Format 1 tb Elements

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

Hello,
I want to format a recently purchased 1tb Elements for use with my Macbook Pro running 10.6.8 which I thing is Snow Leopard. Any help as to how to do that would be appreciated.

2

Hi @MickyFig

The WD Elements drive you purchased should work fine for macOS once it’s reformatted. Please keep in mind that reformatting a drive will erase all data on the drive so please back up any data prior to following the instructions:

3

Hi, And thanks. But there isn’t anything for macOS 10.6.8, so which set of instructions do I use…if any?

4

We don’t support Snow Leopard anymore (it’s a really old OS), but if I recall it was very similar to the 10.7 instructions.

5

In general, to format a hard drive on macOS (10.6 older disk utility), you should:

  1. Connect hard drive to Mac

  2. Launch Disk Utility from Application << Utilities folder

  3. In Disk Utility, select your external 1 TB drive from the left panel

  4. Go to Erase tab

  5. Give a Format, Name and Size of the drive.

  6. Click Apply to save the settings

This should format your 1 TB external hard drive to your chosen Mac OS Journaled system.

1 Like
6

You can open Disk Utility to format your 1TB Elements drive for Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard):

  • Connect the WD Elements drive.

  • Open Finder > Applications > Utilities.

  • Launch Disk Utility.

  • Select the top-level WD drive in the left sidebar.

  • Click the Partition tab at the top.

  • Change Volume Scheme to 1 Partition.

  • Set Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

  • Click the Options… button below the partition diagram.

  • Select GUID Partition Table and click OK.

  • Click Apply in the bottom right.

  • Click Partition to confirm.

Here is a tip: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the most reliable format for Snow Leopard. Another newer format APFS does not exist in Snow Leopard and will not work. Also read: How to Format an External Hard Drive on Mac?