How To Format WD Easystore For Mac [In Easy Steps]

And you’ve got yourself a brand new Western Digital Easystore drive for your Mac. MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.

It’s all connected up fine. You got that pretty well. You can even see it on your Mac’s desktop.

But you can’t use your Easystore for a Time Machine backup.

Or put any files on there at all. You asked a friend and they said. “Maybe you’ve got to format it as a Mac hard drive.”

You’re now thinking how do I format my WD Easystore for mac?

Read on and find out.

Format WD Easystore For Mac Outline Of Steps

1. Plug in the WD Easystore external drive into your Mac.

2. Start Disk Utility.

3. Click on your WD Easystore drive in Disk Utility. Click Erase.

4. Pick the format. GUID Partition Map for Scheme.

5. Click the Erase button.

Now for more detail on how to do this …

Is WD Easystore Compatible With Mac?

Yes! Your Easystore hard drive can work fine on your Mac computer.

It ships from Western Digital as an NTFS drive. NTFS is a Windows PC file system.

To use on your Mac, you only need to format it for your Mac to use.

The Easystore ships with an USB cable with a type A connector on the end that plugs into your Mac.

For newer Mac’s with USB ports that are USB C. You’ll need a type A to type C adaptor. Or adaptor cable for your USB port.

How To Format WD Easystore Drive For Mac

Put your Easystore portable hard drive on a firm steady surface.

Then log into your Mac.

1. Plug Your Easystore Into Your Mac.

After a few moments your Mac should show your Easystore hard drive on your Mac’s desktop. You should see your drive as an icon.

Easystore External Hard Disk Not Showing Up On Your Desktop?

Check your Finder window Settings (since Mac OS Ventura). In earlier Mac releases it’s called Preferences.

Open up a Finder window and select Settings or Preferences.

Under the General tab, Pick ‘External Disks’ in the Settings or Preferences window.

If your Easystore still doesn’t show.

Plug into another port on your Mac. Still nothing?

Reboot your Mac to reset the software on all your Mac’s ports.

2. Start Disk Utility.

On Mac as part of your Mac’s operating system you have disk management software. This software is called Disk Utility.

There’s no need to use 3rd party software. Disk Utility is free on your Mac OS for you to use.

Warning: Formatting your Easystore WD hard drive wipes off any files on there.

Including the already installed Western Digital Discovery installation files.

If you plan to use the WD Discovery software. (Check FAQ below.) Copy those files off first.

Or if you have any other files. For examples files you’ve copied onto the drive from a Windows computer. Copy those files off. Save them elsewhere before you format your Easystore WD hard drive.

You’ll find Disk Utility in your Mac’s Applications folder. Inside the Utilities Folder. Double click on Disk Utility to start the program up.

3. Select your Easystore External HDD.

When your Disk Utility window opens. You’ll see a sidebar on the left hand side. There are two main headings. Internal. Don’t touch anything in there as this your Mac’s internal drive.

Look a bit further down for the External heading. You’ll find an entry in there for your Easystore hard disk.

If you’ve never formatted an external drive on your Mac before. It’s likely you’ll only see the one entry. Only one level.

You need to set your Mac so that you can see two levels in Disk Utility.

Look at the top of your Mac’s desktop Disk Utility window. Click on the View option. And from the menu pick show all devices.

Then you can click on the arrow to the left of your Easystore WD drive to expand the external heading list.

Click on your Easystore storage device at the 1st level. Right where it appears under the external heading. The picture shows you where.

4. Click On The Erase Button.

After clicking on your Easystore drive at the top level. Look across the top of your Disk Utility pop up window and click on the Erase button.

Don’t worry. You’re not erasing yet. There are a couple more settings you need to fill in first.

5. Set Your Easystore WD Drive Formatting Options.

The popup window that comes up next is where you set your formatting options.

Under name you’ll give your Easystore external hard drive a name.

Pick a name that makes your WD Drive easy to find on your Mac’s desktop.

The next setting picks the file system format you want for your Mac drive.

Click the up down arrows at the end of the format data entry field. This expands the list.

You choose:

APFS (Apple File System).

Since the Mac OS x update Big Sur. You can also format your hard drive as APFS (Apple File System).

And use your hard drive to copy. Or drag and drop your files to. Or for a Time Machine backup of your files.

But if you plan to use your drive on Mac’s running an older version of Mac OS. Older OS x versions don’t support APFS for backups with Time Machine.

APFS was originally designed by Apple for a SSD (a solid state drive). But Apple expanded the support for newer OS’s only.

When formatting to APFS it’s best to format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) first.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled). To use your Easystore portable hard drive to drag and drop files. Or copy your files to. Or for a Time Machine Backup. And for compatibility with Macs running older operating systems.

You can pick ExFAT for a drive you want to share between a Mac and a Windows PC. But format your Easystore to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) first. Then go round the process again. Then pick ExFAT.

Then pick GUID Partition Map for the Scheme.

Check your settings. And if you’re happy.

6. Click Erase Bottom Right In Disk Utility.

When you click on the Erase button at the bottom right of your popup window.

Your Easystore external drive formatting starts.

It will only take only a few minutes.

Then you can exit Disk Utility when it’s done.

Your WD external drive will show up on your desktop as a drive icon. You’ll find it has the name you gave it on your Mac format screen.

And now you can use your Easystore WD external hard drive just like your internal drive.

Double click your Easystore drive icon on your Mac’s desktop. This opens a Finder window and you can use your drive.

You can go on to hook it up to Time Machine for a Time Machine backup.

When You’re Finished With Your Easystore WD Drive.

When you’ve finished with your WD external hard drive. You’ll need to eject your drive from your Mac.

This tells your Mac to write the data it has in memory down to your Easystore drive.

To eject your storage device. Right click on your Easystore drive icon.

Then pick Eject from the menu.

Check that your drive’s led stops it’s fast blinking. Wait a few more seconds before pulling out your USB cable.

If you don’t do that you risk corrupting the files on your disk.

WD Easystore For Mac Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Need To Format Easystore For Mac?

Yes, If you want to use your Easystore drive without any special software on your Mac.

Otherwise, you can use a software driver to use your WD drive on your Mac.

If you mainly use your Easystore WD drive on a Windows computer. Or you’ve already got PC files on your Easystore drive.

Then you won’t want to format. As that would clear your drive.

You’ll find a document on the site that tells you all about this option here. External Hard Drive Compatible With Mac And PC Without Reformatting.

But note. Using driver software means you can’t use your Easystore for a backup with Time Machine of your data.

WD Easystore Mac Formatting Error

If you get an Error formatting with Disk Utility.

Make sure you have picked your Easystore external drive at the right level. The first level in the Disk Utility screen.

Be sure you can see the 2 levels of your drive. And pick your drive right where it appears under the External heading in Disk Utility.

What Are Those Files That Are Already Installed On My Easystore Drive?

Western Digital has their own drive device manager software. The first is called WD Discovery. And the WD Discovery software lets you install WD Drive Utilities and WD Security.

They work much like Disk Utility on your Mac. It’s unlikely you’ll need to use this software on a Mac.

But if you’d like to learn about the Discovery software. Then head over to this post on the site. What is Discovery (Do I Need it, Should I Install On Mac?).