How to reformat WD my Passport as a "dumb" drive

dave_14

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Jul 25, 2012
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Hello,
I just got a Westrn Digital 1T Passport external hd.

I dont want to use any included software with it- no password protection and no back up. I already have a back up drive. I just want to use this as an additional hard drive for a windows 7 64 bit laptop. Do I just connect by USB and reformat?

(I'm sorry if this question has already been asked, but all my searches lead me to issues of reformatting the drive gto use for Mac.)

Thanks,
 

Max1s

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May 24, 2011
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Well if you want to use it on a mac, you need to either format it to "Mac OS Extended" or "FAT 32." Windows can only write, read, and format for NTFS and FAT32.

What you do on a windows is plug it in, find it on "my computer" select the drive and right click, select 'format' and go to work.

On a mac, go to the applications folder, then the utilities folder within the applications folder, and find "Hard disk ultility." Then you select your drive on the left and "erase" the drive, after selecting the proper format.

 

dave_14

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Jul 25, 2012
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Hi Max1s

That's what makes sense to me, but I couldn't find confimation- every search turned up issues about formatting for MAC or problems bypassing the autobackup software. Thanks.