Relabeling an External HD On Desktop ?

[Robert4]

Hi,

This is weird.

I have a WD external HD which shows up on my Desktop with the label: "My Passport For Mac"

I have another one, same type, that is labeled "exFat"
I would like to re-label it as "Backups exFat"

But it won't let me relabel it in apparently any manner.
Comes back with:

"The name Backups exFat can't be used". "Try using fewer characters or with no punctuation marks"

Have even tried Backups_exFat.

Any idea why this might be, and/or the labeling protocolos ?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[chabig]

Try a shorter name. There is information on the web that says the maximum length of an exFAT volume label is 11 characters. That pretty much matches the instruction to "try using fewer characters".

 

[Robert4]

Hi,

Yup, that seems to be the cure !

Never would have guessed that you are (only) limited to 11 characters.

Much thanks for help,
Bob

 

[cwanja]

You can thank Microsoft for that.

 

[Fishrrman]

You didn't ask this... but...

Is the WD drive ONLY for "Mac backups"?

If so, I recommend that you NOT use exFat and instead switch to HFS+.

I believe it will work out better when Mac files are kept on a Mac-formatted drive.

My opinion only.

 

[Robert4]

Hi,

Thanks for help.

Believe, but not sure, external HD has a mixture of mac and W10 on it. Quite old, and will have
to take a good look at it, and see what is actually on it.

One of my next projects is to really try and understand the different format options.
I never had a good, firm, understanding of what to use when, their limitations, etc.

Have a bit of time now, and will dig into it.

Thanks for thoughts and help with this.

Bob