Passport doesn't work on my Mac

Tommy_J · November 30, 2009, 11:09pm

Can somebody please tell me what to do. My passport doesn’t show up on my Mac. I have a pc and it works fine on that.

ricochet · December 1, 2009, 9:05am

Greetings,

Not sure what type of system you are attempting to connect to… desktop… laptop? In some cases, a USB port is not always able to supply sufficient power in order for an external drive to be detected properly. There is more than one possible solution. One is to use the drive with an external AC adapter, the other is to use a USB power booster cable, which is effectively a USB cable with two connectors on one end. One is used for data, the other for power. See My Example

JohnC · December 3, 2009, 11:28pm

ricochet wrote:

Greetings,

Not sure what type of system you are attempting to connect to… desktop… laptop? In some cases, a USB port is not always able to supply sufficient power in order for an external drive to be detected properly. There is more than one possible solution. One is to use the drive with an external AC adapter, the other is to use a USB power booster cable, which is effectively a USB cable with two connectors on one end. One is used for data, the other for power. See My Example

Base off the drive you purchase you may also need a USB mini to micro adapter.

darkknight · December 4, 2009, 6:26pm

If you dont have any data on the drive you may have to format the drive to be able to use it on a MAC. There is a link that will walk you through how to format the drive. Remember that this will erase all data on the drive but it may make it functional on a MAC computer. I hope this helps here is the link:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=287&p_created=1023810756&p_sid=ru_elCOj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MSwxJnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD0yODc!&p_li=&p_topview=1

jerryismydog · December 9, 2009, 2:48am

Mine too is not being read by my Mac. I have a Mac with OS X version 10.5.8 and a 1 terabite WD drive for Mac. I used the usb plug in in the back of my Mac where it should have plenty of power, but the harddrive just does not turn on when plugged into my Mac. It used to work but suddenly has stopped so if anyone can help me out that would be wonderful!

ricochet · December 10, 2009, 5:41pm

Try using on another PC? This should tell you the status of the drive (working or not).

HELP_WD · December 10, 2009, 6:53pm

hi ,

there might be 2 things wrong…

passport might have lost the partition

2) usb cable bad (try using the same cable that came with the drive & plug it in directly )

bluejack · December 10, 2009, 7:08pm

You can get a “Y” shape cable (power booter cable) from cust support which should help you.
If you are in USA, call up 1800-275-4932. This cable will cost you $9.99.

Tommy_J · December 22, 2009, 10:16pm

Thanks Guys, all of you.

I finally got the booster cable and that did it.

Sebster · December 26, 2009, 10:13pm

hello,

Im having similar problems, that is used to work totally fine on my mac, and now suddenly its not showing up, and when I load it onto a pc, it shows up but then crashes everyime I try to look in it. Would the same cable work for me or is this totally different matter?

I would be grateful for any help./

Cheers

Seb

HELP_WD · January 3, 2010, 6:17pm

it sounds like a BSOD issue…to find out more about it google it or call 800-275-4932

sagefemme · February 7, 2010, 9:36pm

Hi there,

My passport has some crucial information on and i can’t access it on my mac…can you help?

croderique · May 30, 2010, 6:42pm

I have several external WD drives, including 2x250GB drives, 1Tb World Edition and a 120Gb Passport Portable drive.

All work well with my 3 Macs. Now I bought a 640Gb My Passport Essential and none of my Mac’s recognize it. IMac with Snow Leopard, MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard and an older PowerBook G4 with Leopard. What is up with the newer WD portable drives not working on Macs?

Also, I was tricked on the World Edition. It says on the box about accessing via the internet, but not one word about having to pay for it. Seagate is up front on the box saying “paid subscription”. The Best Buy person said WD is free. This is false advertising to me.

Bill_S · June 2, 2010, 12:11am

croderique wrote:

I have several external WD drives, including 2x250GB drives, 1Tb World Edition and a 120Gb Passport Portable drive.

All work well with my 3 Macs. Now I bought a 640Gb My Passport Essential and none of my Mac’s recognize it. IMac with Snow Leopard, MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard and an older PowerBook G4 with Leopard. What is up with the newer WD portable drives not working on Macs?

Also, I was tricked on the World Edition. It says on the box about accessing via the internet, but not one word about having to pay for it. Seagate is up front on the box saying “paid subscription”. The Best Buy person said WD is free. This is false advertising to me.

If you purchase the My Book World Edition drive, access to the drive via the internet is for free, and for as long as you have the drive. The premium edition of MioNet is not for free after 1 month.

bettyt · July 3, 2010, 5:46pm

Johm,

I have a WD “My Passport” that I use on a Mac Pro and sometimes on a MacAir. All of a sudden it’s not visible on either machine. I plug it directly into the computer’s USB using the supplied cable.

Do you think the booster cable or Y booster would help? Why would I need it if My Passport used to show up? What could have changed to make it disappear? Thank you!!

Thanks for any help!

Betty

bettyt · July 6, 2010, 5:57pm

I tried it on my desktop system and all worked fine for about 2 weeks. Then the icon disappeared. Re-booting had no effect. That’s why I’m suspicious about the power solution – why did it work before if there wasn’t enoough power in the USB?

geminiman · July 19, 2010, 7:18am

can i just use any Y cable to power up my WD My Passport. do plug both USB’s?

thanks