WD Elements 1TB doesn't show up on iMac or MacBook Pro

Portable Drives My Passport
1

Oh look, another person posting yet another thread about their shiny brand new WD Elements device not showing up on their computer!

So I bought this hard drive thinking it was going to give me some extra back up space but when I plug it into the computer all it does is light up. (currently after being plugged in it is now blinking) It does not appear on the desktop, and nor does it show up when I open up in Disk Utility. It doesn’t appear to show up anywhere? What am I to do?

I took it back to the shop where I bought it from and the chappie there connected it to a Windows computer and even reformatted it for me to the correct format for Mac. So I brought it home and connected it to my wife’s MacBook Pro but it never shows up there either.

Upon looking at this forum, it seems to be a common complaint with no solution? WHAT’S GOING ON WD?

2

Can you post a screenshot of your Disk Utility when the Elements is plugged in?

If the “chappie” at the computer shop was able to reformat it, then the drive is obviously fully functional.

3

857×640 156 KB

Yip, I saw the drive working with a Windows computer, but its not showing up on the two Apple devices in my household.

4

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/IORegistryExplorer.shtml

Go to that website and download IORegister for Mac. Run the app, on the top left of the window click for IOUSB. Check if your Element drive list in there. If it does not in the list then go return the drive and get your money back or get another replacement drive.

5

Thanks for that jebusx, here’s what it looks like. I guess i’m going back to the shop…

741×586 71.5 KB

6

Thanks for that advice jebusx. I took the WD Elements back to the shop and swapped it for another one, that works without any issues.

7

Heheh… makes me wonder if the “Chappie” above actually did anything. :grin:

8

I watched him unbox my previous device, connect it to a Windows laptop and show me it working. He then reformatted it for Mac, and sent me on my way.

I saw the same guy today and he was happy to swap it for another device whilst insisting that it works on Mac.

It works now, so I’m happy. Now to get my WD Cloud device to respond to my computer…

WD Products. Causing me stress since 2015.