Constant blinking blue hard drive light and slow to be picked up by Mac

My hard drive takes ages (about 15 minutes sometimes) for my Mac to be able to find the drive.

It’s plugged into the USB but the hard drive light constantly flashes.

I cannot work like this and am having reduced confidence that my work on the drive is safe.

What does this flashing mean and how can I improve how the Mac and drive work together?

Hello Keith1974.

Have you tried changing the USB cable for the drive? Also, flashing light on your drive indicates that the drive is in use or some other application is using the drive.

Please try to test the drive using WD drive utilities: