External hard drive not recognized to install

I have a MacBook from Dec 2008 that I've upgraded to OS X 10.8.4. I just purchased a WD My Passport external hard drive for Mac. It should just open the installation guide when plugged in but nothing happens. I turned off/on the computer, checked for missing updates, tried to manually install the hard drive utilities to no avail. The external hard drive makes a noise and the indicator light blinks when I plug it in the the USB cord (it's configured for 2.0 & 3.0) but nothing shows up on the computer. Does it have somthing to do with upgrading to Snow Leopard/Mountain Lion? Did some driver get lost along the way? The only solution I can think of is that the WD drive is defective, but I hope not. Help is much appreciated.

Hey, I'm trying.
WD website says:
Does my Western Digital Hard Drive require a driver? Where do I get one?
Most current WD drives do not require additional drivers on the Windows or Mac OSX Operating System (OS) beyond the ones that are included with the OS.
In order to simplify the installation process WD elected to use the standard drivers that are built into common operating systems. While there are a few exceptions to this, in general, there are no drivers provided by WD for our drives. That's because the drivers a WD hard drive or SSD uses are part of the Operating System being used. As such, any trouble with these drivers should be handled by the regular line of support for the Operating System in question - in most cases by contacting the system's manufacturer, IT department, or the publisher of the OS.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1708/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzc 3NDczNDE5L3NpZC9pWWl1a0h5bA%3D%3D

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    Message was edited by: Hilary_Rose

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