Western Digital My Book Essential external Hardrive (1440 Model, USB 3.0, 2TB) External Drive Doesn't Show on macOS But It Does on a PC (Win10)

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Level 1

130 points

Western Digital My Book Essential external Hardrive (1440 Model, USB 3.0, 2TB) External Drive Doesn't Show on macOS But It Does on a PC (Win10)

Hi. The USB 3.0 external hardisk I used for Time Machine now won't show on macOS (10.12.4) on this 2015 5K iMac (M395 GPU, Fusion drive, set at 5K native resolution) but on an actual PC (Windows 10 64-bit), it does and it's all normal there (unplugging just the power cord then replugging it): it shows up on the File Explorer, Disk Management, Devices Manager and Printers & Devices and you can format it normally. The My Book's firmware is the latest.

It only shows on macOS like so, after a power cycle (unplugging just the power cord then replugging it). It doesn't show up on Disk Utility nor on the Finder nor on Finder Window but it shows on Wester Digital's Smartware (I'll get the more expensive Time Capsule next time for Time Machine for more worry free use).

Any third-party driver for macOS that can fix this (the Western Digital site doesn't have a driver it seems)?

Thank you. God bless. Proverbs 31

iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS Sierra (10.12.3), Late 2015 8GB M395 Fusion

Posted on Mar 28, 2017 11:50 PM

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Answer 1

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Apr 5, 2017 12:58 AM in response to Alvin777

1. EFI updates should mentioned in Appstore, I think.

An SMC reset might help here:

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

Also a NVRAM reset:

How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

2. PC or mac: it all depends the power output of the USB port. But USB on the mac should have more than enough for the MyBook.

3. I suppose Bootcamp is automatically set up to use the USB ports....

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Answer 2

c6ten

Level 1

43 points

Mar 29, 2017 1:40 AM in response to Alvin777

I had a similar issue last year unfortunately I've lost my reference to the previous discussion but I fixed it. You have to eject ALL connected USB mounted drives and reboot the computer. MacOS Sierra seems to get into an inconsistent state sometimes with USB.

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Answer 3

Alvin777 Author

Level 1

130 points

Mar 30, 2017 11:40 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi. Thanks. I connected it to another PC, a Windows 7 laptop, it's fine there, if it's power cycled. I even got to format it to HFS using TransMac for windows. But macOS still won't see it (still no present on Disk Utility). Windows seem to install a driver called SES for it. I wonder if that driver equivalent of that for 10.12 was removed when it was updated to 10.12.4?

Any other recommendations are welcome.

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Answer 4

c6ten

Level 1

43 points

Mar 31, 2017 12:59 AM in response to Alvin777

From this page:

"The SES driver sections of this article only affects Windows users. Mac OSX does not require a special SES driver."

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=5419

I remembered that if you have a USB keyboard or any other USB devices you will have to temporarily disconnect that also and then reboot (you can connect it afterwards).

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Answer 5

Alvin777 Author

Level 1

130 points

Apr 4, 2017 8:43 PM in response to Alvin777

Hi. Thank you for the replies. After more than a week, it finally showed up when tried new ways to cycle it: holding the power button for about 20 seconds, doing different combinations of this 20 second power button hold, with the usb and power cable plugged in, with the power cable plugged in but unit's OFF with both the power cable and USB cable unplugged. That 20 second hold on the power button may have brought it back it to be detected and mounted by macOS. It's still under observation. Usually the problem occurs after booting on Windows 10 Boot Camp or a restart (I don't shut down the iMac. It's ON 24/7 w/ sleep and power saving).

It's now being erased with 2 pass zero out which is taking a lot time (how long is it on 5k iMac w/ Fusion drive I wonder)?

Thank you.

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Answer 6

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Apr 5, 2017 12:03 AM in response to Alvin777

If you use it before for TimeMachine it should be correctly formatted.

Basically the WesternDigital Software is a Windows Software and we normally advise to uninstall it, when it is on the mac: it is counterproductive on the mac.

Normally MyBook does not need an external power source, but in some situations the USB port does not deliver enough power for the external disk: when you use a (unpowered) hub, when you have heavy other equipment on the USB, or when you use a weak usb adapter, or when the usb cable from the external disk is damaged....

Without any other external USB equipment connected (no hub, no adapter), is DiskUtility not seeing the MyBook? for all USB ports?.

Not even when you completely uninstall the WD software?

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Answer 7

Alvin777 Author

Level 1

130 points

Apr 5, 2017 12:25 AM in response to Lexiepex

Hi. Thanks. Yeah, I've heard about USB power not being enough. I did try just plugging that external USB hard drive before but it didn't detect it (it's ok though when plugged on a PC, no problem). It may be the EFI getting confused when I switch between Windows (Boot Camp) and macOS coz' that's usually when the problems begin (similar to when you format things to ExFat which is supposedly multi-OS but sometimes it can be read, sometimes not- not so reliable as FAT32 but FAT32 is not useful with huge single files). May the EFI, the iMac's firmware needs an update.

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Answer 8

Alvin777 Author

Level 1

130 points

Apr 12, 2017 9:27 PM in response to Lexiepex

Hi. It's a driver issue by macOS Sierra 10.12.4 I installed the western digital driver + Turbo. It seems to mount and not switch off whenever I reboot (it should automatically turn on). I also installed anything the app from Western Digital that's compatible. This happened after 10.12.4 update (it's that .4 I believe that's the culprit- now the western digital drivers are need- it used to not be needed) but at least it's not a hardware one. I also updated the firmware for it for good measure and power cycled it.

Thanks. Advanced happy Easter.

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Answer 9

Alvin777 Author

Level 1

130 points

Apr 12, 2017 9:29 PM in response to Alvin777

Though I'm not using the Smartware backup but the Time Machine one. I wonder how the Smartware backups macOS stuff though (if it's a cloner that updates itself like Time Machine that's even better than Time Machine when you're on a hurry to use the Mac- you can just boot it up as an emergency on the external drive, if the main install suddenly doesn't work).

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Answer 10

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Apr 12, 2017 10:58 PM in response to Alvin777

"Hi. It's a driver issue by macOS Sierra 10.12.4 I installed the western digital driver + Turbo. It seems to mount and not switch off whenever I reboot (it should automatically turn on). I also installed anything the app from Western Digital that's compatible. This happened after 10.12.4 update (it's that .4 I believe that's the culprit- now the western digital drivers are need- it used to not be needed) but at least it's not a hardware one. I also updated the firmware for it for good measure and power cycled it."

NO, as we said always in all threads: do not in stall the WD software.

It has nothing to do with the WD drivers being bad or nt compatible, but the way the WD drivers are working is countering the drivers that are already in Macos (and the OSXs before). I have about 15 WD Elements and Passports of 1TB and 2TB that work splendidly in Apple OS.

Uninstall completely the WD software and then restart. It may or may not solve your problem, but it will be good for your mac anyhow.

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Answer 11

Eric Root

Level 10

685,203 points

Mar 29, 2017 9:03 AM in response to Alvin777

There have been a few instances in the past where the WD software was the problem. You could try uninstalling using WD's uninstall instructions as a test.

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