How to Format a Western Digital My Passport to Mac & PC

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Reformatting a Western Digital My Passport hard drive to function well on Windows and Macintosh systems is neither time-consuming nor technologically demanding. Back up all important information on the drive before beginning; any data left on the drive will be destroyed during the reformatting process. For the most desirable results when reformatting on Windows systems, use Western Digital's Formatting Utility. Due to a system limitation, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista can only create 32GB FAT32 partitions, regardless of the drive's capacity.

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Step 1

Plug the drive in.

Connect the Western Digital My Passport hard drive to the computer. Power on both devices.

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Step 2

Launch Disk Utility.

Click the Finder, open the "Applications" folder, open the "Utilities" folder and choose "Disk Utility."

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Step 3

Select the WD Passport drive.

Select the drive you wish to reformat.

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Step 4

Go to the Erase tab.

Click "Erase," and pull down the Format menu. Choose "FAT32." Enter a hard drive name, if desired.

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Step 5

Proceed to formatting.

Click "Erase." A confirmation screen opens, stating that all information on the drive will be lost if erased. Click "Erase." Once completed, the erased drive will function on both Windows and Macintosh systems.

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Step 6

Download the Western Digital FAT32 Formatting Utility.

Download and install the Western Digital FAT32 Formatting Utility.

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Step 7

Plug the drive in.

Connect the Western Digital My Passport hard drive to the computer. Power on both devices.

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Step 8

Launch the Formatting Utility.

Open the FAT32 Formatting Utility and select the desired external hard drive. Ensure that "Restore Factory Original FAT32 Partition" is selected.

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Step 9

Proceed to formatting.

Click "Start." A warning message opens, stating that all data on the drive will be destroyed. Click "OK" to continue. Click "Yes"' to navigate through the prompts.

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