Is Western Digital not compatible with Macs?

Question

CYNT2011 Author

Level 1

7 points

Is Western Digital not compatible with Macs?

I've searched this question on the community and I see a lot of responses about Western Digital My Passport for Mac.

I am having some of the same issues. I can see it in Disk Utility, Western Digital software sees the disk, but Time Machine cannot see it and Finder does not see it. I have tried different ports, changed the cords, rebooted my computer and updated to latest OS. I still cannot backup to the disk and it still is not being seen by my computer. And the light comes on and then goes off.

I know I can reformat the drive after I backup the backup, but my question at this point, is My Passport not compatible with Macs? What is the real issue with the drives and Macs.

Thank you

Cynt

iMac 24″, macOS 14.6

Posted on May 4, 2025 5:11 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 8

35,291 points

May 4, 2025 6:02 PM in response to CYNT2011

Western Digital My Passport drives are in fact compatible with Macs.

What may not be compatible, or what may not work well with Macs, is WDs drive software - the junk that comes with the drive.

If you've installed that, then uninstall it. The Mac does not need it and it is often found to be the cause of a drive's misbehavior.

If the My Passport came pre-formatted with ExFAT or FAT32 and you'll only be using it with your Mac, then you'll want to use Disk Utility to reformat it. Use APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format and GUID partition scheme.

Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,576 points

May 4, 2025 7:36 PM in response to CYNT2011

D.I. is correct. One thing to add is that WD enclosures are generally fairly low quality. What tends to cause their problems is the enclosures have little or no venting which leads to premature failure due to overheating. To help, place the drive in a location that gets very good air flow.

Moving forward, when it comes time to replace the WD what many experienced users on these forums prefer is the OWC Mercury Elite Pro due to their high quality construction, ease of replacing the internal HD when it dies (something you probably cannot do on the WD), reasonable price and the support the vendor offers at no charge.

Reply

Is Western Digital not compatible with Macs?

Similar questions