how do i reformat a wd my passport for mac

It doesn't hurt to erase a backup, because, well. What I would do at this point is ERASE the WD drive, and start over with a 'fresh backup'. 'But I am old, it is late, and I am confused!!' Personally this is what I would recommend if you are not technical, and a new HD is not a cost issue.īefore you add the new HD in Time Machine, remove the old disk (WD) in Time Machine first. You are correct you can just replace the hard disk and start a new Time Machine backup.

To be honest if the WD HD is more than 3 years old, I would just replace it with a new one. Someone technical can make an assessment of what the HD problem is by running diagnostic tests.

While it can also make any bad sector (physical) errors not addressable, it may be a sign that the hard disk is starting to die, and you run the risk that more bad sectors to develop in the future. Reformatting the disk would fix any non physical errors. The current errors on the disk could be as a result of unplugging the disk while it was still writing data or other software errors, or it could be that the disk is starting to fail. I would recommend that reformatting a disk is done by someone that understands the process. So, please back up the data before sharing it between the two computers.Be careful, if you are not sure what you are doing you could inadvertently reformat your internal HD rather than your external backup WD drive.

The corruption chances of the external drive increase if used on both Mac and PC systems regularly.

Like FAT32, ex-FAT is not a commonly used file system, due to which its support may vary among third-party devices.

Therefore, it is better to choose ex-FAT instead.

Due to the limitation of FAT32, it might affect Mac’s and PC’s performance.

Ex-FAT supports a maximum volume size of up to 1 Petabytesyte and maximum file size of 16 Exabytes.

FAT32 supports a maximum volume of up to 8 Terabytes and a maximum file size of up to 4 Gigabytes.

Check this before selecting a file format.

Specific third-party systems, like Digital Camcorders and Sony PlayStation, need the drives to be formatted in either FAT32 or ex-FAT format to perform read and write operations.Format your Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to FAT32 or ex-FAT format to transfer the data between a Mac and Windows system conveniently.Things you Should Know Before Formatting WD My Passport Stellar Data Recovery has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can upgrade with confidence. However, if you need unlimited data recovery capability, you’ll need to upgrade the software from Free Edition to Professional Edition. Stellar Data Recovery Free Edition (Windows or Mac) can scan your WD My Passport storage drive, preview recoverable files for free, and recover up to 1 Gigabyte of data without subscribing. Preview files in the Stellar Data Recovery for Windows Why Use Stellar Data Recovery for Mac and PC?

How do i reformat a wd my passport for mac