WD Passport disconnects on Macbook but not PC/PS3

I have a Western Digital 1TB Passport USB 3.0 External hard drive which I have been using happily for over a year. However recently it has started disconnecting from my Macbook randomly giving the message "The disk was not ejected properly".


Now I am aware there is an ongoing issue with this, however none of the other responses seems to quite match my problem I am having - let me explain:


I realised that every time it disconnects, I have moved the hard drive slightly. After extensive testing, I have narrowed it down to it being the USB end attached to the hard drive, not the end plugged into the laptop. (For one, its a brand new retina macbook - only a month old)


Sometimes I plug the hard drive in and it doesn't even register. When it does register I have to keep the hard drive USB socket completely still. The slightest movement can result in a disconnect from the computer. Sometimes I can keep wiggling the cable and it will then reconnect. In other words, there doesn't seem to be any one position in which it always connects or disconnects, rather the position is random, and once I've found it I must not move the cable from that position.


Now the annoying thing is that this is not the case when I connect it to a windows laptop or a PS3. I can wiggle the cable all I like and it will not eject the hard drive at all. This seems counter-intuitive to me. All evidence points towards it being a dodgy USB connection BUT, only when connected to a macbook?? Essentially, the connection only becomes super sensitive when plugged into MY laptop.



The only thing I believed likely to be the case was the hard drive drawing too much power from Spotlight indexing its contents. This made sense to me as the hard drive has filled up over time so would require more indexing, it must have recently reached the threshold power requirements??. It would also explain why other devices were not affected. However, I tried putting the hard drive into the 'no-index' box under system prefs but this did nothing to help the problem.


Also, as a side note, the hard drive has been partitioned and formatted into a Time Machine section (200GB), and a FAT32 storage section (800GB). Don't know if that's relevant or not but there we go.


Any ideas as to what would cause this, how to fix it, and why the PC/PS3 doesn't experience this issue?

Thanks

MACBOOK PRO (RETINA, 13-INCH,EARLY 2013), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on May 4, 2013 7:04 PM

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4 replies

May 7, 2013 11:59 PM in response to bigbadaboom2401

I have the same issue with my 15" Retina Macbook Pro and my 2TB USB3 Western Digital Passport. However its only the right port that disconnects my external drive. Sometimes it will work for minutes and sometimes it disconnects in seconds.


The left port though has no issues with it all. My right USB port on my Macbook Pro retina has also disconnected my card reader which is USB2. However the right port will NEVER disconnect my Seagate USB3 external drive that has a AC power adapter and it will never disconnect my USB2 western digital 160gb portable drive.


Go figure..


Western Digital did release a firmware update addressing USB issues on the Mac however that didn't fix my problem. Seagate also did a firmware update on the same issue which did fix many people including mine for that drive. I would try the other port you got to see if that works any better. If not I'd try and return it and get another drive or get a USB3 hub that has an AC wall power adapter.


EDIT: I should also note that wiggling my USB 3 western digital passport drive on the right port disconnects the drive as well like you but not on my left usb 3 port. I have read the USB port closes to the screen on Macs share the BUS with the facetime camera, bluetooth and keyboard which can cause power fluctuations on that port.


Message was edited by: eosman

May 9, 2013 7:29 AM in response to eosman

That is interesting, I tried the other port and I get the same problem. I installed the WD firmware update but it didn't do anything, thanks for the info though, was worth a shot. It was kind of ironic trying to get the hard drive to stay connected, in order to update its firmware to try and stop it disconnecting haha.


I bought the hard drive over a year ago so I don't think they will replace it? Presumably they will want the hard drive back? If so, I don't have anywhere to keep the stuff that's on the storage partition in the mean time. I have bought a new USB 3 cable to see if that will solve the issue, so I'll report back if I have any luck with that.


As for buying another drive, I'd like to refrain from doing so as the reason I bought this particular one was how portable it was. I take my laptop everywhere, into uni, on the train etc. so portabilty is a main factor for me. This is also the reason I didn't want a drive with a power adapter, or a powered USB hub.


Thanks again for the info, it's good to know I am not the only one with this problem.

May 11, 2013 4:51 AM in response to bigbadaboom2401

So the cable arrived and it appears to have solved the problem. The macbook recognized the external straight away, and when I wiggled the connection, there was no disconnect.


No idea how there could be something wrong with the last cable that would only become a problem if connected to my retina macbook, but I'm just happy my HD is working again. New cable cost about £6 from amazon.

Jun 8, 2013 8:02 AM in response to bigbadaboom2401

So I have made some head way regarding this odd problem. Turns out my memory card reader is fine I think. My memory card reader will eject on the right port using a 4GB Lexar 133X professional CF card but NOT on the left USB port. However ALL 3 of my sandisk CF cards work fine in the reader on both USB ports. These 3 cards range from all different speeds from 15MB/sex to 30MB/sec. My lexar is 20MB/sec rated. Go figure!?


As for the Western Digital My passport USB 3.0 drive I have come to the conclusion its the drive and not the port. Reading through various forums on Anandtech, Apple Support and the Western Digital website forum many people have had issues with these drives on USB 3 ports on both Windows and on the Mac.


http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2302617


http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/My-Passport-2TB-USB-3-0-keeps- randomly-disconnecting-HELP/td-p/477224



I picked up a Seagate USB 3 hard drive powered by the USB port and its working flawlessly on my RIGHT usb port. Finally 🙂

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WD Passport disconnects on Macbook but not PC/PS3

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