Problem with brand new My Passport for Mac: The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer

#1

I bought a WD My Passport for Mac 320GB V2 09 at an Apple Store that is two and a half hours away from my home.

The first time I plugged it into my PowerBook G4 (running Tiger), I got a message:

Disk Insertion

The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer.

                                                          Ignore          Eject

The USB symbol on the plug that goes into the computer is on the bottom when it is plugged in.  Every other USB cable I have ever seen has this symbol on the top.

Is the cable mis-wired?

Did someone at the factory in Thailand pack a drive formatted for Windows into a My Passport for Mac box?

Has anyone else met this problem? If so, what were the cause and the solution?

#2

The symbol on the cable doesn’t really matter which way it is showing. This is just a symbol that is printed on the cable when it is manufactured. Usually the symbol does show facing up but not always. There are a few things that can cause the error that you are receiving. This drive is powered by the USB port on your computer so it is possible that the drive is not receiving enough power, the cable is bad, the drive could be bad or there can be a conflict with another piece of hardware/software.

I would try the drive on another system if you have one and see if that helps. If you have the error try changing the data cable. If you are still having the issue, then you may need to replace the drive.