My MacBookPro is not finding external hard drive

My 2TB WD Ultra My Passport external hard drive for Mac stopped showing in the Finder of my MacBookPro (10.9.1), although it does show as "Unmounted" in the Disk Utility. When I hit the "Mount" button, nothing happens. What do I do?

macalltheway:
If you intend to clone or install to this drive to make it bootable, you need to format the drive first. Below are directions for formatting:
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing an External HDD
• Connect external HDD to computer
• Turn on external HDD
• Start up computer and log in
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and launch DU.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel.
• Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partitions in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
For more partitions than one, after you have selected the number of partitions adjust the size of the partition by selecting the top partition and typing in the size; then move down if more adjustments need to be made.
(See Dr. Smoke’s FAQ Backup and Recovery for tips on partitioning external HDD)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Repeat above procedure to erase each partition
• Quit Disk Utility.
Please do post back with further questions or comments.
Cheers
cornelius

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