WD Passport for Mac no longer mounting on laptop

nitarie2003 wrote:

I've been using a WD Passport for Mac to backup all my work for the last several years. I have 2 MacBook pro laptops that I've always been able to connect to and backup/retrieve files from. All of a sudden, yesterday neither computer will recognize the external drive. The light on the unit flashes, but it never shows up. I've tried alternate USB-C ports. I've flipped the cord. I've tried both computers. I've shut down and restarted with it plugged in and also tried to plug it in after startup. Nothing works and it was fine just a few days ago.

Funny how things always work just fine, until they don't.

You've done a good bit of troubleshooting here. Multiple computers, multiple USB cables, multiple ports and restarts. It may be that the drive has simply given it up. But don't quit just yet.

Everything from old project work to family photos are on that drive. Could it be something with the newest system update? I really need to be able to access it again.

How long has it been since you installed updates on both computers?

Are both computers running the same version of macOS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You might try running Disk Utility's First Aid routine on the drive volumes. It's possible there is simply some bit of data corruption in a directory that is causing this problem. First Aid may be able to repair any damage that it finds.

How to repair a Mac storage device with Disk Utility - Apple Support

And I encourage you to download and use the Drive DX diagnostic application from Binary Fruit. If Drive DX reports any negative findings then it's likely that the drive is failing or failed.

If you don't even see the volumes in Disk Utility, then check if the physical drives show up in Disk Utility. Unfortunately macOS hides the physical drives from view so you may need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility.

I have seen some users report that they were able to get their drives working by connect the drives to a USB3 hub instead of directly to the computer. If you are already doing this, then try connecting the drives directly to the computer.

And disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.

What file system(s) are on these drives? If you are using third party software to manage these drives, then that software may need to be updated.

Are you running any anti-virus software, cleaning/optimzer apps, or third party security software? If so, then that software may be causing the problem. Uninstall these types of apps by following the developers' instructions since these types of apps usually cause more problems than they solve because they interfere with the normal operation of macOS.