For no reason whatsoever my macbook pro won't show my WD external HD. It powers up normally and I see the light on the HD, it reads on other macbook pro's and it even gets read by my LG smart TV. It used to be read on my macbook pro but for no reason it just doesn't show up anywhere, not even on disk utility. Has anyone experienced this problem or have any recommendations for me?
thanks
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)
Boogshee rocks with his simple answer! You have no idea how much time I've spent on researching this. I've not been able to use this drive for months and to find out it's all about the "wiggle"? My concern is if the USB cord gets moved in the slightest it will be considered improperly ejected and will not mount on any MAC. Is there a way to prevent this? I can't believe the fix is as simple as this. So happy I stumbled on your answer as I have read over 20 articles on this encouraging to download all kinds of software, rest the PRAM, etc. What a JOKE!!! Thank you, Boogshee!!!
hi there, what if SATA converter is embedded into the HD?
apparently My password Ultra is not standard 2.5 inch HD and cannot change the SATA card..
look here:
Opening Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive - YouTube
thanks for attention!
How do you connect the external drive to your MacBook Pro? USB, FireWire?
If WireWire, try reseating PRAM:
Quote from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
- Shut down your Mac.
- Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
- Turn on the computer.
- Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
- Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
- Release the keys.
Just to reconfirm:
A: it DOES in fact open ok on OTHER macbooks?
B: what is the WD drive formatted in?
C: Have you tried to hook same to a diff. USB port?
I hook it up via USB cord. I forget what it was formatted in...but it worked fine for the longest time. It literally works in every device, laptop, tv, except my macbook pro. I'm baffled. I've tried all sorts of things like different cords, ports, etc.
I looked on the other macbook and it's FAT32
OK, so contrary to what you originally said it CURRENTLY does not work on ANY Mac? Correct?
If that is the case, you have a bad cable (very unlikely) or (very very common) a bad SATA card inside the external HD case.
Meaning.......almost certain your HD is fine, but the SATA bridge has bit the dust (typical). Youd have to crack open the case and put the HD into a HD enclosure ($15 on ebay) or a HD dock (35$ on ebay, or best buy).
BEFORE all that of course, verify that the USB cable isnt bad (trying another) and trying same HD on another Mac.
UPDATE: Ok, so it reads fine on other devices, but not the Mac currently.
offload all data on the HD onto another computer, format the HD for ExFat so it can read/write from / to both PC and Mac
load all data back onto HD
no sorry you misunderstood, it works on all macbooks. The only one it doesn't show up in is my macbook pro. This is why i'm so confused...because it used to work fine on it before, the light comes on and everything appears normal. As soon as I plug it into another macbook it comes on right away and is visible in Finder.
got it, now your current macbook isnt recognizing THIS hard drive, or ANY hard drive?
Do you have another HD to test on the problem macbook?
Do an SMC reset of the macbook in question.
ok i tried that, how do I know if it worked? I shut down my laptop completely with the power cord in. I think pressed all the buttons you told me to. After I released them simultaneously, nothing happened (i'm not sure if something was supposed to) but then I pressed the power button and everything booted up as normal.
This WD My Passport DOES work on all other devices. I do have another macbook and it works perfectly fine on it....it's really perplexing. After resetting the SMC it still doesn't show up : (
I mess with a LOT of hard drives, ....Ive seen this 3 times before, only once on a Samsung HD ages ago and twice with Western Digital consumer grade (never heard of same on a black WD drive).
Said drive would spin up and powerup but not pass on one Mac but would on others.
An intermittent wonky SATA card seems the highest likelihood here inside the HD enclosure.
HOW recently have you FULLY tested this HD on another Mac?
Just a few minutes ago...boots up fine like it does with my mac except I can actually see the drive on Finder and am able to watch my movies on it, etc.
One final diagnostic would be ultimately telling if you had another HD to attach to the Mac in question.
Do you have access to another HD to test?
If so, process of elimination would be utterly final, proving what I said earlier about your WD drive.
I have 3 other HDs ...one is EXACTLY the same as the WD which doesn't read and it reads fine with no problems. Every HD I plug into my mac works fine with no problems....
MY PASSPORT WD Drive not showing on my macbook but shows on others.
