My macbook pro can't see wd passport 1T

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Level 1

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My macbook pro can't see wd passport 1T

Hay!
Can anyone help me please, because I'm desperate.
I have for few months a westeren digital passport 1 T. It works fine till yesterday. I plug in my macbook and it didn't show in finder. Then I check in "disk utility" and after verify disk it appear in "disk utility" and I have think it will be ok. In that finder window "disk utility" I open my wd passport, but today when I plug it in my macbook - again it didn't recognize it. I look in "disk utility" but with no result.
I looked at other topics but I didn't find with anyone the same problem.
So I asked you again and pleas help me to solve this problem.

Thank you

Edi

mac book pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 16, 2010 9:02 AM

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Answer 1

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Sep 16, 2010 3:22 PM in response to edijazby

If the port to which you are connecting the drive (is it a USB port?) works OK when you connect something else to it, such as a flash drive or a printer, but the external drive does not appear in Disk Utility when connected, then the drive has failed. Is it still under WD's factory warranty? If so, return it and hope its replacement will last longer, though I have my doubts about that. If your drive is out of warranty, read on.

Western Digital's external drive enclosures and the bridge chipsets in them are pure junk, and the failure may very well be in the bridge chipset rather than the drive itself. If you extract the drive from its enclosure and mount it in a good one from a reliable vendor or connect it directly to your Mac with an adapter like the one below, it may be detected by Disk Utility. It may even work perfectly again. If it doesn't, well, live and learn: don't buy any more WD external drives.

Bare-drive USB adapter:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/U2NV2SPATA/

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Answer 2

edijazby Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 17, 2010 1:05 AM in response to eww

Hay.
Thank you for your time. In some way you were really helpful, I think that my 1 TB passport is still in factory warranty, but what about the data in it?
But it's funny, because I have two wd passport - one 320 GB and other 500 GB and works fine. Even when I plug 500 GB and 1 TB in notebook , it recognize only 500 GB , but 1 TB don't. Even in "disk utility" finder.
Today I'm still in vacation and I'm going home, so I'll try with other computer, just to save my data, then probaly take back and claim another.
Thank you for your time and help.

Oh, by the way, are you heard about Y-USB connector ? That it might one USB port is too week to work with connecting - I mean one for transfer data and another for charge with electricity ?

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Answer 3

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Sep 17, 2010 5:43 AM in response to edijazby

Yes, I know about the Y cable WD offers and about the generally low power output of Powerbook USB ports. I consider it quite unlikely that that's your problem, because you say the drive worked fine with your machine for a while. But if you want to try the Y cable, here it is:

http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayAccesoryProductDetailsPa ge/productID.106596600/categoryID.13095900

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