
- #SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE HOW TO#
- #SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE MAC OS#
- #SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE PORTABLE#
- #SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE SOFTWARE#
Of course, you can easily reformat most external drives, so you're not limited to buying only those intended for use with Macs. It's simply called the Apple File System (APFS), and it's the first format to be used across both Macs and iOS devices.
#SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE MAC OS#
With the release of the macOS High Sierra operating system, Cupertino ditched its venerable Mac OS Extended file system, commonly abbreviated as HFS+, and switched to an entirely new file system. (Spoiler: A Thunderbolt 3 drive isn't your only option far from it.)īefore we get to Thunderbolt 3, we need to address a basic building block of hard drives that has always affected compatibility, and probably always will: the file system.Īn external drive's file system is the most important factor that determines whether or not it's readable by Macs, PCs, or both. So what's a Mac user to do who just wants to back up his or her files using Time Machine, or stash a large video collection? Read on as we solve this and all of your other Mac external-storage quandaries. As a result, they are typically external SSDs, or multidrive RAID arrays, which means they're also very expensive. Most of the current models that use the Apple-friendly interface are designed for photographers and video editors who need to store mountains of footage and access it very quickly.
#SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE HOW TO#

Western Digital's My Passport SE for Mac with 1TB of space is available now. photos, videos, e-books, etc.) when traveling or even moving.
#SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE PORTABLE#
I love just how portable this 1TB drive is, making it much easier to bring along digital media (i.e. You can see it compared to the keyboard of my 13-inch MacBook below, and I can grasp it easily with my hand. One last note I have about the My Passport SE is just how small it is. Sometimes the transfer times would change themselves based on what else I was doing on my laptop, and it only heated up much after hours of use.īut otherwise, it was an easy operation and no complaints with this external hard drive. For example, I transferred 22GB of high-res photos in approximately 15 minutes. No error messages getting in my way, and the transfer speeds were fairly good. You can also just drag and drop files as you like whenever. Copying files in this method was fluid and simple. Personally, I prefer Time Machine over the new option still just because it's much simpler program and less information all over the screen.
#SET UP A WESTERN DIGITAL MY PASSPORT FOR MAC WITH TIME MACHINE SOFTWARE#
Owners of this WD external drive have the option of either using Apple's Time Machine software or the included WD SmartWare for backing up your hard drive.

There is a small insert included in the box in case you have trouble.

While this external HDD is designed and marketed specifically for Mac users, it is compatible with Windows-based computers. From there, the drive automatically launches a pre-loaded program called WD SmartWare that analyzes the space and file types on both your computer's hard drive as well as on the portable one. All one needs is the one included (and short) USB 2.0 cable for both power and data transfers.

Once out of the packaging (which wasn't as annoying as most the boxes for most electronics can be), the My Passport SE is essentially a plug-and-play operation. Being a Mac owner and wanting something small yet attractive on my desk, I picked up the Western Digital My Passport SE for Mac. Needing a bit more space for my high-resolution photos, HD video and music, I decided to spring for a new 1TB portable hard drive.
