I'm trying to format a WD Passport Ultra 1TB drive and set it up for Time Capsule. I open Disk Utility, Select Drive on left. After a few seconds, the drive disappears. I shut down computer, start up and repeat steps. Same problem...
iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 2009 iMac
You do know there is a backup drive inside your Time Capsule. How were you going to use the Passport with the Time Capsule?
Drive Partition and Format
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select the Passport drive (this is the out-dented entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
My bad, maybe I'm using the wrong terminology. I don't have Time Capsule, but i'm using the software to backup my hard drive to an external drive. I had two Western Digital external drives that I would alternate between, keeping one in my safe deposit. One died, so I bought a replacement. It's formatted for Windows OS, so I'm trying to format it for Mac OS X.
The drive is faulty or the power supply is faulty.. is it powered or just using USB power.. sometimes USB is insufficient.. it does depend which Mac you use and which port.. there is a charge port which will supply greater current.
Only USB cable, so probably the drive is bad. I'll take it back to Target. Mahalo for the advice Kappy and LaPastenague!!!
Okay, so I'm back to where I started. I found that WD has a known problem with low power on some computers and offers free cable with two USB connectors. Just received the cable from WD. I plugged it in, opened Disk Utility, tried to click on the Ultra Drive, but it disappeared. I'll try to hook up the drive to another computer to rule out if it's the external drive that is causing the problem. Thank God I didn't need to pay for the new cable.
Failure to Setup WD Passport Ultra 1TB drive for Time Capsule.
