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Reformat Wd Elements

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Yo just got a new external hard drive and want to use it on your Mac. However, the Mac OS does not allow you to write data to the drive. You may wonder how to reformat an external hard drive on Mac. Follow the tutorial below, you'll get everything covered.

Reformatting an external hard drive for use with Mac OSX is not as difficult as it might seem. In a few simple steps you are ready to go and can save your back-up files to the external drive, keeping your information safe and giving you peace of mind. Keep in mind that a MAC can generally read other file formats, but for the best performance and to create a bootable disk, formatting exclusively for MAC is required.

How to Format/Reformat WD Elements for Mac Depending on the system that you are using, there are 2 ways to format your hard disk into a Mac supported format. One is by using the indigenous file format option in the windows OS powered computers and the other. Reformat external drive by wjs49 Nov 30, 2009 8:53PM PST I had purchased a Western Digital Elements drive (model WD7500E035, serial WCAU50125497) about a year ago as a backup for my desktop. Fix WD external hard drive not working/responding issue. When WD external hard drive, USB or other brands of storage devices are not working or not responding to any operations in your PC, don't worry. You can follow below-offered methods to get problems fixed right now: Method 1. Update WD external hard drive driver to make it work. Western Digital Hard Drive Utility Formatting Drive. To format the Western Digital Hard Disk Drive using the Disk Management application, follow the instructions given below. First, back up the data from the hard drive that you wish to format. Give a right-click on the Start icon on your system.

Part 1: Which File Format You Should Choose?

Before you begin formatting the drive, there are a few things to do. The most important, you should decide which format to use.

There are a few file formats you can use, but it depends on the purpose you want to use the drive for. Which one is right for your circumstance? We'll describe them here, you'll know your choice after reading the details.

APFS: This is the default file system in Macs with High Sierra. It is efficient and reliable. However, it won't be readable and usable on machines that are not running Mac High Sierra, and Windows or Linux PCs. What's more, it is compatible with SSD and flash storage devices only.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled/HFS+): If you didn't update your Mac OS to High Sierra, the default file system on your Mac shoule be Mac OS Extended. Mac OS Extended (encrypted) would be an ideal option if you probably carry your laptop or external drive here and there. You can encrypt it so that no one can access the contents on your drive.

MS-DOS FAT (aka FAT32): In addition to Mac, it can also be written and read by Linux and Windows. It enables you to regularly share files with your friends who own a PC. Nevertheless, this older file system is limited to no more than 4GB and there might be security issue and disk errors.

ExFAT: It is similar to ExFAT which can be read by both Windows and Mac, but it can store more than 4GB files.

NTFS: As the default file system in Windows, it can only read by Mac OS, writing to it is not available. Luckily, there are third-party tools to help you do so.

Part 2: Format External Hard Drive for Mac with Disk Utility

Formatting an external hard drive would erase everything on it. Hence, you must backup your important files before reformatting the drive if you want to save them. The easiest way is to drag it from one drive to another.

All is set, then you can go ahead to format the drive on your Mac. Disk utility - the MacOS utility application can help you with this. Just follow these steps below:

Step 1. Connect the external drive or the USB drive to the MAC.

Step 2. Start the Disk Utility, located under Applications > Utilities.

Step 3. Find the name of the drive in the left side of the Utilities window and select it. And click Erase button.

Step 4. Follow on-screen prompts to choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system and allow the disk to format.

Bonus: How to Recover Data from Formatted External Hard Drive on Mac

In case you forgot to backup files before formatting the external drive. Here comes the cure - iMyFone AnyRecover - a one-stop solution to recover deleted, lost or formatted files from Mac.

Follow these simple steps using AnyRecover to get your files back!

Get Ready!

First, download and install AnyRecover, following on-screen prompts to accomplish the task.

AnyRecover 20% off Coupon Code: ANY-ART-D20

Don't miss the opportunity to get AnyRecover license at the lowest price on the market. Don't know how to apply it, check the instructions here:

Get Set!

  • Ultimaker cura guide. 1. After loading AnyRecover, plug your external hard drive into your Mac directly or via USB.

  • 2. Next select the drive under 'External Removable Devices' tab, click 'Start' to begin scanning lost files on the drive.

Go!

  • 1. AnyRecover takes a moment to scan your drive. Once done, it will list out all scanning results by file type.

  • 2. Double click a single file to preview it before recovery.

  • 3. Select the files and press Recover to get them back.

What If?

What if my files were not found? Fear not. We can take this a step further. Enable 'Deep Scan' to try one more time, follow the steps above just as before to locate and recover your files.

It is plain to see that AnyRecover for Mac is a tool worthy of top shelf treatment in your arsenal of items that are used to defend, recover and keep your system up and running. Don't get caught without the file you need for that meeting or stumbling looking for baby photos that were stored on disk and suddenly 'hid' from your view. Allow AnyRecover to find and recover your lost files. AnyRecover is easy to use but provides sophisticated results that mean you know what you're doing!

Dec 03, 2020 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

  • Part 1. How to Recover Data from Mac Hard Drive
  • Part 2. How to Fix Corrupted Hard Drive on Mac

Can I Recover Files from Western Digital External Hard Drive?

'I have a 500 GB WD Elements external hard drive. I have about 40 folders with many valuable files on it. This morning when I opened it I found that more than 10 folders were disappeared. I'm also sure that I haven't deleted any of them. Would someone be able to tell me how I can recover files from a WD Elements external hard drive? I will appreciate any help you'd be able to extend. Thanks.'

Well, system error can be the main reason for your folder disappearing. However, you don't have to be too worried about it. My suggestion for you is to stop using your WD Elements external hard drive and look for an external hard drive recovery software utility to help you immediately. Because as long as your lost folders have not been overwritten by new data on your drive, you can possibly retrieve them with a WD Elements data recovery program.

Part 1. The Best Western Digital Hard Drive Recovery Software

Recoverit data recovery is a Western Digital disk recovery tool that enables you to recover WD Elements data in an easy and risk-free way. Files on your WD Elements external hard drive might be lost because of your accidental or intentional deletion, drive formatting, virus attack, or system error, and this program is just what you need. It recovers all file forms from your WD Elements external hard drive, including images, videos, audio files, documents, text files, etc.

Your Safe & Reliable Hard Drive Recovery Software

  • Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from WD Elements hard drive effectively, safely, and completely.
  • Supports data recovery from recycle bin, hard drive, memory card, flash drive, digital camera, and camcorders.
  • Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.

Data loss scenarios on WD hard drive

Data stored on the WD external hard drive can be lost due to the below causes.

  • WD Elements not working or detecting
  • Lost partitions from WD external hard drive
  • Delete files unintentionally or mistakenly
  • Format Western Digital Elements without data backup
  • Corrupted WD Element hard drive due to system crash
  • Power outage or computer shutdown during files transfer
  • Malicious virus attack and malware infection from the computer

No matter whichever data loss scenario occurs, you are empowered to recover data from Western Digital Elements hard drive, as long as you get Recoverit Data Recovery.

Part 2. How to Recover Data from Western Digital Hard Drive

1. Watch the Video for Western Digital Disk Recovery

This video tutorial is intended to aid you in recovering data from Western Digital external hard drive. Watch the 1-minute video and retrieve data back.

Reformat wd elements

2. How to Perform Western Digital Disk Recovery

Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery on your computer, launch it, and follow the next steps to scan your WD Elements hard drive to perform Western Digital Disk Recovery.

  1. Select 'External Devices Recovery'

Reformat Wd Elements For Windows

With Recoverit hard disk recovery, please select a data recovery mode. To recover data from the Western digital disk, you can select the 'External Devices Recovery' mode to start.

  1. Connect Western Elements hard drive
Drive

2. How to Perform Western Digital Disk Recovery

Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery on your computer, launch it, and follow the next steps to scan your WD Elements hard drive to perform Western Digital Disk Recovery.

  1. Select 'External Devices Recovery'

Reformat Wd Elements For Windows

With Recoverit hard disk recovery, please select a data recovery mode. To recover data from the Western digital disk, you can select the 'External Devices Recovery' mode to start.

  1. Connect Western Elements hard drive

Format Wd Elements Hard Drive

Please make sure your Western Digital hard drive has been connected to the computer and can be recognized. Click the 'Next' button to process.

  1. Choose the connected WD Elements drive

Select your Western Digital(WD) Elements external hard drive where the data gets lost, and click the 'Start' button to look for data.

  1. Scan the Western Digital hard drive

Recoverit data recovery will start a quick scan to search for lost data. You can preview some recoverable files after the scan.

Reformat Wd Elements External Hard Drive

  1. Deep scan the external hard drive

If you cannot find your files, you can go to scan again with the 'All-Around Recovery' mode. It will scan and search more files from Western hard drive, but it will take more to complete the scan.

  1. Recover files from Western Digital Elements external hard drive

1After the scanning, the found contents on your WD Elements external hard drive will be displayed in the window. You can check whether your lost files can be recovered or not from file names.
2Then you just need to mark the files you want to recover from WD Elements external hard drive and hit the 'Recover' button to save them to your computer.

Reformat Wd Drive

Note: To avoid recovered files from being overwritten, please do not save them back to your WD Elements external hard drive during the recovery process.

Reformat Wd Elements

Do you need to recover data from other makes of external hard drives? Check out these pages and get the external disk recovery solutions.

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