Return to WDC.com WD Community Contact Us English

Welcome to WD Support

List of Mac-bootable WD external drives and how to format them to install an operation system

Answer ID 1787
<-- -->

Apple's Mac OSX can be installed on many WD external drives. However, not all WD drives can boot both Intel and PowerPC Mac computers. Below is a listing of drives that have been verified to work as bootable media with Mac OSX.

STOP Critical: While it may be possible to boot your computer to an external hard drive, Western Digital does not provide technical support for booting your computer using an external hard drive. Please see the following article by Apple for basic assistance: Apple Article PH4218. If these instructions do not assist you please contact Apple for additional assistance.

The following external hard drives should be bootable on Intel-based Mac computers systems through USB:


The following external hard drives should be bootable on Intel-based Mac computers systems through FireWire (1394a/b):


The following external hard drives should be bootable on Power PC based Mac computers systems through FireWire (1394a/b):

  • WD My Book Premium Edition
  • WD My Book Pro Edition

The following external hard drives are not bootable on Power PC based Mac computers systems through USB/FireWire 1394(a/b):

  • All My Book (+SmartWare)
  • All My Passport (+SmartWare)
  • My Book Essential Edition
  • My Book Essential Edition 2.0
  • My Book Home Edition
  • My Book Mirror Edition
  • My Book Office Edition
  • My Book Premium Edition II
  • My Book Pro Edition II
  • My Book Studio Edition
  • My Book Studio Edition II
  • My Passport Studio
  • My Passport Elite
  • My Passport Essential
  • WD Passport
    • WD Passport (Silver)

The following external hard drives are not bootable on Intel-based Mac computers systems through FireWire (1394a/b):

  • All My Book (+SmartWare)
  • All My Passport (+SmartWare)

The external hard drive must contain a Mac OS Extended (HFS+) partition with GUID for Intel-based computers or Apple Partition Map on PowerPC-based computers. For directions on how to partition and format an external hard drive, please follow the directions below:

  1. Ensure that the external hard drive is connected to the computer and powered on. Once that's done, open the Finder from the dock at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, open the main drive (the drive that contains the operating system) by double clicking on it in the desktop.

    2. Image


  2. Open the Applications folder.

    3. Image


  3. Open the Utilities folder.

    4. Image


  4. Open the Disk Utility application.

    5. Image


  5. The drives are displayed on the left side of the window. Click on the drive (the upper listing that includes the numerical capacity) that you wish to partition.

    6. Image


  6. Once the drive is selected, click on the Partition tab.

    7. Image


  7. On the Partition tab, click on Current, right under Partition Layout, and select 1 Partition.

    8. Image


  8. Click on the Options button at the bottom of the screen in order to select the partitioning scheme.

    9. Image


  9. Click on GUID Partition Table for Intel-based computers or Apple Partition Map for PowerPC-based ones and then click on the OK button.

    10. Image


  10. On the Name area, type in the desired name for the drive. Then, click on Format to select the type of format that the device will have. For this process, the necessary format has to be Mac OS Extended.

    11. Image


  11. Once all the values have been selected, click the Apply button.

    12. Image


  12. A confirmation window will appear. Click the Partition button to confirm the selection and begin the partition process.

    13. Image


  13. Following the completion of this process, the drive will appear on the desktop. It is now ready for installing a bootable operating system on it.

In case the answer did not answer your question, you can always visit the WD Community for help from WD users.

Please rate the helpfulness of this answer