# How to format Externa HD for PS3 and Mac



## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

Good Afternoon,

I have a Western Digital Passport 500G and have the HD formatted MS-DOS(FAT). When i plug it in to my PS3 its not recognized. 

I had the same external HD resent to me from WD, because my last one stopped working. My last HD worked with both MAC/PC and my PS3 system, so i know i can get it all back up and running...

Any help would be appreciated.

Kindest Regards,

Michelle


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

It is not possible to format a 500 GB drive with FAT. Maybe FAT32. Try formatting on the Mac.


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

I am using my Macbooks Disk Utility to format the WD External Hard Drive.

It comes from the factory formatted MS-DOS(FAT). It gives the option of formatting it Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or MS-DOS(FAT).


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

FAT can have a maximum of a 2 GB partition, so that will never work.

You will need to use FAT32 if you want any FAT system.

Can you access the drive in Windows? If you can, try a thrid-party partitioner. The Easeus tool can be installed to Windows.

Partitioning Tools-->

Free:

Parted Magic (The best boot CD. Includes data recovery to CD/DVD, network, or USB, Testdisk for partition recovery, audio tests, web browser, and much more)
DiskPartitioner2 (GUI for Windows Partitioner - No Boot CD.)
Partition Wizard Boot CD
Dr.Freeware Boot CD (also has file recovery, disk imaging and cloning)
EASEUS Partition Master (Vista-compatible, no boot CD)
Partition Wizard (free home and business editions, no boot CD)
CloneZilla GParted LiveCD (Complete partitioning and drive imaging/restoration tools)
SystemRescueCD
Gparted LiveCD
Vista Recovery Disk (Shrink, expand, create, delete partitions)
XP Recovery Console CD image (Create and delete partitions with diskpart.exe)

Commercial:

O&O Partition Manager 2 (Vista-compatible)
Paragon Partition Manager
Paragon Hard Disk Manager
Terabyte BootIt NG
Acronis Disk Director
V-Com (Avanquest) Partition Commander
EASEUS Partition Manager


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

I do not have windows or a pc


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Sorry. I thought you mentioned Windows, but I guess not. You said the drive worked with a PC, so I assumed you had access to one.

Can you remove the partition from the drive and create a new one? The drive may also need to be "initialized" to create the MBR.

When they say "FAT", they *must* mean FAT32 since FAT is pretty much pre-2000 even on Windows machines and supports only 2 GB drives. Do you have a way to tell what file system is on the drive?

If "Erase" is an option, use it.

(I just checked and the Mac does not format drives in FAT. It only formats in FAT32, though the option says "FAT" in the settings, that is incorrect.)

From WD:


> In Mac OS X, you can use the built in Disk Utility to partition and initialize the drive so it will appear on the desktop.
> 
> 1. Open the main drive (the drive that contains the operating system).
> 
> ...


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

Its still not being recognized on my ps3


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

But it did successfully format?

Does it have an extrnal power supply or a jack on it to connect one? Do the lights on the drive come on when connected to the PS3?

From what I have been able to gather, the drive will need to be formatted b the PS3 to use it on the PS3. The PS3 formatter overlays an encryption structure that is not added by other formatters.

Have you tried formatting with the PS3?

Another suggestion was to create a folder system *identical* to the folder system on a PS3 drive:

"One you are SURE the partition is FAT32, open "My Computer" and double-click on your empty external hard drive. Now, you will want to create a folder system identical to that on the Playstation 3. Right click to create a new folder and name the first folder "Photo". Do this for "Music", "Video" and "Game". When you are finished, you should have 4 folders total in the hard drive. Each folder should be empty." - From Playstation.com


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

I can not tell the difference, my mac reads all of them. I can add files to the drives from my mac in all formats. 

My ps3 however does not recognize the xHD


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

What do you mean by "recognize"? Have you created the empty folders on the drive?

Do the drive lights come on when connected to the PS3?


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

yes, i have created the folders on the xHD. They are still not showing up on the ps3.

I have not used the ps3 to format the xHD because when i go thru the format utility the only option is to format the ps3 HD.

the drive lights dont seem to flash and spin.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Does the drive have a jack on the side to supply power? If it doesn't get enough power from the PS3, you will need to supplement it. The light should come on regardless because the power is independent of its connection to the device it is plugged into.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

i am still looking into this, but I don't think the PS3 can see Mac's format (Journal one). I believe it needs to be FAT32 and/or NTFS. It may have been already been formatted to FAT32 before so it would work straight out of the box.

I did have a look and it looks like it needs to be FAT32. To confirm, contact SONY at 1-800-345-7669. They will be able to tell you for sure what format it needs to be.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Couriant said:


> i am still looking into this, but I don't think the PS3 can see Mac's format (Journal one). I believe it needs to be FAT32 and/or NTFS. It may have been already been formatted to FAT32 before so it would work straight out of the box.
> 
> I did have a look and it looks like it needs to be FAT32. To confirm, contact SONY at 1-800-345-7669. They will be able to tell you for sure what format it needs to be.


The drive has been formatted to FAT32. It still seems not to be "recognized" and has no lights coming on.


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

ahh i interpreted this "the drive lights dont seem to flash and spin" as that the light is there but not showing it's being accessed.

I had another check and it seems if you format as a MS-DOS File System it should be FAT32... there are conflicting information out there... but I would think that if it's not a power issue, then it has to be the file system (FAT32)


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

It is formatted to ms-dos(fat) i can plug it in to a pc and a mac and add and play files. 

Its only the ps3 that isnt recognizing it.

Is the usb 3.0 the reason? My old drive was usb 2.0 and was perfectly compatible.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

As mentioned, it cannot be FAT. FAT allows only a maximum of a 2 GB drive, hardly what you need. If any FAT at all, it has to be FAT32 or exFAT.

Yes, a USB 3.0 device may not work correctly on a USB 2.0 interface.


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

Good Afternoon,

MS-DOS is FAT-32


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

MS-DOS is an old operating system. It has nothing to do with hard drives.

But in any case, though USB 3.0 devices should work on USB 2.0 interfaces since they should be backward-compatible, the other way is, of course, not possible since that would require knowledge of the future. It would seem that your device should work, but if it were possible for you to try a USB 2.0 device, that would help in trying to sort this all out.


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## green_fairy (Apr 7, 2010)

I tried formatting in fat32 using a pc through the cmd line... took hours and finally it finished and said it was too large to format in fat32.


how do i format my 500g wd hard drive?


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