How to Format Western Digital Passport for Mac OS X

Computers running the Mac OS X operating system, produced by Apple, use the Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+) filesystem natively. HFS+ supports features such as permissions and resource forks, which the UNIX-based Mac OS X depends on for proper system operations. A Western Digital Passport external hard drive typically comes formatted with the FAT32 filesystem, which allows for compatibility between different operating systems. You can format a Western Digital Passport external drive to the HFS+ filesystem for use on Mac OS X.

Instructions

1. Connect the Western Digital Passport drive to the computer.

2. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.

3. Click the "Go" menu at the top of the screen, then click "Utilities."

4. Double-click "Disk Utility."

5. Click the Western Digital Passport drive in the left column of the Disk Utility window.

6. Click the "Partition" tab.

7. Click "1 Partition" under "Volume Scheme."

8. Enter a name for the formatted drive if you wish, then click "Apply."

9. Click "Partition" to erase the drive and finalize the changes.

Tips & Warnings

• This is a destructive process that erases all existing data on the Western Digital Passport drive. Be sure that any important data residing on the Passport drive is backed up.

Resources

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