Passport will mount on my desktop, but cannot access drive( read/write/copy/move) Yosemite MBP 2007

I have an older MacBook Pro (2007-2008) running the most current version of Yosemite. I just purchased my drive recently, but didn’t try to use it till the other day. The drive mounts on my desktop, but I cannot copy files to it at all. When I try to do this, I get no error messages of any type. It just doesn’t complete the action when I try to do so.

I’ve tried “dragging” files to the drive. I’ve tried copy and paste. Nothing seems to work. I bought this drive for my Mac laptop exclusively, for file storage and transfer, etc. I do not intend to use it as a Time Machine backup drive. Basically, I want to be able to move files from any computer (Mac or PC), to this drive, for use, editing, etc. on my Mac.

This drive is currently empty.  No files on it.  This was my 1st time use attempt.

Is this possibly just a formatting issue? I’ve not changed anything on the drive. I literally took it out of the packaging, and plugged it into my Mac. It has not been used (yet) on a PC.

Suggestions?

Thank you, Dave

Hello,

Try formatting the drive.

How to partition and format a WD drive on Windows (8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP) and Mac OSX

I can format my drive, but I want to retain the cross platform in doing so.  

I just can’t remember how to do it.

I do not know what the drive is formatted to, out of the box.

Is that why I cannot write any files from my mac, to that drive?

Again, it will mount on my Mac desktop, but wont let me do anything else.

If I format, I just want to make sure I can copy files from my PC, if necessary, and still have access to those files on my Mac.  And, visa versa…

Thanks again,

Dave

Any further suggestions on the best way to format my drive, to allow maximum compatibility between my Mac and my PC?

Thank you again for your help.

Dave