Western Digital My Book (white light) not connecting...need advice

Hi...I have been scouring forums for the past hours trying to trouble shoot this issue.
At one point (it may have been with Leopard) I was able to back up all my pictures and music onto my WD MyBook. It showed up in Finder. In fact, when in Finder I GO>>CONNECT TO SERVER....My Book is listed as one of the recent servers. However, when I try to connect it cannot find it.
I tried the Safari Bonjour...MyBook is not there either.
I have reboot my computer.
I have reboot the MyBook.
I unplugged the MyBook and the router (Airport) for 30 seconds, then plugged it all back in reconnecting.
I pressed the little reset button the MyBook.
No connection. Both the top and bottom bright white lights are illuminated and not blinking or anything on the MyBook.
Help....this was the 1TB external hard drive and I really don't want to just give up and spend another 200+ on a new external drive. Luckily my mac has behaved and I don't necessarily need my backup files...but I want to have a reliable backup in case something does happen. I am a photographer so backing up my many many files is necessary.
Any suggestions? If there is no way to fix (which is what I gathered from some of the forums I already visited)...then what other system besides western digital can you recommend? Apple is super expensive....Iomega seems decent, and also LaCie...but then again, I thought Western Digital was good too. Help....

Pondini will probably have my head, but I'll go ahead with my suggestion anyway:
1. Because WD drives (enclosures) are not the most "trouble free", I'd seriously consider getting another external drive such as a LaCie or one from OWC (madsales.com).
2. I personally have chosen not to use Time Machine; I don't like it because I can't boot with it and I don't feel it is very reliable either, so I'd suggest downloading either SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner (I use both). Install it in your Applications folder. Open Disk Utility and - either with your WD or the new drive attached - format the drive (click on the partition tab):
Choose how many partitions you want  (one or ?) and name each one.
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.
Under Options, choose GUID partition scheme (necessary to make it bootable).
Click Apply.
NOTE: this will erase all contents, so if you have anything on it you need, temporarily copy if elsewhere via drag 'n drop.
After it's finished, open CCC or SuperDuper.
Choose your internal as the source.
Choose the external (partition) as the destination.
Click on copy.
When finished (my 80 GB takes about 40+ minutes), test it by going to Startup Pane in System Preferences, choose the external clone and click on Restart. If it does, all is well, and you can go back to restart with your internal. Once back on the internal, you can eject the external and unplug it/turn it off.
You now have a fully bootable clone of your entire system.
I update mine about once a week (that is all I need) - you can do it more or less often.
Now, I maintain two bootable clones because hard drives can (and will) fail at any time. So, you could do a Time machine backup on the other one if you want.

Similar Messages

  • I upgraded to Maverick and now Time Machine will not connect to the external hard drive to back up files.  The external hard drive is a Western Digital "My Book Live" 2 TB.  How do I solve problem?

    I upgraded to Maverick and now Time Machine will not connect to the external hard drive to back up files.  The external hard drive is a Western Digital "My Book Live" 2 TB.  How do I solve problem?

    I also had problem accessing my WD MyBookLive after upgrading to Maverick.
    To resolve the problem, I used  Connect To Server (Cmd K) to specify the IP address.
    Then I enter a user id and password I created in the MyBookLive.
    You can also verify that you have admin access to the MyBookLive using Safari or Chrome.
    Just enter the MyBookLive IP address as the URL.

  • Files not deleting on Western Digital My Book Mac

    Hello,
    I recently deleted some time machine backups on my western digital my book mac. Unfortunately these files was not been deleted from the drive (the remaining disk space has not gone up circa 300GB). I have looked online and the issues seems to be the afp connection rather than using the smb connection.
    I have reconnected using this type, but I am still unable to see the files to delete. I have tried to connect using terminal, but to be honest I have no idea what I am doing. The file path is smb://WubberTimeCapsule.smb.tcp.local/My%20Book...
    Has anybody else seem this problem also, does anybody know of a way of deleting these files?

    leedern wrote:
    Thanks, it is an external hdd (Western Digital My Book Mac) connected to my old time machine (too small to fit everything on way) via the usb cable. The time machine is connected wirelessly to my network. Unfortunately I can not see the sparse bundle files anymore.
    Just for the sake of clarification, that's a +Time Capsule,+ Apple hardware combining a wireless router and hard drive. +Time Machine+ is the Apple software that does backups, to various destinations, including +Time Capsules.+
    This originated because I originally created the time machine backup with the external hdd connected directly to the mac. When I transferred the disk to the old time machine, it did not reuse the previous backup but created a new one. Hence in my ignorance I deleted the old files.
    Ah, yes, that's a different critter. Time Machine stores backups differently when they're done directly vs. over a network. The backups done directly were stored in a Backups.backupdb folder at the top level of the drive; the ones done over your network have that folder placed inside an odd container called a +sparse bundle.+ You cannot switch back and forth.
    Which ones did you delete, and how?
    It sounds like you deleted the Backups.backupdb folder, and didn't empty the trash, so they're still in the (hidden) trash folder on that drive. If so, disconnect it from your TC via +Airport Utility > Disks,+ connect it to your Mac, and empty the trash. That will take a very long time, as there are at least a few hundred thousand files there, perhaps many more.
    A quick alternative would be to simply erase the drive, via Disk Utility, while it's connected to your Mac. That will erase all the new and old backups. If you just started the new set, that might be easiest.
    If you decide to do that, see the green box in #Q2 of [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Capsule+ forum), for a way to speed up the first full backup.

  • Western Digital My Book Premium Edition - Firewire not Working

    Hey there everyone, I thought I would write about my Western Digital My Book experience for two reasons:
    1. To see if anyone had any success getting the firewire option to work properly on their Intel based iMac.
    2. To deter anyone else from buying this drive if you plan on using firewire.
    When I bought the 320GB My Book Premium Edition from Best Buy I thought I had a great product.... why? Because the backup software included was easy to use and manage. I scheduled my first backup in a matter of minutes. As time went on I realized that this thing was just not going to play nice.
    After failing to get the Firewire connection to work I decided to contact WD's customer support department to see what they could do.
    My first call the Customer Support rep. ended with him saying that there was a known issue with the firewire cables that shipped with the product.
    "We'll get one out to you in about 3 - 5 business days."
    Well, 10 business days later the cable finally showed up. Plugged it in and I got the same result:
    My iMac will simply not recognize the drive when using the firewire option. USB works fine EVERY time but for some weird reason it just will not mount with the firewire.
    So, I called WD and they stated that the bad cable that was shipped with my drive more than likely ruined the firewire connections on the drive. So they take down my credit card information and ship me a new drive with RMA instructions.
    A week later I get the new drive. Plug it in and guess what, same issue, different drive.
    So I called WD support again and they say that the drive they sent me must be defective. Ok, I've almost had enough at this point. I tell the guy on the phone that this new drive they are sending me had better work or all three of these drives will be going back to where they came from.
    So here is my suggestion - do not use the 320GB My Book Premium Edition if you plan on using firewire. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is here so I cannot say that this will happen on other systems that do not mirror mine. But be leary.
    My brother came over the other day grabbed my so-called bad firewire and plugged in his external drive and it worked flawlessly. Bummer for me.
    *A side note:* There is a firmware upgrade on the WD site (Version 1.08a) that is supposed to resolve issues with the firewire unique indentifier. I tried it on both drives and that didn't work either.

    You and me both, unfortunately. I'm on my third WD My Book (although I have the 500GB version) and something like my sixth firewire cable. I called their support line last time and the support guy seemed extremely confident that a new firewire cable "will definitely fix my problem", but I'm highly skeptical of it.
    Same story though- USB works without a hitch, but both Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 don't work. Drives don't show up in Disk Utility or Terminal with any Firewire connection. I've gone through 5-10 hours of Apple phone support to no avail.
    The weird thing is that the drive doesn't work on my Rev A. MacBook either. Also, I can't use target disk mode over Firewire between my new 20" iMac and my MacBook (which was previously not a problem with my G5 iMac). At this point I'm getting worried that the original cable fried one or both of my Firewire ports on my iMac and/or my MacBook, although I haven't had the time or devices to test that theory yet. I'm not sure what the prospects of getting a refund for my My Book will be (since it's 6-8 months old since it was working on my G5 iMac for awhile), but it might have to come down to that eventually.

  • Airport Extreme 802.11n & Western Digital (My Book Essential 1TB)

    I just bought a Airport Extreme 2days ago. I am trying to connect to my external HDD which is Western Digital, My book Essential, 1TB. But I just could not see the HDD on my laptop. The HDD is detected by the the airport utility and shows 930.9GB WD My Book 1110 1032. I have enable file sharing on the device as well. But i just could not see the HDD. I have tried connecting my both laptops wirelessly & using EtherNet Cable, for both options, the HDD is still not visible. Please help me
    Details as below,
    Airport Extreme with firmware version 7.5.1
    Airport Utility, version 5.5.1
    All systems at home are Windows XP with Service Pack 3
    Internet Type: Cable
    HDD details
    Brand & Model: Western Digital, My Book Essential, 1TB
    Format : NTFS
    Network description, Cable modem -> AE -> HDD into the USB of the AE
    All laptop are on wireless.
    I have called up the apple support helpdesk, which they ask me to hold on, but the line was cut off, and no one actually call me back.
    I badly need help to get this working..

    I have the same WD drive on my Airport. In the Airport utility, I have checked the "Enable File Sharing" box. I have selected to share with my Airport Extreme password. Further down the page, the workgroup box is filled in as "WORKGROUP" - I did not have to do this, the Airport seems to have detected it. If you have nothing there, you might want to fill it in.
    On the PC, with File Explorer, expand the tree My Network Places:Entire Network:Microsoft Windows Network:Workgroup. The Airport shows up here. When I click it, I get a prompt for username and password. I use the info from the PC that I use to manage the airport. Then My Book shows up and I can browse it.

  • Anyone have a WESTERN DIGITAL My Book HD??`

    Hey guys,
    Western Digital My Book 500GB Pro Edition External Hard Drive
    I havent heard much about it, but i want to get it cos:
    1) its cheaper than most
    2) its looks bloody cool
    3) it has firewire 800, 400 and USB
    4) it comes with all the cables
    Anyone got one, or used to have one who can tell me if its worth the buy??
    Cheers,
    23rd Child

    Yep I have the very same. 
    So far my only minor complaint/niggle is that despite the fact that it is fanless it is significantly louder than my 320Gb WD internal drive. I paid £169 for mine from Amazon Marketplace. Please don't tell me you found it cheaper 'cos it's only ten days old.
    I've not tried out the USB2 connectivity yet (nor the FW800 as I don't have a suitable Mac...yet..).
    regards
    mrtotes
    Grrr...In the words of Victor Meldrew: I don't believe it. 10 days on and it's only dropped to £140.

  • Cannot Erase/Format External Western Digital "My Book" Hard Drive

    I have a brand new Western Digital "My Book" Hard Drive that I would like to use for SuperDuper clone backup. I am attempting to format the disk for Mac-OS Extended first.
    When I connect the HD to my MBP via USB, an error message pops up saying "Disk Insertion - The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer." I then enter Disk Utility. The Western Digital HD is shown in the left pane as a 596.2 GB External Media. The Volume Format is shown as MS-DOS (FAT).
    I attempted to erase/format for Mac-OS Extended (Journaled). Selecting the volume in the left pane and then clicking erase returns the error message "Disk Erase Failed with the error: File System Formatter Failed." Just for kicks I tried to erase/format for regular Mac-OS Extended, same result. It will let me erase/format for MS-DOS (FAT), but that's how it's already formatted and doesn't help me.
    I tried to erase/format on my wife's MBP, exact same results. Am I doing something wrong or do I have a problem with the external hard drive?
    Any help appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Barry

    Thanks for the feedback. Good computing and welcome to the Mac world. Since you're new, see these:
    Switching from Windows to Mac OS X,
    Basic Tutorials on using a Mac,
    Mac 101: Mac Essentials,
    Anatomy of a Mac,
    MacFixIt Tutorials,
    MacTips, and
    Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition.
    Additionally, *Texas Mac Man* recommends:
    Quick Assist.
    Welcome to the Switch To A Mac Guides,
    Take Control E-books, and
    A guide for switching to a Mac.

  • IMac crashes while making backup with TimeMachine to Western Digital My Book World

    When I try to make a back up with TimeMachine to my Western Digital My Book World Edition II, after some time I get a kernel panic and everything freezes. This happens while the back up-process is well under way. Finding the back up disk and preparinf the bak up takes quite some time (more than 20 min.)
    I have updated the WD tot tthe newest firmware v. 1.02.12) and all Mac-updates are up tot date as well.
    Any clues are greatly appreciated.
    Regards,

    Followed the directions on this page and it worked!
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1102423
    Part One - Turn on SSH (in the admin panel)
    [1] Go to to http://mybookworld.local
    [2] login: username will be admin, password will be whatever you have setup. If you can't remember it should be in your Mac OS X keychain (Utilities > Keychain Access, search for "mybookworld"). If you have not changed if from the default the password will be admin as well.
    [3] Switch to advanced mode.
    [4] From the System tab, pick Advanced.
    [5] Enable SSH Access, and click submit.
    [6] Click on the network tab and then the LAN button
    [7] Make a note of the IP address
    Small, maybe obvious, but nevertheless important point: For the install to work, your NAS needs to be connected to a router with internet access.
    Part Two - Install netatalk2.2
    [8] Open Terminal.app (Utilities > Terminal)
    [9] Enter the following command (substitute in 127.0.0.1 for the actual IP address you noted down in step 7), then hit return:
    Code: 
    ssh [email protected]
    [10] When prompted, enter the ssh password (will be welc0me).
    [11] You are now going to download the installer. Enter the following command, then hit return:
    Code: 
    wget http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/local--files/netatalk2-2-on-whitelight/install_netatalk.sh -O install_netatalk.sh
    [12] Once completed, you will need to run the installer. Type:
    Code: 
    sh install_netatalk.sh
    [13] You will be asked a number of question during install, answer yes to all. When asked about the "DHX2 login process", I opted to install the modified version, so I can confirm it works.
    [14] Once the box has restarted, you should be able to connect to your afp shares and continue to use Time Machine.

  • Western Digital My Book Home Edition auto spin down?

    Hello - I am looking to purchase a Western Digital My Book Home Edition 1TB USB hard drive to connect to my Time Capsule. Can someone who owns this model tell me whether or not the drive will spin down automatically when connected to the Time Capsule?
    Thank you in advance.

    Yes, but the spin-down is set to a ridiculously short time frame (10 mins or less) and cannot be changed. Highly irritating

  • Western Digital My Book Studio II external hard drive won't mount on Mountain Lion

    I have the Western Digital My Book Studio II external hard drive.  It was working fine.  After upgrading to Mountain Lion, the disk does not mount.  I can't find any help on the Western Digital site.  Has anyone else run into this?  Is there a solution?
    Immediately, I'm more concerned about getting the data off this drive than getting it to work.  If I take it to an Apple Store with another external drive, could they transfer the data to it for me?

    Also, check the Western Digital website for software updates. They have made numerous updates recently.
    http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?wdc_lang=en
    Firmware update for Mac users
    Mac release 3.1.0.10E (updated 9/4/2012)
    See: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/firmware.asp?id=wdfGeneric&os=ma c
    WD Universal Firmware Updater Release Notes 1
    WD Universal FW Updater 3.1.0.10E: Fixes:
    • Added additional drive support.
    WD Universal FW Updater 3.1.0.10D: Fixes:
    • Now works with 10.8 Mt. Lion.

  • Configuration problem with external Western Digital My Book 2 TB drive

    How do I fix a configuration problem with my external Western Digital My Book 2 TB drive which used to both read and write. Something has happened so that the drive is now read only? There is 600 GB of data on the drive that I cannot lose, thus am very concerned about messing around with formatting the drive which is raid 1 and filled with data.

    may not like to hear, but I'd skip on MyBook cases, nice looking as they are.
    Get a 2nd drive case to recover to.
    http://www.macsales.com/firewire
    may need to play with the demo Data Rescue 3 from Prosoft
    Backup/recover before repair is usually in order
    never have one backup set. THREE sets of your data, minimum.
    3rd party disk maintenance and repair should be a must and given rather than rely solely on Apple Disk Utility.
    Data and system maintenance and recovery plan - should be like practice for sports, arts, military with practice and making sure you will know how and the tools you need - ahead of time
    Resetting USB/FW ports, try another if one won't work. When 10.6 came out there was a lot of grinding teeth with external drives not working or mounting.

  • Western Digital My Book Live iTunes files missing

    I have a Western Digital My Book Live in which I keep my iTunes Library on. Last night we watched a movie on Apple TV streeming from iTunes. When I got up this morning to connect to itunes on the computer it said "iTunes Library cannot be found" So I went to the Western Digital My Book Live drive to select the Library. To my surprize there was nothing in the iTunes folder. The drive says that 1.2TB are used and my iTunes Library is about 800GB so the files should be there as no one has deleated them.
    If anyone has any idea of what caused this of how the fix it please help. This is a lot of info to loose.

    Pudiste resolver el problema del Apple TV con el WD Book Live

  • HT201250 Time machine don't recognize my western digital MY BOOK LIVE nas as backup disc

    Been trying to fix up western digital MY BOOK LIVE network attached storage to work with my MBP. But during time machine configuration, my network is not included in the backup disc available. This is even though my nas can be seen in my finder under shared.

    Arken73 wrote:
    Hi,
    I already looked over several posts and forums without any success.. therefore I post my question here.
    Hi, and welcome to the forums.
    Yes, we've seen a few posts where some NAS devices are doing that. It appears that either they didn't follow the requirements correctly, but earlier versions of OSX let them work anyway; or the requirements have changed but the makers haven't updated their software.
    That, unfortunately, is one of the downsides to using 3rd-party products -- Apple may say it's WD's fault, WD may say it's Apple's.
    You might want to check with WD; 10.6.4 has been out for about 2 1/2 months, so they've probably heard of this by now, and may have an update or workaround.
    Or, if your Mac is covered by AppleCare, it might be worth a call to them.
    Sorry not to have better news.

  • Western Digital 3T Firewire 800 will not boot iMac

    The internal drive on my iMac (intel) is small (300G) and corrupted. My idea was to buy an external firewire 800 drive and use it as the boot disk.
    I bought the western digital "My Book Studio" drive (WDB3G0030HAL). I installed the system from time machine backup and it wouldn't boot so I reinstalled Mountain LIon using the recovery partition. After that, I learned it will boot my macBook Pro but still doesn't boot the iMac.
    I have found older articles about western digital having problems getting external drives to boot.
    Does anyone have newer information or work arounds?
    thanks
    Dwight

    Here is a list of WD bootable drives:
    http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1787/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvd GltZS8xMzUxNTIzMzIwL3NpZC9ueUFYc1g5bA%3D%3D
    You can check to see if yours is on it.
    FWIW, are you saying that you have one backup and are trying to boot two different machines with it? Unless the two machines have the same build, that is not possible - Macs simply cannot be booted or run with a system version older than what they came with.

  • WRT160NL: using with Western Digital My Book USB HDD as torrent server

    Hello!
    I have WRT160NL and  connected Western Digital My Book USB HDD. Is it really to make my router as torrent server for uploading/downloading files without PC?

    hmm.. may be this soft will help?

Maybe you are looking for