I just purchased a 250GB PiDrive. I tried to plug it into my Pi, a it is not recognized. I plugged it into my iMac and still nothing. I booted my iMac into Gparted via a CD and still nothing. What am I missing here? I should at LEAST be able to see the bare hardware when I plug it into a computer.
PiDrives are completely empty (ie.non formatted or partitioned) when you buy them.
The WD PiDrive 314GB is a USB hard drive and can be used for external storage on the OS of your choice, but it must first be partitioned, formatted, and mounted.
Yes, I am aware of that. I was trying to partition the drive using Gparted on a Linux box, Disk Utility on a Mac, and Fdisk on a RaspberryPi. Unfortunately, none of the three boxes would recognize the drive.
I will look at the second link and see if that helps.
seems odd 
when i got mine, i just plugged it into my PC and used 3rd Party Partition Software … initialized and formatted the drive (MBR/exFAT) without issue . Then plugged into my Raspberry Pi 3 which recognized it immediatly. Later on, tried Berryboot Installer for RPI3, again, no issue formatting and installing software on the drive.
Is the bright LED Light even blinking when you plug it in ?
Well unfortunately, the partition/format instructions did not work. The drive is still not recognized on any of my RPi’s or Macs. I even tried the second 250GB PiDrive I got at the same time. Still nothing. Even worse, the second PiDrive crashes my RPi’s when I plug it it…
On both Drives, the White LED stays on solid, no blinking or anything.
Sounds like two bad drives. I guess I’ll try to get an RMA.
Or, could be one bad USB Cable ?
Great Idea! I will try a known good cable.
Yep, was a bad cable. All seems to be working now.
Good to hear 
