An incompatible file system, faulty permission settings, and unexpected formatting error are all likely to cause your external hard drive to show up as 'Read Only' on your Mac. Luckily, there are solutions to these problems, either by formatting the device, changing settings, or repairing your device. Besides, if you get your data lost during the problem-solving process, you can retrieve your data with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Try these tips without worries!
Don't worry when your external hard drive displays as read-only on Mac. This page includes 3 reliable solutions that can assist you in removing the 'read-only' error from your Mac external hard drive, making it readable again. Pick up any method below to make your device accessible without losing any data now:
If you haven't already, attempt to right-click on the Macintosh HD and click 'Get Info', then underneath the Name & Extension header try and rename the Macintosh HD. If the error persists, open Disk Utility and Verify/Repair the Disk Permissions. I have 2 external hard drives supplied by the same vendor. They both have the same name. Using them with the mac is problematic when they have the same name. Time Machine, for example, tries to back up to the external drive with this name. I would like to simply change the name of one of these external hard drives. If you right-click (or control+click) on a file name in the Finder of modern versions of OS X, you can choose a “Rename” option to rename a specific file, or use it to rename multiple files at a time if multiple files are selected. This works great, but it’s only available to the newest versions of OS X.
- You may add extra internal hard drives, if your Mac can accommodate them, or connect an external hard drive. Each of these drives will appear on the desktop. You might want to rename them to reflect your personality, or identify them according to how you use them. You can easily change hard drive names on your Mac.
- Rename the drive, select the 'Volume Format' drop-down list and choose 'MS-DOS (FAT)' or 'ex-FAT File System'. Then click 'Erase'. Wait for the process to complete and let the macOS erase data on the drive and reformat it by FAT32 or ex-FAT format. Then, you can use the drive in macOS or OS X as a regular hard drive.
- Jan 18, 2018 There are two likely reasons that you can't change the name of your hard disk, folder, or volume in Mac OS: If you are using Mac OS X or Mac OS 9.x with multiple users, and you aren't logged in as an administrator or the owner, you won't have enough privileges to change the names of hard disks, volumes, and many folders.
| Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Fix 1. Reformat External Hard Drive | Open 'Applications' > 'Utilities' > Launch 'Disk Utility' to 'Erase' external drive > Restore formatted data...Full steps |
| Fix 2. Ignore Permissions | Right-click external drive > 'Get Info' > 'Sharing & Permissions' > Check 'Ignore ownership on...'...Full steps |
| Fix 3. Repair Drive Errors | Open Disk Utility > Select the external hard drive and click 'First Aid' > Click 'Run'...Full steps |
SymptomsThe External Hard Drive Shows Up as 'Read Only' on Mac, Help!
'Hi there, do you know how to make the external hard drive accessible again when it shows as 'Read Only' on Mac? I'm having this problem that my Seagate hard drive suddenly turned to read-only this morning when I connected it to Mac. I could only read and view saved data on the drive, but can't use the data on it. If you have any clue to fix this problem, please tell me. Thanks very much.'
Right-click your external storage device, select 'Get Info', and if you see 'You can only read' at the bottom, you are encountering one of the commonest problems with an external hard drive. When your external hard drive or other external storage devices show up as 'Read Only' on your Mac, you can:
- Open the drive and view the files
- copy files from the external storage drive
You can't:
- Copy files to the device
- Delete files from the external drive
ReasonsWhy Is Your External Hard Drive Read-Only on Mac
Why can you only read the external hard drive that is connected to your Mac? There are three possible reasons.
The File System Is NTFS
Right-click your hard disk and select 'Get Info', if you find the external hard drive in NTFS format, that's what the cause is. The incompatibility of the file system is the main cause. NTFS is a file system that is optimal for Windows-based computers. Although the Mac operating system allows you to read the files on the external hard drive, you can't write files to it because the way that NTFS writes data to the device is incompatible with the way macOS doing it. (Go to the Fix.)
The Permission Settings Is Not Ignored
An external hard drive is subject to the access permission set up by OS X for all files and folders on the system. When you use the device on another computer with a different OS, the permission settings with it may not be recognized or prevent access to the files on the hard disk. (Go to the Fix.)
The Hard Drive has Formatting Errors
Another common cause for the external hard drive 'Read Only' problem on Mac is the formatting errors of the storage device itself. If you see a warning that says the device is only being mounted in read-only mode while connecting, your hard disk is diagnosed to have formatting errors that prevent you from writing files to it. (Go to the Fix.)
Identify the cause that leads to the 'Read Only' error on your Mac from the information above, then follow the corresponding solution to solve the problem with ease.
FixesHow Can You Solve the External Hard Drive 'Read-only' Problem on Your Mac
Based on different reasons, there are three solutions to the problem.
Fix 1: Reformat the External Hard Drive
If your external hard drive is read-only on your Mac due to its NTFS file system, you can fix it by reformatting the device to a Mac-compatible format with Mac Disk Utility. Before that, remember to back up your external hard drive quickly with data backup software since the formatting will erase all the files on the device.
Step 1: Launch 'Disk Utility'.
- Head to 'Applications' > 'Utilities'.
- Or tap 'Command + Space' and type Disk Utility.
Step 2: In the list of available drives on the left, choose the problematic external hard drive. Then click the 'Erase' option in the main window.
Step 3: Choose a proper file system and rename your hard disk. (Both APFS and Mac OS Extended file system are Mac-exclusive. Thus, if you want your external hard drive to be both Mac and PC compatible, choose MS-DOS, also known as FAT, or ExFAT instead.)
Step 4: Click Erase to reformatting your external hard drive.
Wait for the reformatting process to complete and then go to the information window, this time you will see the 'You can only read' has changed to 'You can read and write', which means you can read and write the drive on your Mac normally.
Generally speaking, when a storage device shows up as read-only, you can still copy files off of it. If you cannot view or see all saved data on the drive, don't worry. After you format it, you can use the professional Mac hard drive recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to get back your lost data on the drive with simple clicks:
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Can't Rename Hard Drive Mac Os X 10 12 Download
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover Now' button to have them back.
Fix 2: Ignore Permissions
If you are sure the problem is caused by the permission settings, you just need to ignore the permissions to solve the 'Read Only' external hard drive problem on your Mac.
Step 1: Right-click your external hard drive shown on your Mac and select 'Get Info'.
Step 2: Expand the 'Sharing & Permissions' section, then click the lock to authenticate.
Step 3: Check 'Ignore ownership on this volume'.
Fix 3: Check and Repair Hard Drive errors
If there is a formatting error on your external hard drive that makes the device read-only, you can use Disk Utility to check the errors and repair the external storage device.
Step 1: Go to 'Disk Utility'.
- Head to 'Applications' > 'Utilities'.
- Or tap 'Command + Space' and type Disk Utility.
Step 2: Highlight the read-only external hard drive, click 'First Aid' in the top center, then click 'Run'.
Can I Use WD Hard Drive on Mac and PC
Before you get the answer, you must figure out what kind of file system can work well on both the macOS and the Windows system. macOS supports a handful of common file systems - HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT, with read-only support for NTFS. While Windows employs two major file systems: NTFS and FAT. FAT was inherited from old DOS and has exFAT as its later extension. In addition, the ReFS file system was developed as a new generation file system for server computers starting from Windows Server 2012.
That is to say, only FAT32 and exFAT can work on both Mac and PC. If you want to share digital files between Mac and Windows system easily, you must convert WD My Passport to FAT or exFAT. Here are three ways to format a WD My Passport, follow any one of them to convert to FAT.
- Solution 1. Format WD HDD with Software (FREE)
How to Format WD My Passport in Windows Platform (Free)
You can format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to ex-FAT or FAT32 format using a free ex-FAT or FAT32 converter - EaseUS Partition Master or use built-in applications Windows.
Solution 1. Format WD My Passport Using Software (Free)
It is a wise choice to use a professional format tool. With the help of EaseUS Partition Master Free, you can perfectly bypass the format limitation of the Windows disk management tool and help you format WD My Passport to FAT32 or exFAT easily without any obstacles. What's more, this Windows partition software helps you create, resize, clone, move, and merge partitions without difficulty. Follow the details below to convert WD My Passport to FAT32 or exFAT.
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2. Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3. In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Rename Hard Drive Mac
Step 4. Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.
Solution 2. Format WD My Passport Using File Explorer
Windows limits FAT32 partitions to 32GB. It does not offer the ability to format a drive larger than 32GB to FAT32, the only available choices are NTFS or exFAT. If you want to format your WD My Passport to FAT32, you must make sure that the size is smaller than 32GB. If it is larger than 32GB, you can only format it to exFAT.
Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer, locate and right-click on WD My Passport that you need to format, select 'Format'.
Step 2. Rename the drive, reset its file system to FAT32 or exFAT.
Step 3. Click 'Start' to begin the formatting.
How to Format WD My Passport in macOS/OS X Platform
The easiest way to format the drive to FAT32 or exFAT is by using macOS's built-in Disk Utility for FAT32 or exFAT.
Tips: The instructions below are designed to help repartition and format a hard drive. Once the process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost!
Step 1. Connect WD My Passport to your Mac.
Step 2. Once that's done, double left-click on the Mac HD, the internal Mac hard drive visible on the top-right corner of the desktop screen.Select 'Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility'.
Step 3. Select your WD My Passport on the sidebar, choose 'Erase'.
Step 4. Rename the drive, select the 'Volume Format' drop-down list and choose 'MS-DOS (FAT)' or 'ex-FAT File System'. Then click 'Erase'.
Wait for the process to complete and let the macOS erase data on the drive and reformat it by FAT32 or ex-FAT format. Then, you can use the drive in macOS or OS X as a regular hard drive.
Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS
FAT is known as the File Allocation Table. The successive major versions of the FAT format are named after the number of table element bits: FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. FAT32 is the oldest of the three file systems available to Windows. Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB in size. A FAT32 partition must also be less than 8 TB, which admittedly is less of a limitation unless you’re using super-high-capacity drives.
exFAT, Extended File Allocation Table, is optimized for flash drives. It was added to older versions of Windows with updates to Windows XP and Windows Vista. This file system doesn't have the limitations of FAT32. You can use it when you need a bigger file size and partition limits than FAT32 offers.
NTFS, NT File System, is the modern file system Windows likes to use by default. It is packed with modern features not available to FAT32 and exFAT. However, it only works with all versions of Windows, but read-only with Mac by default.
If you want to use WD My Passport or any other hard drive on Mac and PC, you need to format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive in exFAT or FAT32 format.
Tips to Avoid Formatting WD My Passport Without Backup
Just as I have mentioned above, once the process begins, all the data on the drive will be lost. To avoid unnecessary data loss issues, we highly recommended all users extract or back up important data to another device or partition in advance. You can copy files one by one to a new disk or drive. If you have quite a lot of data to be transferred, professional backup software shall be your best choice. Here we recommend you try EaseUS Todo Backup which allows you to directly back up target data with simple steps.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Todo Backup software and then choose 'File Backup', 'Disk/partition Backup' or 'System Backup' for different backup purpose.
Step 2: Choose the system, disk partition, files or apps that you want to back up. Then select a destination where you want to store the backup file.
Step 3: Click 'Proceed' to start the data backup process.
Hot Topics - People Also Ask These Questions
What is the difference between NTFS, fat32, and exFAT?
NTFS is the commonly used file system for Windows internal drives. Windows OS can only be installed on an NTFS partition. FAT32 is an older file system used for external drives due to its great compatibility. exFAT is a replacement for FAT32, which is not as compatible as FAT32 but without the limitations of FAT32.
Can I use WD hard drive on Mac and PC?
Yes. If you want to use WD My Passport or any other hard drive on Mac and PC, you need to format a Western Digital My Passport external hard drive in exFAT or FAT32 format.
Can I convert exFAT to NTFS without losing data?
You are unable to directly convert exFAT to NTFS without losing data, as there is no such utility that can help you perform the exFAT to NTFS conversion. You can back up exFAT partition data to another drive and then format the exFAT partition to NTFS with EaseUS Partition Master Free.
How do I format my WD Passport?
Step 1. Run EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the hard drive partition you intend to format and choose Format.
Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/exFAT), and Cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click OK.
Step 3. Click OK in it to continue.
Step 4. Click the Execute Operation button on the top-left corner to review the changes, then click Apply.
Conclusion
You can format your Western Digital My Passport external hard drive to FAT32 or exFAT format to transfer the data between a Mac and Windows system conveniently. According to the solutions above, the EaseUS partition tool stands out for its convenience and easiness. It's always your best choice.