. If it was working on your Mac then the FILE SYSTEM was changed to HFS+ (No restrictions on OSX), which means that it no longer works on Windows because Windows doesn't support ANY external drive formatted as HFS+. Opposite is also true, if you format the drive back on Windows then the drive will become NTFS (No restrictions on Windows) and will work on Windows, but your Mac WON'T be able to use it.

If you want it to work on the 2 systems, then format the drive as FAT32, it will work on BOTH but won't accept any file larger than 4 GB, won't do automatic backups and will have a higher risk of data corruption. THAT APPLIES TO EVERY SINGLE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL DRIVE EVER MADE BY EVERY MANUFACTURER.

That Windows and OSX hate each other is not a drive fault.

[begandy]

So if I want to reflormat the drive so I can use it for mac how would i do that? i need it to be in HFS+ right? how do i make it for that now?

[ThePizzaMatrix]

If it was working on your Mac then right now it -is- HFS+, but if you want to manually format it again click on go> utilities> disk utility> click on the drive itself> click on partition> set the volme scheme for one partition if you want the full capacity on a single volume> click on options> Check Apple Partition Map if you're on a G4/G5, or check GUID Partition Table if you're on an Intel-based Mac> Type the name you want in th upper-right corner> The format will be automatically set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which is HFS+> Click on Partition/Apply in the lower-right.

[Joe_S]

Pizza

I never used Macs but saw this recomenced for Windows to use a drive formatted for Mac http://www.catacombae.org/hfsx.html . Do you have any experience with it or know if it works? I also see NTFS-3G recommended a lot for Mac to use Windows format drives. Is this still workable with the newest versions of Mac?

Joe

[satyagokani]

hii

i am having same problem, as me and my father both r using same external hard disk, but we have different computer systems. i use mac and my father uses windows 7. but hard disk was installed first in my computer, and now we want to transfer all data to ma daddy's computer. i read abt the procedure of installing drivers here, but i am not clear abt one more thing that whether all my data on that disk would be as it is after formetting also? becoz its the only backup we have.

[Geoff47]

I have a similar issue.  My passport SE worked fine on Windows and Leopard, could use on work pc (Windows) and my home Macbook Pro without any issue.  I then "upgraded" the Macbook to Lion and can no longer access the passport SE portable drive.  Is there a "work around" so I can still use the same portable drive on both systems?  Geoff

[nmcintyre]

I was having the same problem, so I followed these instructions to the letter.

I now have an erased external hard drive that still won't work on my PC.