Mac Won't Add/Create Files to My Passport, Disk Unwritable?

Nearly every computer user has one or more external storage media such as a USB flash drive, HDD, SSD, SD card, etc., used to store various kinds of data, back up your Mac, and transfer files, photos, videos, and so forth. However, you may encounter some problems while using an external hard drive on Mac, and "WD My Passport won't let me add files on Mac" is a much-discussed issue.

Hi, I have a MacBook Air and my Passport won't let me add new files to it. I've never had this problem before. I can open the files I have on the Drive, but cannot alter them. I used to have a PC and used the drive for that as well. It worked fine before for both of the computers. Any help?

Similarly, other Mac users find that they are unable to create new folders on the external hard drive on Mac or have been troubled with these issues:

If the external hard drive won't let you add files on Mac, keep reading to know the reasons and fixes!

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How to Fix when My Passport won't let me add files on Mac

When you find you can't add files to My Passport, you should first check whether there is a connection issue, and ensure the drive is unlocked. If the problem remains, you can proceed with the following solutions to fix can't add files to WD Passport from Mac. Let's dive into each solution in detail.

Check the drive's formatting

If the drive is formatted as a file format unsupported by macOS, then the WD My Passport is read-only on Mac, you can only view the contents but not write data to the drive such as adding files. Thus, you need to check the file format of the external hard drive on your Mac.

APFS and Mac OS Extended are exclusive to macOS, besides, FAT32 and exFAT are also compatible with macOS. If the file format of the drive you can't add files to is compatible with Mac, move to other solutions below.

However, many Mac users found their external hard drives are NTFS-formatted, which is read-only on macOS by default. You can enable NTFS writing support with Terminal before macOS Ventura. Besides, you can also gain NTFS write access on macOS Ventura and later via other ways.

Way 1. Add files from Mac to My Passport with NTFS driver for Mac

Some free NTFS drivers for Mac such as Mounty for NTFS can no longer work to mount NTFS drive on macOS Ventura and later, and some other NTFS for Mac not working on macOS Sequoia, then try iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, a professional NTFS for Mac that always keeps updated to date. It mounts your Windows NTFS drive in read-write mode on Mac to let you add files to the WD My Passport.

Download and install iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to read and write NTFS WD My Passport on Mac! This is the best solution when you can't copy files to NTFS WD Passport on Mac, it supports the latest macOS, Intel, and Apple silicon Macs, and you don't need to reformat the drive to lose data. 

Way 2. Format the NTFS WD Passport to make it compatible with Mac 

In case there are no important files on the WD My Passort NTFS drive, you can directly format the drive on Mac to make it compatible with macOS. Or if you have an available Windows PC, back up the drive contents and then move to the format the external hard drive on Mac.

Way 3. Install Windows on Mac to use Boot Camp Assistant

For Intel-based Macs, you can install Windows on Mac via BootCamp Assistant to use the NTFS drive with full read and write access. But for Apple Silicon Mac, the BootCamp Assistant is not available to use, you can try an NTFS driver for Mac, Windows virtual machine, or reformat it.

Check the drive's permissions

If the format of the My Passport drive is right but you can't add files to My Passport from Mac, then it may relate to the drive's permissions. You should make sure you are allowed to read and write the external hard drive on a Mac. Here's how:

Ensure free space on the drive

If the WD My Passport is already full, or the available space on the drive is not enough for the large file you attempt to add, then you can't add or create files to WD Mpassport on Mac. Therefore, you can check the storage space on your Mac to see whether there is available disk space to use.

If the connected external hard drive is almost or already full, you can free up space on it by moving files to other storage media and deleting unwanted files. If you don't want to delete some files, you can compress them to conserve space. Once you need to use them again, expand them. To clean junk or compress files on Mac, try iBoysoft MagicMenu, a versatile right-click tool.

Repair the drive with Disk Utility

Perhaps the external hard drive is corrupted so you can't add files to my passport from Mac. You can perform a quick check and repair with Disk Utility's First Aid feature. Some Mac users find running First Aid helps to fix the can't add files to external hard drive error on Mac. Here's how:

If First Aid fails on the external hard drive, the drive could be heavily damaged, which poses your data at risk. What you should do is recover data from the external hard drive via professional recovery software like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac, back up current files stored on the drive, and then reformat the drive to eliminate all logical errors.

Freely download iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to recover data from corrupted external hard drives!

Why can't I add files to My WD Passport on Mac

There may be many factors that cause problems for Mac users to add files to Toshiba devices, and the problem may also impact external hard drives from other manufacturers. Checking the hard drive's cables and ensuring everything is connected correctly is the first step in troubleshooting the problem when you can't add files to My Passport on a Mac, but if that isn't the problem, there are several other things to take into account.

If any solution helps you to add files from Mac to My Passport external hard drive, share this post with more people!