WD is the way to go, especially when they're not putting garbage shovel-ware onto their External Hard Drives, and I'm happy to report that there isn't any of that crap on this one. It requires no power to use this device other than the USB port, and from my experience won't give up on you after a year like most seagate drives I've handled have. In this day and age, Don't get anything less than 2TB. The difference in price between 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB are extremely measly (50 for 1TB, 60 for 1.5, 70 for 2Tb). That's 20$ more for double the capacity.

And if you're buying this, you probably already filled up your primary hard drive. So just get the 2TB, or higher. It lasted only a couple of months without a problem. After putting 2-3 computer backups on it, I started having connectivity issues. The issues have gotten progressively worse in recent months. Now I receive error messages like, Not Accessible, Device not Ready, Destination Not Recognized to Exist, etc.

So now I can't even transfer files to it. Also, most of the time now, it won't unmount from my computer. So I have to shut down my computer after each use in order to disconnect it safely. I've used it on both Windows7 and Windows10. I own 3 different model WD drives.

You should go ahead and format your storage drive with exFAT instead of FAT32, assuming that all devices you want to use the drive support exFAT. You may notice that in NTFS is marked 'Partially' under the Compatible with macOS column. Format hard drive to ntfs. The overwhelming majority of USB flash drives you buy are going to come in one of two formats: FAT32 or NTFS.The first format, FAT32, is fully compatible with Mac OS X, though with some drawbacks. Macs do have some limited support for other file systems–for example, Macs can read files on Windows-formatted NTFS volumes, but can’t normally write to NTFS drives. Macs don’t have an integrated way to format partitions with NTFS, either. Use exFAT for excellent compatibility with Windows without FAT32’s limitations. Most Mac users will be better off formatting external drives with exFAT, ensuring they work well on both Windows and Mac OS X without any extra work. If you must write to an NTFS drive, one of the paid, third-party drivers will be the easiest option with the best performance and least risk of file corruption. Click the 'Erase' tab. Click the 'Format' pull-down menu and select 'NTFS.' Type a new name for the flash drive in the Name text box. Click 'Erase.' Disk Utility will change the format of the flash drive to NTFS, a process that erases all data on the disk.

Formatting USB Drive on Mac. Insert the USB drive on your Mac and follow the below instructions to format. Press “Command + Spacebar” to open Spotlight Search box and type “disk utility”. Open the “Disk Utility” app from the search results. Disk Utility will show the current file system of the USB drive. To share a USB drive between a Mac and a Windows PC, there are two disk formats to choose from: exFAT and FAT32. The other formats -- Microsoft's NTFS and Apple's Mac OS Extended -- don't work well on the other operating system. If you have a malfunctioning or corrupted USB drive, formatting it may be the best way to get it back to its original working state. Even if your drive is healthy, you may still want to format it to get rid of the contents there. This article looks at some ways you can format a USB drive on Windows. How to format a USB drive on a Windows PC Formatting a USB drive in Windows is normally very easy, here's how it is done. Step one Open Windows Explorer and simply right-click on the disk. Step 1, Connect the USB flash drive to your computer. To do so, plug it into one of your PC's USB ports, which resemble thin, rectangular slots on your computer's housing.Step 2, Open Start. Do so either by clicking the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen, or by pressing the ⊞ Win key.Step 3, Type 'this pc' into Start. A computer monitor-shaped icon will appear at the top of the Start window. On Windows 7, click Computer on the right side of the Start window.

This one was a very big disappointment with how quickly it became inoperable. From examining other reviews, I saw that others have had similar issues. On the recommendation of one reviewer, I bought a WD Elements with a model year of 2015, just a few months after this one. (Amazon now has the WD Elements available with model year 2017). Anyway, the WD Elements works great.

(A lot of the 1 star reviews are from MAC users, so read carefully.) And there isn't the WD Unlock extra step to go through either. WD is the way to go, especially when they're not putting garbage shovel-ware onto their External Hard Drives, and I'm happy to report that there isn't any of that crap on this one. It requires no power to use this device other than the USB port, and from my experience won't give up on you after a year like most seagate drives I've handled have.

Featuring the latest in USB-C technology, the My Passport Ultra for Mac portable drive delivers quick and easy storage for your Mac, while the included USB-3.0 adapter makes sure it’s compatible with older machines.

In this day and age, Don't get anything less than 2TB. The difference in price between 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB are extremely measly (50 for 1TB, 60 for 1.5, 70 for 2Tb). That's 20$ more for double the capacity. And if you're buying this, you probably already filled up your primary hard drive. So just get the 2TB, or higher.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about this one. Over the years, I've continued to upgrade my trusty, old laptop, swapping out memory, converting from spinning platter to SSDs, etc., so when I thought about back-up storage due to the recent rash of ransomware attacks, my first instinct was to invest in a portable SSD, but they're still a little steep in terms of price per gigabyte. Therefore, I looked (somewhat reluctantly) into spinning platters. I'm glad I did. I got this WD Passport (2TB) for a very reasonable price. OK, there was one hurdle overcome, but what about PERFORMANCE?