Hello. I have been looking into buying a WD My Passport Ultra 1TB external drive (2015 version). My PC currently runs on Windows XP but it will be upgraded to Windows 10 later. I want to backup the PC as it stands now, upgrade it, and then transfer the files over. So, is the latest version of My Passport Ultra compatible with Windows XP? Would I have to do something to make it compatible?
I know the 2013 version of My Passport Ultra works with Windows XP. Is it also compatible with Windows 10? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!
WD Quick Formatter has a “Windows XP” compatibility option (which i guessing formats the drive with MBR partitions instead of GPT partitions which aren’t compatible win XP 32-Bit, only XP 64-Bit)
Thanks for the reply, Joey! According to the link, the XP compatibility option is only available when the WD drive is larger than 2TB. The one I’m looking into is only 1TB. In that case, I would simply be reformatting my drive to the NTFS file system. However, it uses that file system by default.
Windows 10 must use NTFS because the drive is compatible. I also know that XP uses NTFS. Since the drive and both operating systems use the same file system, maybe the drive is compatible with both? Is my logic correct?
NTFS … will work with Windows 10 and Windows XP
MBR … Partitions will work with Windows 10 and Windows XP 32/64-Bit
GPT … Partitions will work with Windows 10 but not Windows XP 32-Bit (but will work with 64-Bit)
When you buy the 1TB My Passport … you will need to check the factory format (i have explained on this forum how to check for GPT/MBR partitions)
If you discover the drive is NTFS/GPT … then reformat/repartition to NTFS/MBR, then it will play nice with Windows 10 and XP
I appreciate the explanation. Partitioning didn’t even cross my mind as something that would make the drive/XP incompatible! As least now I know that I can switch to the correct partitioning if need be. You gave me a definitive answer and convinced me to buy the drive. Western Digital should give you a raise for that alone:) Thanks again.
Oh manit! I am just finding this out now! It took two days to Xcopy the contents of one WD Ultra to this new 2016 WD Ultra and I just find this out now? Arrg! So now I have to format it and let a computer spend another 2 days XCOPYing 1.7gb of data. Please note, I suspect my Windows 10 laptop that I use for that is only USB2.0 ports. I am not sure I have one with USB3.0 ports.
My Dell M6600 has two 3.0 ports but I am never sure which ones those are (sigh). Two days down the drain. This was to be a backup of my other two WD Drives. I wonder how long it would take the 3.0 ports to XCOPY 1.7gb of data between the drives?
You know, this is just plain aggravating!
Will the encryption software still be there after a re-format? One of the reasons I like the WD Passports is that they ask for a password when plugged in to a computer. I need that to still be the case.
