Partition myPassport wireless to NTFS w/o losing WIFI connectivity

Portable Drives My Passport Wireless
1

Hi,
Summary, If I reformat the external HD to NTFS, will wireless still work? The drive features and functions are working perfectly now using the exFfat file system.
Detail:
I just got “My Passport wireless” I’m using Windows 10 pro and want to use the drive wirelessly to store ‘File History’ and ‘win 10 pro images’. The OS software supports network drives &USB, but requires the NTFS file system. I know that I can use the Windows “convert to NTFS” command and wireless should still work. However, WD recommends a reformat to NTFS. So, if I uses "FORMAT volume /FS:file-system] /V:label] or the OS disk management utility will wireless still work or can I only use the WD drive via USB after the format.

Is there a utility that I can use to restore the wifi functionality to a newly formatted external drive? Thank you in advance.

2

Hi, my basic question is whether the MPW WIFI driver in the device firmware. If so, it won’t matter if I ‘delete’ , ‘recreate’ the partition the wireless drive to NTFS (I’ll do the actual reformat with the drive connected via USB. Wireless should continue to work from the mpw. I know what I need to do on the windows 10 side (I already have the WIFI set up with windows 10 PC’s as a NAS on the WIFI. I just want to ensure that if I format as described earlier, I’ll still be able to connect it to the WIFI and enter the SSID network key so the drive can join the wifi. I have installed the latest firmware for the drive over the WIFI network. Lastly, I assume that I lose the TWONKY server functionality when I reformat? if so where can I download it from. Much regards in advance…Steve

3

Hello,

Yes, it’s possible to reformat the unit. however, I’ve seen other users reporting the wireless functionality not working properly after changing the file system to NTFS.

If you proceed with that, you will have a USB only drive.

4

Thank you for the prompt reply. To play it safe, I’ll use the windows 10 convert command and see how it goes in test mode. If all is well I’ll leave it that way. If it turns out to be problematic, I’ll connect to USB, perform the delete partition, create partition and format NTFS. I’ll let you know how it goes. I understand the risk of losing Wi-Fi. If that turns out to be the case, I may plug the USB only MPW into a USB port on the router or revert to exfat as I don’t have any data on the drive yet. Thanks again, steve

5

Steve,

Just wondering how this went. Did the Windows 10 convert command work OK or did you have to format?

Bob