WD External Hard Drive For Mac - Complete Guide

Western Digital external hard drives are known for their efficiency and performance. If you want to know how to set up and format your hard drive on your Mac, you are on the right track. We have also explained a few troubleshooting solutions to handle the frequently occurring issues on your WD External Hard Drive On Mac. With all that said, let's move into the topic.

How To Set Up External Hard Drive On Mac

Format WD External Hard Drive For Mac

Usually, WD hard drives come pre-formatted with the NTFS file system, which is compatible only with the Windows Operating System. Therefore, you should reformat your hard drive with the HFS+ file system. If you are required to work on both Windows and Mac computers, you can reformat it with the exFAT file system. The following instructions will guide you in that regard.

• On your Mac, open Applications and select Utilities >> Disk Utility.



• When directed to the Disk Utility section, select your WD external hard drive and click the Erase button at the top.
• Input a name for your hard drive in the Name field. Specify the format as HFS+ or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and choose the scheme as GUID Partition Map.



• Select the exFAT option if you want to use your hard drive on both Windows and Mac computers. However, this format is not compatible with Time Machine backup.
• Once done, click Erase.
• If you don't want to format your hard drive, install the NTFS driver on your Mac so that you can use your hard drive on both Operating Systems.

How To Troubleshoot Hard Drive On Mac

WD hard drives work without any issue. However, in some instances, your drive will not show up on your Mac for several reasons. Try out the troubleshooting solutions listed below and check if your problem is rectified.

• If your Western Digital hard drive is not showing up on your Mac, check if the USB cable is firm enough at both ends. Disconnect the USB cable and reconnect it. Inspect the cable; replace it with a new one if you find any damage.
• If you have not selected External disks to show up on the desktop, you cannot locate your hard drive on your Mac. In that case, click Finder and select Preferences. On the Finder Preferences screen, go to the General tab and select External disks under Show these items on the desktop.



• Any technical glitch can be fixed with a system restart. Therefore, restart your Mac and ensure that your problem is fixed.
• You can use the First Aid utility on your Mac to handle the basic issues. Open the Disk Utility section on your Mac. Click View> Show All Devices. When it shows you the devices connected to your Mac, right-click on your hard drive and select First Aid. When the First Aid dialog box appears, click Run. This utility will diagnose and fix the problem.

This is how you should set up, format, and troubleshoot your WD external hard drive. Do you have any questions? If yes, reach our technical experts for assistance using the call option on this page.