Just bought an external HD for my Mac from Western Digital...

[BlairMALL]

And I am wondering if it is necessary to install the software provided on the new hard drive for any reason. I have purchased plenty of HDs in the past, but this is a 5TB for backup purposes, and I was just wondering if there is any real benefit to using, running, installing etc., their software.

For those in the know... there are three files on the HD (it mounts and is recognizable out of the box):
Install Western Digital Software for Mac.dmg
Install Western Digital Software for Windows.exe
[Folder] System Volume Information

The drive is powered by the usb-a cord that was included in the box (standard USB-A to weird thin USB into the drive).

Any thoughts would be super helpful.

Thanks!

 

[NoBoMac]

Personally, I stay away from any of these software packages. Just asking for trouble imo. Can be buggy, support might get dropped or be incompatible in a future version of an OS so now have a paperweight. Need the software to access the drive, so not truly a portable solution if some other computer does not have the software.

If this will be for TimeMachine, TM will reformat the drive anyway to APFS so will wipe what these packages do/did.

If want to password protect/encrypt the drive, can do that when you format the drive with Disk Utility.

If want to move between Mac and Windows, just go ahead and format as exFAT. Can always encrypt individual files, zips, etc with tools like Keka.

If want cross platform disk encryption, there are tools out there like VeraCrypt.

 

[jz0309]

^^^
as above, you do not need their SW.
I've had several WD external HDDs in the past (and currently) and the only time I used their SW was when one of the drives showed sign of failure, and I downloaded the latest version of their utility from their website.

 

[Fishrrman]

Agree with nobomac above.
I would remove ALL the WD software.
Then I'd REFORMAT the drive using disk utility.

This is a platter-based drive, right?
In that case, if you're going to use it with time machine, SuperDuper, or CarbonCopyCloner, it needs to be erased to "APFS, GUID partition format".

BUT... if it's just going to be used for "general storage" (i.e., things you copy over manually), and not used as a boot drive... I recommend that you erase it to HFS+ (in disk utility, "Mac OS extended, journaling enabled, GUID partition format").
HFS+ still works better in most cases for platter-based hard drives.

 

[BlairMALL]

Agree with nobomac above.
I would remove ALL the WD software.
Then I'd REFORMAT the drive using disk utility.

This is a platter-based drive, right?
In that case, if you're going to use it with time machine, SuperDuper, or CarbonCopyCloner, it needs to be erased to "APFS, GUID partition format".

BUT... if it's just going to be used for "general storage" (i.e., things you copy over manually), and not used as a boot drive... I recommend that you erase it to HFS+ (in disk utility, "Mac OS extended, journaling enabled, GUID partition format").
HFS+ still works better in most cases for platter-based hard drives.

I am pretty sure it is platter based (to cheap to be SSD), but I appreciate the feedback. I have used disk utility in the past, but it has been a while, and I wanted to keep up with best practices. I appreciate the help!

 

[BlairMALL]

Personally, I stay away from any of these software packages. Just asking for trouble imo. Can be buggy, support might get dropped or be incompatible in a future version of an OS so now have a paperweight. Need the software to access the drive, so not truly a portable solution if some other computer does not have the software.

If this will be for TimeMachine, TM will reformat the drive anyway to APFS so will wipe what these packages do/did.

If want to password protect/encrypt the drive, can do that when you format the drive with Disk Utility.

If want to move between Mac and Windows, just go ahead and format as exFAT. Can always encrypt individual files, zips, etc with tools like Keka.

If want cross platform disk encryption, there are tools out there like VeraCrypt.

Thanks, NoBoMac! I will not be using cross platform in any way, so this helps.