windows reformat external hard drive mac compatible

For example, ExFat systems have limited oversize of partitions, FAT32 systems are not widely found and Mac OS’s Journaled formats will only work on Mac OS powered devices. What’s the Best Format of WD Elements for Mac?Ĭhoosing the perfect format to which you will reformat the hard disk can be quite tricky as there are a lot of formats and they have their own pros and cons. There is no requirement of any third-party application to be able to do so and the processes are quite easy as well.

How to reformat WD elements for Mac you ask? Well, it is quite easy, to begin with, and can easily be done across different devices so that it can be used with cross-platform usage features. In order to get over this hurdle, it becomes necessary to format the hard disk into a format that is widely supported. How to Format WD Elements for Mac?ĭue to the differences in the operating systems, most of the ED elements external hard disks don’t work natively on the Mac OS-powered devices. The only way to be able to use these hard disks on your Mac is by reformatting them into other formats like Journaled, ExFAT, or FAT32 formats as they are supported across all the devices. Because of the fact that Windows PCs are more popular, they generally come with NTFS format. How to Make WD Elements Compatible with MacĪs the WD element is a popular external hard disk, more and more people prefer buying it due to its reliability. If you want to buy WD elements that work on Mac, ask the shopkeeper to give you an HDD that has HFS+ format as it is supported by Mac devices or you can go for file formats like ExFAT and FAT32. Most of these hard disks are formatted into NTFS format that is only supported on Windows PCs. Does WD Elements Work on Macĭepending upon the format in which HDD is created, it may or may not work on Mac devices. Some versions might also be available in FAT32 and ExFAT formats, which are widely supported across different types of operating systems and devices. It is important to check the formats before you buy external HDD as not all the HDDs are supported across both devices. Most commonly WD elements come with NTFS format which is not supported by Mac by default. The differences in formats cause issues in reading the hard drive and in order to be able to use it universally across your entire device, it is important to first reformat the drive into a supported format. This format is not supported on Mac devices and you will not be able to access the hard drive. Tips for Formatting WD Elements for Mac?īy default, a WD Elements HDD cannot work on Mac computers as they are formatted in NTFS format. How to Recover Formatted WD Files on Mac?

Windows reformat external hard drive mac compatible