HomeBaker
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Q: Can't access my WD Passport on Mac Book Pro

I'm one of those who have upgraded to Yosemite, and now I wish I hadn't!!!

 

I'm not an IT tech, so the many forums I have gone to I don't understand!  I'm a full time mum who home bakes.

 

Everything I have ever done is on my hard drive as my mac had an incident that resulted in me nearly loosing everything, so now I save it all to my hard drive, only not to be able to gain access to it, Frustrating!! Can't win!!

 

My hard drive is not showing in disk utilities or anywhere else.

 

If you have a step by step process that I can follow (preferably in a non-tech language, maybe with screen shots), I would be so grateful.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Sep 21, 2015 11:34 AM

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HomeBaker

Q: Can't access my WD Passport on Mac Book Pro

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  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 21, 2015 12:51 PM in response to HomeBaker
    Level 10 (189,435 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 21, 2015 12:51 PM in response to HomeBaker

    - Did it work with this computer before?

    - Does it now work on another computer

    - Do any light on the drive light?

    - Is the PassPort powered by the USB bus (vice a separate power supply)?

    - Does it show in System Profiler under USB? You should see the chipset in the enclosure as well as the HD itself

      OS X: About System Information and System Profiler - Apple Support

     

  • by Cannonfodder_11,

    Cannonfodder_11 Cannonfodder_11 Sep 21, 2015 8:49 PM in response to HomeBaker
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Sep 21, 2015 8:49 PM in response to HomeBaker

    Generally the WD Passport External HDD is powered through the USB bus.

    It wouldn't be harmful to check in Disk Utility what the Passport is formatted to.

    By default they are formatted to NTFS which is completely useless on MacOS.

    If this is the case back up the HDD to your mac (It should copy across) and then reformat to ExFat.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 22, 2015 1:13 AM in response to Cannonfodder_11
    Level 10 (189,435 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 22, 2015 1:13 AM in response to Cannonfodder_11

    The poster said:

    My hard drive is not showing in disk utilities or anywhere else.


    Macs can natively read an NTFS formatted drive. It just can't write to one.

    Cannonfodder_11 wrote:

     

    Generally the WD Passport External HDD is powered through the USB bus.

    It wouldn't be harmful to check in Disk Utility what the Passport is formatted to.

    By default they are formatted to NTFS which is completely useless on MacOS.

    If this is the case back up the HDD to your mac (It should copy across) and then reformat to ExFat.

  • by HomeBaker,

    HomeBaker HomeBaker Sep 22, 2015 5:35 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2015 5:35 AM in response to lllaass

    - Yes it did

    - it works on my husbands MBP

    - yes, the light is on and you can hear it running

    - Passport is powered by the USB bus

    - Yesterday no, today I see the USB 3.0 Hi-Speed Bus: (Which I'm assuming is the passport drive) chipset? enclosure?

  • by HomeBaker,

    HomeBaker HomeBaker Sep 22, 2015 5:48 AM in response to Cannonfodder_11
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2015 5:48 AM in response to Cannonfodder_11

    Frustrating!! for days nothing and today I go into Disk Utility and it's showing up. All that ever appeared in Disk Utility was 'Macintosh HD" and a grey font "SuperDrive"

     

    I have now been able to drag it to my desktop and access my hard drive.

     

    I'm starting to think that it will be a 'one day it will work, one day it won't" scenario, as I have read in the many forums.

  • by HomeBaker,

    HomeBaker HomeBaker Sep 22, 2015 5:51 AM in response to HomeBaker
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2015 5:51 AM in response to HomeBaker

    Thank you all for you help.

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Sep 22, 2015 6:06 AM in response to HomeBaker
    Level 6 (12,409 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2015 6:06 AM in response to HomeBaker

    First of all, if the drive does not appear at all, check the basics. Does the drive have power? Does it have a light that turns on, do you hear it spinning?

    How is it connected to your mac? USB? Is the cable well seated at both ends (the mac and the drive)?

     

    I really don't think that having updated  to Yosemite would make your external drive cease to work.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 22, 2015 6:12 AM in response to HomeBaker
    Level 10 (189,435 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 22, 2015 6:12 AM in response to HomeBaker

    Try resetting the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM

    Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

    About NVRAM and PRAM

     

    The external HD shuld like like this is system Profiler

    Screen Shot 2015-02-19 at 4.09.23 PM.png