I bought and received a new My Book. I need to format it for a Mac. The instructions on the WD “Format for Mac” page, when followed, didn’t work. It doesn’t tell us which option in the drop-down format field to choose. I chose “Max Extended Journaled” for the Erase process, however, maybe I should have picked a different format option. Wish the web page suggested which option to select; it simply states “Select” without suggesting what each selection enables.
Here’s what I did: Using Disk Utility, I changed the name from “My Book” to “My Boob Backups”; I immediately got an error message. (Unfortunately, WD apparently doesn’t permit us to attach a screenshot to these posts; sorry for my description of what was revealed). Here’s what it said: Erasing “My Book” and Creating “My Book Backups” Erase process has failed. The details read: Unmounting disk > Couldn’t unmount disk. > Operation failed…
As soon as that error message appeared, I got a similar error message from Time Machine saying “Time Machine couldn’t complete the backup to ‘My Book’. The backup disk is not in Mac OS Extended (Journaled_ format, which is required.”
Exactly what is a Mac user to do to properly format a Windows-formatted external hard drive?
I haven’t been able to reformat my 8 TB easystore either. I have never had an issue with my 6TB OR 4TB hard drives. I followed directions on this site. After receiving the same message as the previous person, I tried to mount the drive but I couldn’t. I already returned one of these drives. I appreciate any suggestions.
I’ve finally found the way to format a Windoze-platform My Book to the Mac platform. It was quick and easy. Oh, how I wish WD would look into clarifying what it puts on its website.
First of all, there are two way to format to Mac: use Disk Utility or WD’s Utility Drive download. I hope WD will put both approaches on one Knowledge Base page to clarify the options.
Whether you use Disk Utility or WD’d Drive Utility, the key step to take is that you choose the correct file system in the “Format” drop-down options window. There are four “Mac OS Extended” to choose from as well as four “APFS” and one “ExFAT” and one "MS-DOS (FAT).
Sadly, WD’s KB web pages do NOT tell you which of the ten options to choose!
After trying all four “Mac OS Extended” options without success, I appealed to WD’s tech support directly (since no WD technicians contribute to this online support forum). I received the following direction from a Steven. It worked! . . .
How to erase drive from WD Drive Utility software please follow the below steps: Open WD Drive Utility -Select the drive you want to format -Select Drive Erase -Select the format as (ExFat/ HFS+) -Select the I understand…check box to signify that you accept the risk -Click on erase
