Western Digital My Passport For Mac Won't Mount

Hello everyone,
I always try to find related articles prior to posting, but I haven't found anything quite like my situation listed. I have a "My Passport For Mac" that I recently reformatted on my Mac to use as a time machine (using 10.10.2). Prior to reformatting, it worked fine. I have it encrypted so any time I'd plug it in & it would request my password. All was great. I reformatted it & then used it to back up my Mac. However, days later, when I go to plug it in, the hard drive won't mount. A lot of folks with a similar situation are at least reporting that it's showing up in Disk Utility. However, mine is completely absent. I've tried it on multiple computers (including a PC). It's not showing up anywhere. But the disk is on & spinning. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? I'm stumped on this one. I'm not worried about recovering any data from this as it's just a Time Machine backup. I'd just like to get it to mount to my Mac again!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Historically, the problem has been that many USB-powered drives can't get enough power from a USB port after they begin to age. The Passport is bus-powered, getting all its power from a USB port. Not the best solution for a desktop computer.
To get such a drive going again, you need one of two workabouts:
1) a powered USB hub (has its own power supply to make up the shortfall) that goes between the external drive and the computer.
2) use a "Y" USB cable to get power from two USB ports simultaneously (such as http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/USB2AYMBPB/)
Also, WD uses an odd proprietary formatting scheme that is of itself a problem area. WD makes very good bare drives but the enclosures into which they put them to make an external drive are not very good and not particually Mac-Friendly. The formatting makes them harder to use.
Once you get the files you need off the external, consider erasing and reformating it to Mac Extended Journaled using Disk Utility. That often makes the drive more reliable without having to revert to USB hubs or special cables. It gets rid of the proprietary formatting that seem to contribute to the problems.
I have three external drives. All have WD bare drives inside but none are in WD encosures. By far the best enclosures for Mac external drives are those from OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
I have two of the desktop model shown and one of its portable version for my MacBook Pro. All three have given me superb service and zero problems.

Similar Messages

How do I figure out if I have usb 3.0? I am trying to buy compatible external hard drive (western digital my passport for mac) and I can not figure out if it will work with my mac book.

how do I figure out if I have usb 3.0? I am trying to buy compatible external hard drive (western digital my passport for mac) and I can not figure out if it will work with my mac book.

Dont buy a Western Digital, get a Hitachi or Seagate (Toshiba is made by Hitachi). These are the most reliable, and the HD used inside Macs.
ALL HD can be made compatible with your MAC (including a WD if you already bought same), ......they just need to be formatted for the Mac platform, format them in Disk Utility as Mac OSX extended journaled.

IMac Backups on Western Digital My Passport for Mac

I have a Western Digital 1TB My Passport for Mac which regularly backs up my iMac. It is creating a backup file apparently every day. I decided to remove all but the most recent 3 backup files and moved them to trash, but am unable to empty the trash. How do I empty the trash now?

Time Machine back ups in the trash are not a good combination.   You may find this link helpfull ...
Solving Trash Problems
and you should also look at Pondini's document   ...
http://pondini.org/TM/ Troubleshooting.html   Section E6 in particular.

WD My Passport for Mac won't mount on my Mac Pro

My 1TB external hard drive is less than six months old and was working fine; now won't mount on my Mac. I don't remember disconnecting it without ejecting it but I do think I got a message about needing to eject before disconnecting. I checked in the forum for a possible solution and tried connecting it to a PC laptop; I could see it to eject it but it didn't show up anywhere else. I am not a computer expert! How can I access my files? I have a Mac Pro, Mac OS X ver. 10.6.8.

Historically, the problem has been that many USB-powered drives can't get enough power from a USB port after they begin to age. The Passport is bus-powered, getting all its power from a USB port. Not the best solution for a desktop computer.
To get such a drive going again, you need one of two workabouts:
1) a powered USB hub (has its own power supply to make up the shortfall) that goes between the external drive and the computer.
2) use a "Y" USB cable to get power from two USB ports simultaneously (such as http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/USB2AYMBPB/)
Also, WD uses an odd proprietary formatting scheme that is of itself a problem area. WD makes very good bare drives but the enclosures into which they put them to make an external drive are not very good and not particually Mac-Friendly. The formatting makes them harder to use.
Once you get the files you need off the external, consider erasing and reformating it to Mac Extended Journaled using Disk Utility. That often makes the drive more reliable without having to revert to USB hubs or special cables. It gets rid of the proprietary formatting that seem to contribute to the problems.
I have three external drives. All have WD bare drives inside but none are in WD encosures. By far the best enclosures for Mac external drives are those from OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
I have two of the desktop model shown and one of its portable version for my MacBook Pro. All three have given me superb service and zero problems.

Western Digital 1tb passport for mac not working???

The drive is spinning and I've had no problems with it thus far. So the drive is spinning but it is not showing up on my desktop. No error messages. The light on the external drive will flash continuously and consistently and then stop flashing and remain lit for a couple of minutes then resumes flashing. But it will not show up on my desktop.
Any ideas?

While WD drives are OK, the electronics in their packaged backup units don't have a good track record. Have you tried another connection cable, just to rule that out? You've rebooted your MacBook? Is it still under warranty?

Updated to Lion, My Passport for Mac won't back up.

Hi all,
Updated to Lion, all fine, but when I try to back up with WD My Passport for Mac it won't get past the "preparing backup" stage. Any ideas?
Thanks!

This resolved after I upgraded up to Mountain Lion.

My WD Passport for mac won't recognise its own password or show up on the desktop

I have a Macbook Pro and have been using the Passport for 3 months without a problem. The cable was pulled out without ejecting the Passport the correct way. Now it doesn't show up on the desktop and a colourless window pops up and asks for the password. Im 100% sure the password is correct. The window thinks about it for about 20sec then shakes to not accept it.
I have tried to repair the Passport and that has not worked. Does anyone have another solutations to access the HD?
The passport still works, the light comes on and still spins.
It seems as if it has forgotten its own password and not recognised by the computer.

Allan,
Thank you for your reply.
Yes the WD Passport for Mac has its own password to access the drive. It is an option that i stupidly activated once it was installed. Previously as i plugged the Passport in it would pop up on my desktop and ask for the password. Which it would accept and then i could access the data. Now nothing comes up on my desktop but still asks for the password but does not accept it. The colour of the window for the password has also changed. It now looks like the "security and privacy" icon that you can find in your systems preferences.
It seems as if it has forgotten its own password or there is some other security or problem blocking me.
I obviously wasn't aware that this product had so many problems. I have not installed the Mavericks program to this computer yet as it takes time and im on the road without and solid internet connections.
I will persist with searching forums and trying to recover the data
Any information or help would be awesome!!!!

Seagate 1T backup plus for Mac won't mount

I have a seagate 1T backup plus for mac which suddenly will not mount. I have done the disk utility disk repair and it says the volume appears to be OK. What do I do next?

likely a dead SATA bridge card.
see here:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
verify on another Mac first however
"backup plus" by the way is just a name, and designates nothing special about this HD

Is it possible possible to use a WD "My Passport for Mac" External HD with a Chromebook?

Hello . . .
I am a photographer who is seriously thinking of purchasing a Chromebook to utilize for both online and offline editing while in the field. I'm wondering if it is possible to use a Western Digital "My Passport for Mac" to store and retreive my images as an external drive for both storage and retrieval using a CB.
Does any one know if I will have to do any special formatting to use this drive with a Chromebook? And, if so, what do I need to know/do to do it?
Thanks very much for any information that might be provided.
David
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The "My Passport for Mac" is listed here (both the WDBLUZ0010BSL-NESN and the WDBZYL0020BSL-NESN).
Chromebook compatible external drives
For other help with Chromebooks, it's best to visit the Chromebook Forum.
-Jerry

Should I buy WD my passport for MAC or my passport ? for my mac book pro

Hello, I have a mac book pro and prepare to buy a 2TB portable hard drive for it. Should I get Western Digital "my passport for MAC" or "my passport" ? Today I went to apple store and the represetative told me to buy any portable hard drive and format it as FAT 32, so it will be working on both pc and mac. So i am wondering if I should spend CA$199 for "my passport for MAC" or CA$159 for "my passport". If the representative was telling me the truth, so what is the point to purchase the "my passport for MAC" with extra $40 ? Please give me a hand on it and I really appreciate it !!

The Apple store representative was correct about the format.
As far as the respective HDDs you mention I cannot give you any empirical information since I have no WD HDDs in my stable. Seagates, Toshibas and Hitachi's. are the ones that I have and all are still spinning.
There are WD cheerleaders and detractors as is for all brands. Being an inherently frugal person I would go for the less expensive one all other things being equal. (Then the purchase of an Apple MBP is not act that a real frugal person would do.)
You might look on the Internet for better prices for the exact same product. OWC, Newegg and Amazon should be investigated.
Ciao.

I am trying to use an external HD and need to configure it for the MAC. Can someone explain how to configure the HD (Western Digital - My Passport SE)?

Can someone help explain how to add an external HD to the Mac? I have a Western Digital My Passport SE and need to configure if for the MAC and add it to the HD location on my Mac.

Connect the external drive to the Mac. You can do that while the Mac is on, (If the drive is one that has to be plugged into a wall outlet do that too and turn the power on.) If there is a light on the drive it should turn on.
Now double click on the hard drive icon - top left of the screen of your computer. When it opens look for the Applications folder. Double click that. Next look for a folder called Utilities. Double click. In there you will see a file called Disk Utility.app. Double click on that.
You will now see something like this, with two items on the left. The second one is your new drive.
Select it - one click. And click on Erase - one of the buttons at the top, You will see this.
You must select the Format, it's a drop down - the one shown in the image above is best. You can change the name from Untitled if you want. The name can be changed later if you prefer.
At this point look at the bottom right. There is a button there called Erase. Click on it. Then go get yourself a cup of coffee - this will take a few minutes.

Help? my passport for mac (western digital) does not show up on Lion desktop, shows up on older laptop

My new Passport for Mac portable hard drive does not show up on the desktop. when connected to another computer the icon shows up on the desktop. When i first connected it it asked do you want to connect to time machine? I said "later"or "no" because I wanted to research how to use it first. NOw it doesnt show up at all... except in the disk utility section. Please help. I am going on a trip and need to have the storage for films. THanks!

Do you see it in the sidebar of a Finder window, under "DEVICES"?

I have a MacBook Pro and an 1TB WD my passport for mac. I bought a second hard drive to act as back up and when I went to do this the original passport won't mount. It is showing in disc utility but it will not repair. I am told the mac cannot repair it.

I have a MacBook Pro and an 1TB WD my passport for mac. I bought a second hard drive to act as back up and when I went to do this the original passport won't mount. It is showing in disc utility but it will not repair. I am told the mac cannot repair it and I need to back up the files and then restore the hard drive. But I can't open the hard drive to move the files onto the new one!
Help me please. I am not very technical so please answer as if I have no clue!! This hard drive has my iPhoto on it and all my pictures of my son, wedding and my current photography course so I desperate to get it back!
Any help will he appreciated!

disk0s2: I/O error.
disk0s2: I/O error.
The MBP's disk is damaged and requires replacement.
Genius Bar Reservations: http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

My imac won't recognize my passport for mac external drive

I just bought a WD my passport for mac external drive to back up my imac with Snow leopard OS. the passport icon doesn't show on the desktop and when I look using disk utility the external drive isn't recognized. The external drive has nothing wrong with it as I plugged it into a newer imac running 10.9.5 and it works fine on that machine. I went through the troubleshooting steps from WD and the only one left is trouble with the OS. I have updated the software and downloaded the drivers from WD and still no change. Any suggestions? thanks!

See the mount section of the first link.
Disk Unmount Using Terminal
Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

Icon bounces, then disappears from dock "Portable driveMy Passport for Mac"

Hi all, I've been having some recent problems with my portable hard drive "http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=717" When i Click the application It try's to launch and as soon as it shows in the dock, bouncing, it disappears as fast, and app won't launch.
Now my portable hard drive "My Passport for Mac" use to work as i use to back up my mac once a week with this , but recently i got a new hard drive fitted to my macbook pro as it was getting a bit sluggish so the apple tech guy transferred all my files from my old hard drive to my new one he fitted . Other programs work so im confused !!!!
I dont get why the application for my "My Passport for Mac portable hard drive" wont load up now , i have made sure everything to do with the "My Passport for Mac" was uninstalled from my new hard drive and i went on the western digital website and downloaded the new firmware and software for it but after installing the new software and firmware i still have the same problem when loading the application "it shows in the dock, bouncing, it disappears as fast, and app won't launch.
PLEASE HELP SOMEONE I NEED TO BACK UP MY MAC BOOK PRO !!!!
Thankyou everyone for reading .
Regards Rob

Hi Rob, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
I am not familiar with WD software, so I cannot help you with that (maybe WD has tech support?), but why not use Time Machine or cloning software such as SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner? Actually, I recommend either partitioning the external HD into at least two partitions, or using at least two external HDs, and running TM on one, and doing a regular clone to the other.

Western Digital My Passport For Mac Won't Mount

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for