My Passport for Mac - won't appear on computer

WD External Drives External Drives for Mac
1

I just purchased 500 GB WD my passport for mac and plugged it into macbook pro running snow leopard but it doesn’t appear on the desktop nor in disk utility however I do know the drive is spinning.
I’ve tried it on my Vista desktop but Vista can’t find the necessary drivers nor can I find them manually anywhere on the internet.

Any ideas on how to get this external drive working? Any help is much appreciated

Thanks,

Greg

2

Hi,

Does this Passport have a WD Smartware feature on it??

If so,have you created a password for it??

You will need to open the WD Smartware VCD & launch ‘Unlock.exe’.

If the Passport is password locked then it will not show up in the Disk Utility.

As far as the Vista Machine is concerned,please do not trust it.It has various USB Issues.

Also,if you are on a Mac Laptop,try a Power Booster USB Cable.

shivsajjan

3

I have the same problem. A customer service rep from WD told me I needed a power booster cable and referred me to Radio Shack or Best Buy. WD doesn’t supply the cable or even carry the cable in it’s store. A booster cable offered in the WD store will not work on this drive because of the micro USB port on the drive.

4

Hi,

You will need a USB Mini to Micro Adapter.

Please call WD Support & ask for it.They will send you one.:smiley:

5

The rep I talked to said they didn’t carry the correct cable for the micro port. I mentioned that their website said they could provide the correct cable and he said the cable they provide is for the My PassPort Essential - not the My Passport Mac. Maybe another rep would have a different story.

6

Hi,

They will ship you the regular booster cable & also the USB Mini to Micro Adapter to fit that into the New

Passport.

ShiV

7

I talked to another rep today. After checking back and forth several times, she finally said they would ship the correct cable when it is available. I’m wondering how long I’ll have to wait. She said within a week. I’m not holding my breath. I wonder why  different reps have differing solutions to this problem. Why can’t they put in the correct cable like other drive manufacturers?

8

I received the power booster cable today, 6 days from when I called for it. It’s the wrong cable. The Passport for Mac (500 GB) uses a micro port. I said several times (but did I really need to?) to be sure send a cable that fits the micro port or send along the micro to mini adapter. No dice. It’s a good thing I’m patient and don’t need this right away. How are other people with 13" Macbook Pros able to use this drive? Am I the unlucky one who can’t get the right cable?

9

I talked to WD support and they initially said macbook pro 13 wasn’t giving enough power to the drive so they sent me out a power booster cable. 7-8 days later I got the cable but the connection was for the previous version of the my passport and it didn’t come with the mini to micro adaptor which meant the cord was effectively useless.

Either way I found a friend who had the adaptor and booster cable so gave it a try but still no luck, the external drive still doesn’t show up in disk utility.

My next phone call with WD support told me that this means I may have a faulty hard drive so after buying this hard drive new from the apple website only half a month ago I now have to pay to post back the drive to the WD warehouse in Singapore and wait up to 30 days, I think, until they ship out a new one which will hopefully work, period!