How to Use a Western Digital External Hard Drive on a Mac?

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So, you've got a new WD external hard drive, but your Mac can't use it or can't write data to it? Don't panic. Here is the full guide that show you how to use a WD external hard drive on Mac and fix common issues such as not mounting issue, read-only issue, etc. If your WD external hard drive is pre-formatted to NTFS file system, you can reformat it to ExFAT, APFS or HFS+ or use NTFS for Mac tool to add NTFS read-write support to your Mac.

Check If the WD External Hard Drive is Compatible with Your Mac

Most recent WD external drives are designed to work seamlessly with macOS 10.10 and above.

However, before using your WD drive, verify:

• Mac OS version - Your Mac should run OS X 10.10 or later to use the latest firmware and features for WD drives.
• USB port - WD external drives use USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 Gen 1/Thunderbolt ports. Ensure your Mac has a compatible port. Using an incompatible or low-bandwidth port can severely limit transfer speeds.
• Power source - Some high-capacity WD drives require external power, which can be obtained by plugging them into a wall outlet using the included power adapter.

Additionally, have the following items ready:

• WD drive and included USB cable.
• USB-A to USB-C adapter if your Mac only has USB-C ports.
• A Mac-compatible format (APFS or Mac OS Extended) to set up the drive (see formatting section).

Once your Mac meets these basic requirements, connecting your WD drive is simple.

Steps to Use a WD External Hard Drive on Mac

Step 1: Physically Connect the WD Drive to Your Mac

To connect your WD external hard drive:

1. Plug the drive's included USB cable into an available USB port on your Mac. For Thunderbolt-equipped WD drives, connect the Thunderbolt cable accordingly.
2. Attach the other end of the cable to your WD drive.
3. If your WD drive has an external power supply or adapter, plug it in and turn it on at the wall outlet first before connecting the drive to your macOS computer. The drive may not mount correctly without stable external power.
4. Wait a few seconds for your Mac to detect the connected WD external hard drive. The drive should then automatically mount and appear on your Mac desktop or in the Finder window under Locations.

If your WD drive isn't recognized, doesn't appear in Finder, or displays errors, move on to formatting in the next section.

💡 Note: Always safely eject your WD drive before physically disconnecting it from your Mac to prevent data loss or drive errors.

Step 2 (Optional but Recommended): Format the WD Drive for macOS

By default, most WD drives come pre-formatted in NTFS for Windows which macOS can read but cannot write files to.

For full read/write access on macOS, you'll need to reformat the drive into a native Apple file system such as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled):

1. Search for Disk Utility on your Mac and launch the program. Disk Utility lets you view, erase, partition, and repair disks and drives.
2. In the left sidebar, locate and select your connected WD drive (listed under External). Do not select your Mac's internal drive or you may overwrite your computer's data!
3. Click Erase at the top of the Disk Utility window. Configure the settings:
   • Name - Assign a descriptive name like "WD."
   • Format - Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Use APFS for newer SSDs or HDDs, or Mac OS Extended for older rotational HDDs. If you want to use the WD drive on both Windows and macOS, choose ExFAT.
   • Scheme - Select GUID Partition Map for Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

4. Confirm the warning message and click Erase to reformat the drive. This clears all existing data so back up any important files first.
5. Once complete, the WD drive will automatically remount as an empty volume, ready for use with native macOS read/write support. You can now transfer files or utilize the full features of your WD drive optimized for Apple macOS operation.

Step 3: Transfer Files and Folders to the Reformatted WD Drive

With your freshly formatted WD external drive connected and mounted, you can now freely access and transfer files:

• Drag and drop - For quick transfers, simply open up two Finder windows side-by-side – one for the source and one for the destination WD drive. Then drag files and folders from one window to another.
• Finder copy/paste - You can also right-click files or folders and select Copy, then navigate to your WD drive and right-click to Paste them over.
• Time Machine backup - macOS Time Machine can use your high capacity WD drive to continuously backup your Mac's files for recovery:
  1. Open System Settings > General > Time Machine.
  2. Click Select Backup Disk and choose your WD external drive

  3. Turn on Back Up Automatically.
• Third-party apps - Use backup software like WD's own apps to synchronize or schedule file transfers to your external storage.

Since WD drives use fast USB 3.0 technology and disk speeds, transferring gigabytes of photos, videos, projects, and other data is easy. Just remember to safely eject the WD drive afterward!

Step 4: Safely Disconnect Your Western Digital External Drive

After finishing your file transfers, it's important to properly eject your WD drive before unplugging it physically:

• Right-click the WD drive icon on the desktop and select Eject.

• Alternatively, drag the WD drive icon to the Trash which will change into an arrow – indicating safe removal

Ejecting severs the file system connections so you won't lose data or risk file system corruption by accidentally disconnecting without warning.

Step 5 (Optional): Install WD Software for Added Features

For additional functionality, WD provides optional software on their Support website:

• WD Discovery - Registry admin app to manage drive utilities, status, updates, encryption and reformatting all your connected WD storage devices.
• WD Drive Utilities - Lower level diagnostics and repairs for monitoring disk health, benchmarking speeds, erasing contents securely, etc. Helpful for troubleshooting issues with a WD drive.
• WD Security - Set password protection and hardware encryption including 256-AES encryption to lock down and prevent unauthorized access to your WD drive. Useful when storing sensitive financial, medical, or personal data.
• WD Backup - Simple and optional local backup program to schedule automatic file backups from your Mac to your WD external storage device. Streamlines protecting important documents and projects.

While not mandatory, these WD tools unlock handy features. Updating firmware in particular could boost performance or add support for the latest macOS versions.

How to Use NTFS WD External Hard Drive on Mac Without Formatting?

If you don't want to reformat the NTFS WD external hard drive and want to write data to it on your Mac, you can install an NTFS for Mac tool to help you.

Step 1. Download and install the reliable NTFS for Mac - Donemax NTFS for Mac.

Step 2. Open Donemax NTFS for Mac, select the NTFS WD external hard drive, click on Mount button.

Step 3. To read-write NTFS WD external hard drive on your Mac, click on Enable Writable button.

Troubleshooting Problems with a WD Drive on Mac

In some cases, you may encounter connectivity, speed throttling, permissions issues or other errors using a WD drive on macOS. Try the following troubleshooting steps:

WD external hard drive not mounting on Mac

If your WD drive is not being detected or mounted on your Mac, first check all cable connections and try different USB ports. Also attempt to plug into another computer to determine if the issue is with the WD hardware itself or something on the Mac side. Launch Disk Utility as well and run First Aid on the WD drive to check for errors and attempt repairs. Finally, a full reformatting may be required if all else fails, especially for brand new drives. Just be sure to back up data first.

Slow WD external hard drive transfer speeds on Mac

Verifying your Mac's USB port is 3.0 or higher is imperative for achieving fast SSD and HDD transfer rates. Additionally, having your WD drive properly formatted in APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as a single partition optimizes performance. Take care not overload Time Machine backups with extremely large singular files. And check for bandwidth conflicts from other USB devices temporarily. Identify and troubleshoot the bottlenecks hampering your expected WD transfer speeds.

Permission errors accessing WD drive on Mac

Permission issues when attempting to access files on the WD drive are often due to formatting the drive on Windows initially. In the Finder Get Info menu, you can adjust Sharing & Permissions settings on the WD drive itself. Also confirm your user account has administrator privileges in System Preferences. Otherwise, fully reformatting the WD drive with Disk Utility tends to resolve any lingering permission errors in most cases.

WD external hard drive not readable on Mac

If your files on the WD drive become corrupted or unreadable, first attempt repairs using Disk Utility. Also remount or reconnect the drive and restart your Mac. Otherwise, a complete reformat and erasing of all contents may be necessary to reset the WD drive - assuming hardware components are still functioning properly. Just be certain to backup data in advance of fully wiping your WD drive. If all troubleshooting fails, reach out to WD support about potential warranty replacement.

If troubleshooting steps fail to resolve your issue, contact WD Support for warranty replacement options.

If you have lost data from your WD external hard drive, you can use data recovery software - such as Donemax Data Recovery for Mac to completely recover deleted, formatted, lost or inaccessible files.

Advanced WD Drive Setup Options

Beyond basic operation, WD drives provide options to enhance performance, privacy, and flexibility.

Encrypt and password-protect WD drive

For sensitive data, enable encryption to prevent unauthorized access if your WD drive is lost or stolen:

1. Open Disk Utility and select your WD external drive.
2. Click Erase and choose one of the encrypted formats like APFS (Encrypted) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted).

3. Specify and verify a strong password, storing it somewhere secure in case you ever need to unlock the drive. This encrypts the entire drive's contents, scrambling files so they are completely unreadable without entering the password.
4. Click Erase to confirm and reformat the drive with encryption enabled. This process may take longer depending on the WD drive's capacity.
5. Once completed, eject and physically disconnect the WD drive as extra security measure when not in use.
6. To access encrypted data again, reconnect the WD drive and enter the password when prompted before files show up. Take care not to lose or forget the password.

Enabling hardware-based encryption along with setting secure passwords guarantees protection for sensitive material stored on external WD drives. Just be sure to remember or back up the password in a safe location. Losing the password risks making data irrecoverable and inaccessible.

Partition of the WD external drive

Creating separate partitions on your WD external drive allows you to organize files in different volumes, share select data across Windows/Mac, and optimize performance:

1. In Disk Utility, select the WD drive in the left sidebar and click the Partition tab.

2. Specify the number of partitions you want by clicking the + Plus button.

3. Configure each new volume - name, format type, and size allocation.
4. Click Apply when finished.

Benefits include:

• Keeping Time Machine backups separate from document storage.
• Having a dedicated media partition for large video files.
• Sharing specific data with a Windows dual-boot system.
• Quickly erasing just one section without losing everything.
• Isolating sensitive financial documents within an encrypted partition behind a password for example.

Adjust partitions whenever needed - just be cautious of erasing volumes that still contain important data and always maintain good backups.

Conclusion

Configuring and integrating a Western Digital external hard drive into an Apple ecosystem takes just minutes when following this guide. By properly connecting cables for power and data transfer, reformatting to a native Apple file system, troubleshooting errors, and leveraging advanced features like encryption - you can tap into reliable WD quality to backup precious memories and important projects on your Mac for years to come.

For further assistance, consult WD Support or Apple's official macOS user documentation. Both are dedicated to empowering you with simple, effective solutions.