My Passport not readable and First aid fails

WD External Drives External Drives for Mac
1

Hi All,

I’ve searched for this particular issue, and while some people have similar issues mine appears to be a bit different. I have a WD 1TB my passport and have been using it for a few years with my 2011 MacBook Pro now running Sierra. I have all the latest firmware updates for it and it had previously worked with this current setup.

Now, every time I plug it in I get the error message that says “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer” and the HD never shows up under devices. However as long as I hit eject, I am able to view it in Disk Utility. It now shows up as WD My Passport 0748 Media, and the line under it is just “–”. When I do run first aid on it the first line, it quickly runs through and that’s that. When I try it on “–” it says that the first aid process has failed and if possible to back up the data.

At this point, I just want to get all of my files off of the HD. I have many of them backed up on other HDs, but I know there are some on there which aren’t anywhere else. Are there any simple solutions to this that I am overlooking or is my HD done? If so, how can/should I go about getting all of my files off?

Thanks!

2

I should add, it doesn’t matter which USB port I use or which HD cable. I’ve tried multiple and it is the same for all. The light is on in the HD though and it sound like it is spinning.

3

  1. Try plugging in your WD to another Mac running Sierra or below version. Best would be to plug-in to a Mac having the older version of the Disk Utility. Try repairing it.

  2. List item On your Mac, if WD shows up in the Disk Utility panel then connect another HDD and restore your WD to it. You may also try a cloning application and verify if the clone tool shows your hard drive. If it does, clone it up. However, taking a worse case scenario (which I hope doesn’t occur); consider data recovery as your final course of action.

4

This is a ridiculous answer. Who has another MAC computer lying around or another HDD. Ever think there is problem with you software? I just connected a brand new out of the box with the same issue. I tried to format “My Book” for MAC but received the same failure response…“first aid has failed”. Seems to me it’s a product issue not a user issue. Stand behind your products and offer to replace them if they don’t work. That’s what a reputable company would do.

5

Tim,

I know most of the users don’t have a couple of Mac system, but often when you begin to troubleshoot your issues, you leave no considerations behind. Might be you have someone in your network perhaps a friend, relative etc. who owns a Mac. The reasons why I mentioned it since I have personally seen the hard drive (not WD particularly) behaviour changes when it has some issues. For instances: I have a couple of Mac Mini (2014 & 2016) and an old hard drive (again not WD). This old HDD always gave me mounting issues on the 2016 Mac Mini though it works fine on 2014. Now, coming to the Disk Utility newer and older version. Again, I noticed that the older disk utility resolved to erase and partitioning issues when I formatted the disk with a newer macOS (El cap or Sierra). Hope I clarify myself.