Can't format my 1.0TB Western Digital

I just purchased a base model Mac Pro 2.8 Quad-Core and trying to install 1.0TB Western Digital in drive bay 2. The Disk Utility does recognize the drive as "Media" but won't allow me to format it. Can someone please help! Thanks!

Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click on the Erase button. Repeat for each additional partition you created if more than one.

Similar Messages

Can i use exfat format for my external western digital harddrive so that i can use in both windows and mac?

can i use exfat format for my external western digital harddrive so that i can use in both windows and mac?
thanks in advance.
<Email Edited by Host>

Yes you can. OS X version 10.6.6 and later can read/write exFAT. Windows XP SP3 and later can read/write exFAT. As posted by Radiation Mac, you can do it from Windows or from OS X.
However, I've noticed Windows to be somewhat picky about drives formatted on a Mac. So, if Windows can't read it, try formatting it on the Windows machine, and see how it works on the Mac.
Posting your email on a public forum isn't a very good idea. It will likely be harvested by spambots and used as the reply-to address for spam it sends out.
Also, most people are not going to send an email to you for similar reasons. Nobody knows who you are, so sending an email to you could be giving a spammer a valid email address.
The forum is set up to automatically notify you when there are responses to your questions. When you get one, you would log back into this forum and check to see what the answer was.

Format new 1 TB Western Digital My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive?

Hey guys, I just purchased a 1 TB Western Digital External Hard Drive. Do I have to format it or can I use it as is? Thanks

Thanks for the help! I just formated the External Hard Drive. I have one question, will this external Hard Drive work on a windows computer now that I formatted it? Will I be able to plug it into a Windows computer and store media on it? Thanks

HT3275 message: "Your Time Machine backup disk can't be found." Mountain Lion. Western Digital "MY Book" "Home edition"

Intalled Mountain Lion. Now get message: "Time machine backup disk can't be found. Using Western Digital "My Book" "Home Edition"

Wow, I feel really stupid. I spent a couple of days trying to troubleshoot this problem.
1. Open TM prefs.
2. Click "Select Disk..."
3. Select "None" and apply changes.
4. Click "Select Disk..." Select your disk and apply changes.
*5. When the password prompt appears, MAKE SURE THE NAME IS THE NAME OF THE AIRPORT BASESTATION, and not the name of your Mac.
6. Run a backup.

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB drive - anyone using these in internal bay

Just a side thread to a current discussion I've started (http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1125&start=0) to try to see if anyone can report positive results using a Western Digital Caviar Black in their Mac Pro, especially if they're doing so as the Startup Disk.
I have horrible performance with a new one and want to see if others have had good or bad experience.

Out of curiosity did you prepare the drive properly? Most new bare drives have not been partitioned for use on the Mac and also are formatted FAT32. Consider doing the following;
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
I have seen elsewhere some mention that WD drives have some configuration jumpers. You might check the information about the drive's configuration at the WD support site to be sure that the drive is correctly configured (if there is a need to do so, that is.)

Something to say about Western Digital Caviar 250 Gig?

I want to add a second drive to my 1,8DP G5 (PCI-X) and I can find available locally this disc:
WESTERN DIGITAL- WD2500JS
Western Digital 250GB SATA II 7200 RPM 8MB
I wanted to check that nobody had problems with this kind of disk. I'll get it from a PC parts supplier and wanted to know if there is something I'd have to switch or configure to make it works fine in Mac.
Thanks in advance

Hello all,
I have a Power G5 dual 2Ghz and have recently bought and installed a second HD. It happened to be a WD Caviar 250 GB, SATA-II, 16MB 7200 rpm, and it only lasted one month: it soon started to make metallic noises (as if the head was falling on the disk) and then crashed.
I first thought the disk was defective so I had it replaced with a new one, same model. As soon as I installed it (upper bay) this second disk also started to have the same problems as the first one and crashed after 4 days.
I was wondering if there is any known incompatibility. In particular, the disk is labelled as SATA-II, while the manual I got with my Power G5 talks about SATA disk: are they the same thing? Or do I have to set some jumpers/switches etc.?
I hope someone can help, I am desperate, I dont't know if my Mac has a problem or I'm just not using the right disks or the correct settings.
Any suggestions on some tests or anything I can try?
Thanks a lot in advance
/Andrea
PowerMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Cannot properly format Western Digital 3.0 TB SATA drives

Hi, I have purchased a few Western Digital 3.0TB Caviar® Green Hard Disk Drives and today have been attempting to format them. Unfortunately, they are only showing 800.79 GB available... after using Disk Utility on Intel based Mac(s) running 10.6.8. (specifically a 2010 Mini running 10.6.8 and a 2009 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac). I cannot find anything addressing this on any blog, let alone the Western Digital site. I am formatting them Mac OS Extended Journaled, GUID 1 partition. Am I doing something wrong or are other customers having similar problems?
Sincerely,
-ddscott57

ddscott57 wrote:
Very smart, thank you... My system utilizes several Mac Minis and I am therefore reliant on using their interfaces (which in this case is having to settle for USB 2, as my single Firewire ports are in use by a Canopus). I've been digging for more up to date 4 Bay Enclosure units but to no avail when it comes to having both the USB 2 option as well as the 3TB capability. Seems I'm gonna lose for now on the 3TB SATA purchases.
Perhaps just purchase a single drive enclosure for the 3TB drive(s), if you can't return the drives. But considering that HD prices are expected to rise due to shortages, I'd probably not return the drives.
I have no experience with Canopus products, but I'm assuming that the Canopus has issues with daisychaining, similar to other high-end audio devices. (If not, then obviously you can put the Canopus device at the end of the chain or get a Firewire hub.) Perhaps you want to look at some sort of NAS enclosure, which would have faster transfer than USB (although not as fast as Firewire.) This assumes you attach the Mini and the NAS to wired gigabit ethernet, and not Wi-Fi.
edit: BTW, OWC's Mercury Pro Qx4 and Drobos appear to support 3TB drives.

Formating Western Digital External Hard Drive gets an error

Hi!
I just bought a 500GB Western Digital External Hard Drive (uses Firewire 400), primarily for storing HD iMovie and Final Cut Express files. When I checked the iMovie support, it recomends to format the external hard drive as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). I opened Disk Utility, selected the hard drive (My Book) and followed the steps to both erase and reformat it. I have gotten an error numerous times that says:
Error
+Disk can't be remounted+
Something like that. I don't know why I'm having this problem, but any help would be very appreciated. I just bought a Canon HV20 and want to get to use it soon...
Thanks!
Apple.User
FYI: I have an Intel iMac and Mac OS X 10.5.2, along with any of the latest updates for it.

Try doing it this way:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.

HT1452 I want to reset the permissions on a western digital external hard drive to work between mac and windows... How can I do this easily?

I have a MacBook Pro and have recently bought a Western Digital external hard drive. I used it on my windows laptop first and unfortunately now on the Mac it is read only. How can I set it so that I can use it successfully between the both the Mac and windows laptop?
Thanks

MacQuack wrote:
You will need to pull all the information off first. The formatting will erase it all.
Use Disk Utility (in Applications >> Utilities or use Spotlight to find it). On the left select your WD drive and then select the Erase tab. Where it says Format, select exFat in the drop-down menu. Next, click Erase and done. It will take approx. 5-15mins to re-format.
Cons: You will be unable to store files 4GB or larger in this format (usually only dmg/iso files or large Outlook files). Also, you will be unable to use Time Machine or other auto-backup programs.
That is not entirely correct, there is no 4G limit using exFat, FAT32 is the one with the limit.

Format a Western Digital Elements for MAC and PC

I have a new Western Digital Elements and I need to format it for Mac and PC. I have a G-Tech drive (which has content from an FCP edit) and I need to make a duplicate of the content onto the Western Digital so that the client who has a PC can open the files.
Any help? I tried searching in Disk Utility for FAT-32 but couldn't find it and didn't want to do something to harm the drive.
Thanks!

I have numerous external drives all formatted as FAT 32 on the Mac which transfer Quicktime back and forth between Windows and Mac machines.
As an additional note, check that the CODEC used for these files is available on the PC or they wont play.
We encode our client previews as H264 for playback only.
Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility > Partition >
in volume scheme select 1 partition
format: MS DOS FAT
options > Master Boot Record
apply and it will partition and format the drive

Can Time Machine back up to a Western Digital "My Passport Wireless" over wifi?

I bought a Western Digital "My Passport Wireless" external hard drive / NAS to use as a Time Machine backup for my new MacBook Pro. I plugged it in via USB, formatted it to HFS+, and ran Time Machine. All good.
This hard drive has a wireless chip in it, so one can connect to it via wifi, either directly or through a router. When I dismounted the drive and connected via wifi (via my router), my expectation was that I could run Time Machine and do periodic back-ups without having to remember to plug in the drive, etc.
I can see the drive and read/write to it. I am connected as 'admin', not 'guest'. It is named "MyPassport", both when connected via USB and via wifi. When I try to use the drive via wifi for Time Machine, I'm asked: "Do you want to stop backing up to “MyPassport” and use “TimeMachineBackup/TimeMachine” instead, or back up to both?" When I select "Use both", I'm then told: "Time Machine can’t access the backup disk “TimeMachineBackup/TimeMachine”. The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 2.)"
Should it be possible for Time Machine to recognize the same archive, whether connected via USB or wifi?
If I cannot, can I at least back up a new archive over wifi. I recognize that the first go at this would take a long time due to slow wireless transfer speed. What does OSStatus error 2 mean?

So you think that you know better than Apple.
NAS is not supported by Time Machine, you can take all the risks you like but do not advise others to do so. It doesn't matter what WD say, they want you to buy one, Apple are the deciders of what is supported or not.
Here's what WD say:
Note: WD does not provide technical support for Time Machine related issues. For assistance with backing up to a WD NAS drive, using the Time Machine application please contact Apple. As the backup application is built into the OS, they are the only ones qualified to diagnose a Time Machine related issue.
Good luck.

Time machine backup fails; error creating folder. Western Digital drive requires password which is perhaps/likely the issue. I can't eliminate the password/encryption.

Time Machine backup fails on new WD external drive (My Passport Studio); error creating folder (after several hours of Time Machine apparently working).
Background: I purchased a Western Digital drive from an Apple Store to use for Time Machine backup. I followed the Western Digital instructions that came with the drive for Mac. I didn't get the Time Machine prompt which the instructions indicated I would receive--namely to select whether I want to encrypt my Time Macine backups. (I already have a Time Machine backup I use at another location, which is perhaps why I didn't receive a prompt.)
I decided to install the Western Digital utilities and security software that comes on the disk--with a view to potentially encrypting the disk (since I still wanted to have an encrypted backup since I was mobile). I forgot that (from experience 2-years previous) that I shouldn't install Western Digital software because it just makes life really complicated.
I tried several times to do a Time Machine backup with failures each time (error creating the backup folder). I tried to get help from WD but I don't think the technicians were following what my issue was. Potentially I was not helpful in explaining it. I deleted the WD applications from my system after the first contact with WD. However the problem persisted--I still had an encrypted hard drive. After three phone sessions with three different WD techs I still could not get a solution. (By the second call I was not at all interested in having an encrypted drive--I just wanted to format and restore the drive to an unencrypted state so that I could have SOME kind of Time Machine backup.)
I still don't have a solution--either to get Time Machine working with the WD encryption/password on the drive, or to remove the encryption so I can backup. Right now my options are to return the drive to the Apple Store -- or get a return authorization from WD. Seems crazy since the drive is fine and I have the working password.

Never install "helpful software" provided by WD and Seagate (or any HD mfg.)
All such stuff is fluff and nonsense that interferes with normal HD operation.
Always when you buy a new HD, format it for Mac and then use it to TM backup or clone a HD, or archive data.
Less is more on HD new out of box. A "blank brick", no fluff and cotton candy software

My iMac Seagate 1T hard drive crashed. I replaced it with a Western Digital 1T hard drive. Where can I get the Lion OS?

My iMac Seagate 1T hard drive crashed. I replaced it with a Western Digital 1T hard drive. Where can I get the Lion OS?
The iMac comes up with a ? in a folder, even after starting with Option/Command/R keys pressed.
Please help.

Call Apple to purchase replacement discs or order a copy of Snow Leopard from Apple's Online Store. Follow these instructions:
Drive Preparation and Install Snow Leopard
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. When completed quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard. Once you boot from Snow Leopard you should open Software Update and install all the available updates required. After you complete this and restart the computer open the App Store application in the Dock or Applications folder.
8. Sign into the App Store with your Apple ID and password. Purchase and download Lion.
9. After Lion's installer downloads, install Lion.

How do I figure out if I have usb 3.0? I am trying to buy compatible external hard drive (western digital my passport for mac) and I can not figure out if it will work with my mac book.

how do I figure out if I have usb 3.0? I am trying to buy compatible external hard drive (western digital my passport for mac) and I can not figure out if it will work with my mac book.

Dont buy a Western Digital, get a Hitachi or Seagate (Toshiba is made by Hitachi). These are the most reliable, and the HD used inside Macs.
ALL HD can be made compatible with your MAC (including a WD if you already bought same), ......they just need to be formatted for the Mac platform, format them in Disk Utility as Mac OSX extended journaled.

I am trying to use an external HD and need to configure it for the MAC. Can someone explain how to configure the HD (Western Digital - My Passport SE)?

Can someone help explain how to add an external HD to the Mac? I have a Western Digital My Passport SE and need to configure if for the MAC and add it to the HD location on my Mac.

Connect the external drive to the Mac. You can do that while the Mac is on, (If the drive is one that has to be plugged into a wall outlet do that too and turn the power on.) If there is a light on the drive it should turn on.
Now double click on the hard drive icon - top left of the screen of your computer. When it opens look for the Applications folder. Double click that. Next look for a folder called Utilities. Double click. In there you will see a file called Disk Utility.app. Double click on that.
You will now see something like this, with two items on the left. The second one is your new drive.
Select it - one click. And click on Erase - one of the buttons at the top, You will see this.
You must select the Format, it's a drop down - the one shown in the image above is best. You can change the name from Untitled if you want. The name can be changed later if you prefer.
At this point look at the bottom right. There is a button there called Erase. Click on it. Then go get yourself a cup of coffee - this will take a few minutes.

Can't format my 1.0TB Western Digital

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for