My WD My Passport external drive for IMac computer shows “NOT MOUNTED”. It has worked fine until We had an electrical blip and now it won’t do a back up. I have tried everything suggested with nothing working. I followed instructions on utube to no avail.
Any suggestions?
iMac 27″, macOS 12.7
are you using any of WD's preloaded software on the drive (or installed such software yourself) that supposedly makes the drive "Mac ready"? if yes, that could be the cause of your issue. when you use software from just about any manufacturer for their storage device you run the risk of that same software not being compatible with macOS updates / upgrades. it can cause the software to stop working. at best this will cause you a headache. at worst it can render your data inaccessible. it is always best to use disk utility to erase and format a drive before use to remove any preloaded software.
if you are using such software, i think your options are somewhat limited.
you may want to contact WD and see if there is an update for their software.
alternatively, if you have a backup you can revert your macOS to the version of macOS that the drive was working on and transfer your data to another storage device and then erase and format the WD device before putting it back into service.
please see Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.
If you have an Intel iMac, disconnect the WD drive and reset the iMac’s SMC, then reconnect the WD drive.
Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support
If you have a Silicon iMac, disconnect the WD drive and restart the iMac, then reconnect the WD drive.
If that doesn’t help, test the WD drive connected to a different Mac.
Do you know if the tech at Best Buy plugged it into a Mac or a windows PC..?
It should be on when nothing is reading/writing and average blinking when there is reading/writing activity. Rapid blinking generally indicates that there is a problem with the drive or the drive format.
What were you using this WD drive for..?
(Time Machine or something else)
If for Time Machine try erasing it.
Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Then try starting new Time Machine backups.
Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
If that doesn’t work, set it aside and get another external drive to use for Time Machine backups.
You're welcome.
Yes erasing and reformatting the WD drive will delete the old backups.
Sadly, that is the best way to determine if the WD drive is still usable for Time Machine backups.
This did not work. I took hard drive to Best Buy this morning and they were able to read.
should the little light on the hard drive be blinking or constantly on?
thanks for your help.
I do have the intel chip.
I am using for Time Machine.
Sorry but I don’t know what he used to determine that it was readable.
If I delete the external hard drive and put back on would that work?
Doing this, would it delete the backups?
I don’t know a lot about computers, enough to be dangerous.
Thank you for all your assistance.
WD My Passport not mounting on iMac after power blip
