Just got a MAC OS Yosemite. Prior to getting the MAC I would normally transfer my files from my old PC to a WD My Book Essential external hard drive. Well now I want to make my MAC the primary computer I transfer files from to the external hard drive. I was told it needed to be reformatted for a MAC. How do I do that without losing my files that originated on a PC computer??? Please help.
need to reformat WD My Book essential from PC format to MAC
- Thread starter MissKeys
- Start date
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hey there, MissKeys!
First you need to backup the data from the external My Book to your PC. Reformatting it and changing the file system for Mac OS will erase all the data on the external, so just copy the data back to the PC and proceed with the re-formatting.
If you want the WD My Book to be read/written by both Windows and Mac, you need to format the drive in FAT32 file system.
Here's a link with a tutorial how to perform this: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=fbFDVR
Afterwards, just simply copy back all the data that you wish to transfer to your new Mac from the PC onto the external.
Once your WD My Book is formatted in FAT32 you shouldn't have any issues to read/write to it from both operating systems.
Hope this helped!
SuperSoph_WD
First you need to backup the data from the external My Book to your PC. Reformatting it and changing the file system for Mac OS will erase all the data on the external, so just copy the data back to the PC and proceed with the re-formatting.
If you want the WD My Book to be read/written by both Windows and Mac, you need to format the drive in FAT32 file system.
Here's a link with a tutorial how to perform this: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=fbFDVR
Afterwards, just simply copy back all the data that you wish to transfer to your new Mac from the PC onto the external.
Once your WD My Book is formatted in FAT32 you shouldn't have any issues to read/write to it from both operating systems.
Hope this helped!
SuperSoph_WD
SuperSoph_WD :
Hey there, MissKeys!
First you need to backup the data from the external My Book to your PC. Reformatting it and changing the file system for Mac OS will erase all the data on the external, so just copy the data back to the PC and proceed with the re-formatting.
If you want the WD My Book to be read/written by both Windows and Mac, you need to format the drive in FAT32 file system.
Here's a link with a tutorial how to perform this: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=fbFDVR
Afterwards, just simply copy back all the data that you wish to transfer to your new Mac from the PC onto the external.
Once your WD My Book is formatted in FAT32 you shouldn't have any issues to read/write to it from both operating systems.
Hope this helped!
SuperSoph_WD
First you need to backup the data from the external My Book to your PC. Reformatting it and changing the file system for Mac OS will erase all the data on the external, so just copy the data back to the PC and proceed with the re-formatting.
If you want the WD My Book to be read/written by both Windows and Mac, you need to format the drive in FAT32 file system.
Here's a link with a tutorial how to perform this: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=fbFDVR
Afterwards, just simply copy back all the data that you wish to transfer to your new Mac from the PC onto the external.
Once your WD My Book is formatted in FAT32 you shouldn't have any issues to read/write to it from both operating systems.
Hope this helped!
SuperSoph_WD
Thank you so much SuperSoph_WD. Another question for you....I clicked the link you attached and I saw the recommended instructions for the Mac operating systems but the most current they have on their is mavericks and I have the upgrade Yosemite. Will this pose an issue or is it good across the board for all Mac OS's??
kenrivers
Illustrious
- Dec 29, 2010
- 6,684
- 6
- 37,015
It shouldn't pose an issue at all. I have an external drive that I have used with a MacBook Pro through a couple of OS updates/upgrades and the drive has performed flawlessly under each of the Mac OS's. I still use the drive with Yosemite even though it was formatted on a Mac OS before Mavericks was released.
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hi again, MissKeys!
You shouldn't have any issues as kenrivers mentioned! Yosemite is a rather new OS X version, this why it's not listed in the tutorial. The whole procedure of partitioning/formatting your external drive is done through the built-in Disk Utility, which I believe is present on every Mac OS X version. So, go right ahead and format it in Yosemite, it's good across any Mac OS!
Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD
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