My wd passport for mac only works as read files

WD External and Portable SSD Portable SSD
1

Hi,

I just bought a 4TB wd passport for mac. When i bought i transferred some of my files to it from an macbook and it was working perfect! Then I went to work on a project and some of my coworkers used it to save files in it from a pc laptop. I though it wouldn’t work but it did. The problem is now. All the files are read only, I can’t save them or transfer them in any computer and it also doesn’t allow me to save anything in the disc.

2

Sounds like one of your coworkers might have reformatted the drive as NTFS.

A Passport for MAC might have been formatted in two options out of the box.

If the drive had been formatted HFS+ initially, that won’t work at all on any PC, requiring the PC user to reformat it to a supported type.
If the drive had been formatted ExFAT, that file system works on both PCs and MACs equally.

If the drive is now NTFS, Mac’s default support for NTFS is READ ONLY.

So you’ll either need to install NTFS drivers on your MAC, or reformat it back to ExFAT or HFS depending on your needs.

3

I Asked my colleague and he said he didn’t do anything. Anyway, now it doesn’t even show the files in my mac only empty folders. Is it damaged?

4

do you know where I could get a free install for ntfs`?

5

I agree with TonyPh12345. Neither your computer nor the hard drive is broken. This issue typically occurs because the file system became corrupted after being used on a PC, or because the drive is formatted in NTFS (a Windows-native format) which limits macOS capabilities.Please connect the drive to your Mac, open Disk Utility, and check the drive’s current format in the sidebar:

Scenario 1: It shows as exFAT (Most Likely)

A colleague likely unplugged the drive without clicking “Safely Remove Hardware.” This abruptly cuts power, corrupting the file directory and causing macOS to display empty folders or lock the drive as read-only to protect it.

In this condition, select the drive in Disk Utility, click First Aid at the top, and click Run. Once the repair finishes, reconnect the drive; your files should reappear.

Scenario 2: It shows as NTFS

By default, macOS can only read NTFS drives—it cannot write to them or modify their contents, which explains the “read-only” error and missing files on your Mac.

Now you should plug the drive back into a Windows PC. The files should be fully visible there. Copy and back up those files immediately.Future Proofing: If you need this drive to work seamlessly between both Mac and Windows laptops without software, back up the data, open Disk Utility on your Mac, click Erase, and reformat the drive to exFAT. Always safely eject the drive on both systems moving forward. Also read: Can’t Copy Files From Mac to External Hard Drive? Fix It