Making Western Digital My Passport Hard Drive work on both Mac and Windows

I just shifted from Windows to Mac OS X with my new MacBook Pro. I also bought a Western Digital external hard drive which I was able to set-up well for my MAC. But when I tried using it on my old laptop running Vista, it doesn't work well. I learned that I have to set it up to work on Vista but it will also erase all the files I already have in it.

Is it possible to partition the disk to work on both MAC and Windows?

You can try to format your external hard disk for the Mac and Windows OS. Now to format the external hard disk that can be usable for Mac and Windows Operating System, you will have to select the “MS DOS File System” for formating your hard disk. Follow the steps given below to format your hard disk for Mac and Windows on Mac operating system :

• Go to the Finder in Mac and then select the Utilities from the Application.
• Double click on that for the Disk Utility.
• On the left column select the external Hard Disk you want to format.
• Then click on the Erase tab.
• Select the “MS-DOS File System” at the “Volume Format” .
• When you are confirmed to format the hard disk , Click on “Erase” button.
• Click on erase when the confirmation pops up to erase the hard disk.
• All the data that your hard disk is having will be removed permanently.
• After the erase process finish, your external hard disk may be able to use in Mac and Windows.

You can boot your MAC with Windows buit for that you have to check out the given link below that will guide you through the procedure of the same. These link have the same problem as of yours. So try these and see the working of it. Thank you
http://forums.techarena.in/operating...ms/1139685.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/operating...ms/1102432.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/operating...ms/1127460.htm

Thanks guys. I'll try the steps later. Hope it works. I use MAC at home and Windows here in my office. I want to be able to use this My Passport hard drive to transfer files between the two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by goatape

You can boot your MAC with Windows buit for that you have to check out the given link below that will guide you through the procedure of the same. These link have the same problem as of yours. So try these and see the working of it. Thank you
http://forums.techarena.in/operating...ms/1139685.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/operating...ms/1102432.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/operating...ms/1127460.htm

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If I do this, does it mean my OS on Mac will be Windows? I prefer Mac's OS X

Hi all.
Please help.

I reformatted my WD My Passport on my Mac so that it can work on Mac and Windows by following all the steps. So now it works on the Mac but not on the PC. I can look at the files that are on it, but I can't add or change anything. If I try to do anything, it just says 'You need permission to perform this action'.

I dont know how to format the drive back to being able to use it on the PC.
What do I do?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ThisIsHard

I try to do anything, it just says 'You need permission to perform this action'.

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I just wanted to know is this error occurring on Windows PC or Mac OS ?? I guess it is on windows, if yes, Which OS is this ? XP, Vista or Windows 7 ? Anyways, if i consider it as Vista or Windows 7, you need to do these steps to delete those files:

• Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > command prompt. Right click on it and run it as Administrator.
• Now type "net user administrator /active:yes"
• Reboot the system, when back again, try deleting the folders. Hope you wont get the error again.

@ Maq.H

Thanks for the reply.
It's occurring on the Windows PC and it's Vista.

I tried doing what you suggested but it's still not working. Is there any possibility reformatting it could have erased some of the files stored on the drive itself that makes it readable or something like that?