El Capitan killed my WD MyBook

heres a scenario

you check the drive with disk repair and there are no errors found

you wipe the drive, reformat Mac OS Extended with the GUID file system (effectively deleting the backup on their now)

you begin a new backup sequence

what would you loose right now if you tried that?

I'm not asking you to do this, just field an answer and nothing more at this time.

That's actually a really good point, but I would lose all of my saves. I tried pulling some over last night and kept getting that **** rotating rainbow of death and couldn't get anything done on the computer while it was "thinking" about copying my saves out of My Book and onto the desktop. But that may be exactly the route I end up having to take.

One reason that I am reluctant to do that is if I do it and it doesn't work, I'm no further than I am right now AND I've just lost all my saves.

Did you install any WD software that may have come wth the drive?

No, no Western Digital stuff on my iMac hard drive. I just finished looking through all my applications and the only one I'm not sure about is a DivX thing with a 2009 date on it ... but that is long before I got the WD My Passport.

Thanks for troubleshooting with me!

I'd like to see what is running, can you download this app, run a report and post it here: Etrecheck

EtreCheck version: 2.6.3 (223)

Report generated 11/12/15, 8:59 AM

Runtime 1:56

Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: (What does this mean?)

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015)

[Click for Technical Specifications]

[Click for User Guide]

iMac - model: iMac15,1

1 3.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Upgradeable

[Click for upgrade instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM1

Empty

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Video Information: (What does this mean?)

AMD Radeon R9 M290 - VRAM: 2048 MB

iMac 5120 x 2880

System Software: (What does this mean?)

OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 (15B42) - Time since boot: about one day

Disk Information: (What does this mean?)

APPLE HDD ST1000DM003 disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

[redacted] HD (disk1) / : 999.03 GB (787.02 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online

USB Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

Canon MX470 series

Western Digital My Book 111A 3 TB

EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

My Book (disk2s2) /Volumes/My Book : 3.00 TB (2.66 TB free) - 29 errors

Drive failure!

Thunderbolt Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: (What does this mean?)

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: (What does this mean?)

/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.leapfrog.driver.LfConnectDriver (1.12.0 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.flipvideo.IOUSBCameraMassStorage (1.0.0) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.leapfrog.codeless.kext (2) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.ni.Fantom.nxtfwdl (1.1.1) [Click for support]

Startup Items: (What does this mean?)

Fantom: Path: /Library/StartupItems/Fantom

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

System Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[failed] com.apple.csrutil.report.plist [Click for details]

Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.sony.BloggieSoftware.AutoRun.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.leapfrog.connect.authdaemon.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helpertool.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.sonycorporation.BloggieInstallerAgent.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.leapfrog.connect.monitor.plist [Click for support]

[failed] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.zeobit.MacKeeper.Helper [Click for support]

User Login Items: (What does this mean?)

Garmin Express Service Application (/Applications/Garmin Express.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Garmin Express Service.app)

Garmin Lifetime Map Updater UNKNOWN (missing value)

iTunesHelper Application Hidden (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Dropbox Application (~/.Trash/Dropbox.app)

Other Apps: (What does this mean?)

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000006.Microsoft Word

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000007.Microsoft Excel

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000008.Microsoft AU Daemon

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x1000000a.EtreCheck

[running] com.garmin.renu.service.106912

[running] com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2.94752

[running] jp.co.canon.ij.ica.scanner14s.80032.0BD0AB53-64E7-4CEE-8AE2-DB9E13557BA8

Internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

MacCouponPrinter2: Version: Unknown

CouponPrinterPluginMac1.0.0.7: Version: CouponPrinterPluginMac 1.0.0.4 - SDK 10.7 [Click for support]

Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 4.2.1f4 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Default Browser: Version: 601 - SDK 10.11

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.2.3.7 [Click for support]

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20513.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 19.0.0.245 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.0 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

Flash Player: Version: 19.0.0.245 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.5.7 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

Photo Center Plugin: Version: Photo Center Plugin 1.1.2.2 [Click for support]

CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2: Version: 1.1.10 - SDK 10.5 [Click for support]

User internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

rbjnplugin_2.5.111.8: Version: rbjnplugin 2.5.111.8 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

Move-Media-Player: Version: npmnqmp 071503000004 [Click for support]

bjnplugin_2.6.127.8: Version: bjnplugin 2.6.127.8 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

bjninstallplugin_2.6.127.8: Version: bjninstallplugin 2.6.127.8 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

fbplugin_1_0_3: Version: Unknown [Click for support]

Picasa: Version: 1.0 [Click for support]

rbjninstallplugin_2.5.111.8: Version: rbjninstallplugin 2.5.111.8 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 [Click for support]

npBcsMcTcIO: Version: Unknown [Click for support]

RealPlayer Plugin: Version: Unknown

Safari Extensions: (What does this mean?)

BeFrugal.com Toolbar

3rd Party Preference Panes: (What does this mean?)

3ivx MPEG-4 [Click for support]

DivX [Click for support]

Flash Player [Click for support]

Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]

MacFUSE [Click for support]

Rapport [Click for support]

Bad Fonts: (What does this mean?)

Animals 2.ttf: /Library/Fonts/Animals 2.ttf

ACID.TTF: /Library/Fonts/ACID.TTF

Arrows1.ttf: /Library/Fonts/Arrows1.ttf

Time Machine: (What does this mean?)

Skip System Files: NO

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.03 GB Disk used: 212.00 GB

Destinations:

My Book [Local]

Total size: 3.00 TB

Total number of backups: 42

Oldest backup: 7/5/12, 7:28 PM

Last backup: 3/16/15, 10:00 AM

Size of backup disk: Excellent

Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk size 999.03 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: (What does this mean?)

4% mdworker(16)

1% fontd

0% Microsoft Excel

0% com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64

0% WindowServer

Top Processes by Memory: (What does this mean?)

787 MB kernel_task

557 MB Microsoft Word

451 MB softwareupdated

311 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(3)

311 MB Safari

Virtual Memory Information: (What does this mean?)

545 MB Free RAM

7.47 GB Used RAM (2.51 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: (What does this mean?)

Nov 11, 2015, 10:07:00 AM Self test - passed

Nov 11, 2015, 10:06:17 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Safari_2015-11-11-100617_[redacted].cpu_resourc e.diag [Click for details]

IT's probably time to get another drive, and try a recovery app such as Data Rescue 4 to see what it can recover from the failing drive. I believe you can run it in trial mode to see if it can salvage enough to be worth buying.

You do have some crap software (notably MacKeeper) but that is less important that you are in the middle of a drive failure. Turn the Mac off an DO NOT turn it on again until a recovery plan is formed.

You are going to need 2 new HDD's, one to go inside and one to use as a recovery drive (you can start with just one if you prefer, but two will eventually be needed)

Oops misread, you're only going to need one drive, no need to replace the internal.

You also need to remove (correctly) Mackeeper and Trusteer, neither are good for anything except messing up your Mac

I don't really understand a word of what you're saying. I just bought this machine a couple of months ago - how can I be having a drive failure? Or do you mean on the MyBook? And what do you suggest?

Read my post again

I'm still kind of lost here. What do I need a recovery drive for? Are you referring to another external HD for backup? Is there some reason that my WD drive won't be able to work? I'm definitely going to remove the crap software, but I don't understand the recovery drive thing. I'm really hoping I can get My Passport working because I just spent all this money on the new iMac and can't really afford a new backup drive on top of that.

How do I safely remove MacKeeper and Trusteer?

The WD drive is failing, it will not be useable at all shortly (maybe already). Time to focus on recovering the data on it. Do not replace it with another WD. Unplug it for now and don't use it until you have some recovery software and a drive to put the data on.

Western Digital My Book 111A 3 TB

EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

My Book (disk2s2) /Volumes/My Book : 3.00 TB (2.66 TB free) - 29 errors

Drive failure!

Ugh, time to spend more money I don't have. Thanks for taking a look at it for me. I hope I can at least manage to salvage some of my data off there!

Any tips for properly removing software? I actually have quite a bit of junk that I don't want and I would LOVE to clean it all out.

Consult the vendors (MacKeeper and Trusteer) for the correct removal method, do not put them in the trash, there are many files that will not be removed that way, the problems they cause will not be fixed unless they are correctly removed.

It is likely that your backup will not be useable after recovery, the structure of the backup file may be damaged I'm afraid but that can't be known until you get it on a new drive.

My WD Mybook seems to be working fine with a brand new macbook running El Capitan. BUT... the WD Drive Utility no longer works, and WD doesn't seem to have an update. No way to access the raid configuration or check the drive health.