This is useful if a drive is being used under both Operating System (OS)to.The My Passport at least arguably earns WD's description of it as "stylish." The drive I have for testing, pictured here, is black, but you can also get versions formatted for Windows in a red or blue case, or one formatted for the Mac in a darker blue case only. A Western Digital external hard drive can be used on both Windows and Mac OSX. 1 - Format WD My Passport in Windows Platform (Using Free Software) You can format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to ex-FAT or FAT32 format using a free ex-FAT or FAT32 converter - EaseUS Partition Master free or use. Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it.Here are three ways to format a WD My Passport for Mac, follow any one of them to convert to FAT or exFAT. How to Format a Hard Drive for Mac. Variations on a ThemeHow to Reformat Passport External Hard Drive From Read Only to Read and Write for use with Mac computers.IMPORTANT: WHEN YOU REFORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE YOU.The port uses a Micro-USB Type-B connector to match the included cable (or cables, if you get the Mac version more on that in a minute). Pick up the drive, and it feels like a solid, well-built product.Aside from the seam that joins the top and bottom sections of the case together, the only obvious detail on the smooth sides of the case is a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port on the short side (top edge) near the logo. The partially rippled surface covers half of both the top and bottom, running from one corner to the diagonal center line on both, while an understated WD logo occupies the upper right corner of the top.WD isn't the only maker offering a 5TB portable (Seagate, LaCie, and ADATA also have 5TB portable offerings), but this is the capacity you want if what you need is the roomiest possible pocketable USB storage.Note, too, that the My Passport's size and weight varies with its capacity. All that said, the 5TB is special in that 5TB is the single highest-capacity portable drive you can get at the moment. Be sure to check prices for both when you buy to see which one is the smarter choice on that particular day. Based on list prices, the slightly higher cost per gigabyte for the larger drive argues against choosing it, but current street prices make the 5TB model an equal or even better deal.
My Passport Reformat Mac In AIf you already have a spare cable, you can buy the Windows version, reformat it for HFS+, and save a few dollars. Both Mac and Windows versions come with a USB-A-to-Micro-B cable the Mac drives add a USB-C-to-Micro-B cable, as well. More precisely, the list price is $10 more for the 2TB, 4TB, and 5TB capacities, with the higher price justified by a second cable. WD touts it as the slimmest 5TB drive in the company's portfolio.The Mac versions of My Passport cost a little more than their Windows equivalents. That said, even the 5TB drive I had for testing fits comfortably in a shirt pocket. Fallout 3 steam for macThe My Passport offers a strong argument on both scores.A serious issue for small, portable drives is that they're easy to lose and there's always a possibility of their being stolen. That often leaves features like built-in data encryption (or the lack of it) and bundled software as the best reasons to pick one brand over another. Security and SoftwarePlatter drive technology is mature enough that there is little difference in performance, reliability, or even price from one vendor to the next for 2.5-inch, 5,400rpm hard drives like the one inside the My Passport case. Reformatting the drive will remove the password and let you use the drive again, but doing that will also erase all your data. If you forget the password, there's no way to recover it, and you can't change it without knowing the current password. However, you might want to skip that convenience. By default, whenever you connect the drive to a computer or reboot, you'll be prompted for the password before you can access your data.You can optionally set the program to automatically unlock the drive for computers you use regularly. Assuming it's implemented properly, AES-256 is currently considered essentially unbreakable.To take advantage of the encryption, you simply install and launch the WD Security app that comes on the drive, enter a password, and optionally add a password hint. The My Passport addresses that potential problem the same way as the Editors' Choice Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Touch does, with AES-256 hardware encryption and password protection. If you connect a drive with a mismatched format to your computer with WD Discovery running, you'll see an option to download the appropriate Paragon driver. For the Mac, WD relies on Apple Time Machine for backup.One notable plus is that WD Discovery lets you download Paragon drivers at no charge, which will let you use an NTFS-formatted drive with a Mac or one formatted with HFS+ in Windows. WD Backup, for Windows only, can back up to Dropbox as well as the My Passport drive. WD Discovery can download data from cloud storage and social media accounts. The WD Drive Utility lets you reformat, diagnose the drive condition, and manage the drive's power use. Both versions offer most of the same features. Results are in megabytes per second (MBps).The 5TB My Passport is a close second here for sequential reads and tied for a close third for sequential writes. Crystal DiskMarkCrystal DiskMark, a test of sequential read and write speeds for straight-line transfers of contiguous data, represents a best-case scenario for platter drives. However, even the slowest drive in the group managed to score 1,148, which makes the difference from top to bottom too small to matter in most real-world applications. (Frankly, with little significant difference between first and last place in many of the tests, a win doesn't mean much.) PCMark 7 Secondary Storage TestThe PCMark 7 Secondary Storage test generates a proprietary score based on a mix of simulated workloads, including a Windows Defender scan, video editing tasks, and application launches.The My Passport finished a close second to the ADATA HD710M Pro, with a score of 1,783 versus 1,822.
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