I can't make my mystudio stay online

I’ve got the my studio version. I can’t remember how many Terrabites it is. one or two i think. I can probalby find out if i need to.

I’ve also got a macbook. 

Last year i bought this ext. harddrive. I put all my files on it. I went away for six months. Now i’m home and am trying to use this drive with limited success.

When i plug in the studio to my macbook, sometimes it shows up in my finder. But after a while it disappears. I am always being asked to unlock the drive. (something i would rather not have to do i think). It seems that if the computer goes to sleep, the my book disappeasr and the only way i can get it back is to disconnect the drive from teh computer. Then i must plug it back in. 

Surely this is not how its meant to work. 

I am trying to save files directly form my camera to my studio with no success. I am also trying to save copies of files that i’ve been working on in photoshop there. Again, not much success. I just edited a whole stack of images and thought they would save in teh studio only to find that my computer can’t find the studio drive. 

Ok, so what is going on and how do i fix it. Thanks.

Obviously i dont mean “online” i just mean connected to my computer and visible in teh finder and accessible. 

Sometimes i can see the WD smartware but not the studio icon.