How do I use my WD Passport external hard drive both in Windows and Mac OS X El Capitan? Update Cancel. Ad by DatadogHQ.com. Will I lose all my data by reformatting to mac in my external hard drive (wd my passport ultra)? Which is the best external hard drive, Seagate or WD? My Passport Ultra for Mac. Learn More Compare. Learn More Compare. My Passport for Mac. Learn More Compare. My Passport Wireless SSD.
Active6 months ago
After about 3 weeks. I plugged in again into my MacBook and left it there. After more than an hour I came back and the drive showed up on my Mac again. (So somehow the problem got fixed.)
- The Western Digital My Passport Ultra (2TB) is a reliable external hard drive with some premium features that make it more attractive than just buying a basic model.
- Western Digital My Passport User Manual. Storage Western Digital My Passport Ultra User Manual. Portable hard drive (55 pages). Mac OS X ® Windows • Windows XP •. Page 8: Disk Drive Format. For Mac computers, go to the Apple menu and select Software Update. Disk Drive Format Your My Passport drive is formatted as a.
I ran First Aid on Mac's Disk Utility. It says the drive appears to be OK. So I don't know what fixed it exactly.
Problem:
When I plug my WD Passport Ultra 4TB external hard drive WDBBKD0040BBK-0A (with 2TB of family photos) into my MacBook Pro it has fast flashing of light and can't be mounted. It can be read on a Windows laptop (after Windows automatically fixed an error). I tried opening up Disk Utility on my Mac, but it just spins forever trying to mount the external hard drive. Chegg reader for mac. Nothing ever shows up on Disk Utility.
How it broke:
The WD Passport Ultra was plugged into my MacBook on battery. I was not actively reading or writing to the external hard drive, but it did have a list of directories open (no individual photo files, but just the directory names). The battery ran out.
When I charged up my Mac again it says that the disk was not ejected properly. Ever since that my WD hard drive has the flashing problem and can't be mounted on my Mac. I tried changing the Mac laptop, changing the USB cord, same problem.
I then plugged in my WD hard drive to a Windows laptop. It says that it detected an error and had the option of automatically fixing it. I clicked 'Start' and let it ran, but it didn't have a progress bar and just had a 'Cancel' button. After running for 3-5 minutes, my mom came in and unplugged the external hard drive forcefully (I yelled at her for doing that). We tried plugging it into the Windows laptop again, and my files and photos could be read!! But it still can't be read on Mac and has the flashing problem.
Why is it like this? What is broken? How can I test what is broken?
I'm asking because I have had accidentally unplugged other WD external hard drives without ejecting in the past while not writing data, like in this case, but the drives never broke. What is up in this case?
I'm curious if this is something that happens a lot or if it's just a less durable hard drive I got. Because I'm at a point where WD's warranty can give me a new drive to replace it, or I can fix this drive myself. (I have copied the photos out to a new drive on a Windows machine.) Because if it is something that happens with the same frequency in all drives, shouldn't I just fix it?
What is the best free software program on Windows that might potentially fix my problem? Mac programs are good too if they can actually access it since my Mac can't even mount it.
Melissa
MelissaMelissa
8 Answers
This happens because OSX 'forces' a disk check/repair in the background before mounting the drive (since it was ejected improperly), so it will simply appear to not be mounting until that completes.It seems it was fixed for you when you let the check complete---A quick way to 'fix' this is to manually force quit the fsck process from activity monitor.
andrewmh20andrewmh20
You can try the following solution.
In Terminal use the following commands:
Find your WD HDD identifier.
Replace * with your version
Free adobe epub reader download. After that, you should be able to mount the HDD successfully.
PratikPratik2,15811 gold badge99 silver badges2424 bronze badges
A good idea would be to run the disk check in Windows to completion.
Plug in the drive, right click the drive in Explorer, select Properties, and then in the Tools tab you'll find 'Error-checking'. Click 'Check Now' and let it scan the whole drive fixing any errors it finds.
jksoegaardjksoegaard25.7k11 gold badge3333 silver badges6262 bronze badges
As you have backed up the photos on the windows machine, you should try to use disk utility to fix your drive. There might be a volume mounting error or a format error, which can be fixed by using a function in disk utility called 'first aid'.
On your Mac, spotlight search for disk utility. It should show up. When it opens you should see a column on the left with all your disks listed there.
As you can see, this column has both internal and external drives listed there. Be extremely careful, do not tamper with the internal drives. Go over the list very carefully and select your external drive. It should be fairly obvious which one it is. In your case it should be labeled as something similar to WD passport ultra. If not, you can look at the storage capacity and check if it matches with your disk's (here, 4TB).
Next you need to run first aid. A self explanatory button placed towards the start of the row on the top says first aid. Click and let the magic happen! If it doesn't start right away, you may have a different version of macOS. In the case of this, click on verify the disk. Next, click on repair.
While doing this, please make sure no one yanks the cable out because that will be very, very bad.
If these situations occur:
- You see the output
The volume 'diskname' appears to be OK.
, but the problem still isn't fixed
or
- You see the output
Scan complete. Problems were found, but Disk First Aid cannot repair them.
then you can try to install and use DiskWarrior or try other solutions given on this thread. You could also try reformatting the disk, the steps for which I can edit in later.
@jksoegaard's method looks promising too.
Good luck!
Rushat RaiRushat Rai
At first i tried to run First Aid on Mac's Disk Utility. But it didn't work. I unplugged the WD external, shut down my macbook pro, restarted it again,ran First Aid on Mac's Disk Utility again and finally it worked! It took about 5-6 min and my hard drive showed again :)
Haroon AyyubHaroon Ayyub
I tried all the above, stressed for one afternoon, and then, from disk utility, clicked on the blue eject button on the top of the dialog box. Didn't ejected, but when I clicked then on the unmount and mount button. It mounted and appeared in my finder! ouf!
clemdamclemdam
I had the same issue and went to the disc utility and did pretty much what Haroon, above, did-clicked on the eject button. It said it could not eject because the files were being used, so I tried repair and it looked like everything was fine, so I hit eject again and it still wouldn't unmount. I then went out of disc utility. It still wasn't there in finder, but when I pulled out the USB and put it back in-there it was!!
SandiSandi
For Macs, if your External Hard Drive is not showing up in Disk Utility. And you have ruled out damaged drive and cable. The next step you should try is using Terminal.
Search Bar: Terminal
- Type
diskutil list
, press enter - Find the Name of your External Hard Drive, it should show up here if it is not damaged. The External Hard Drive name is the next line under EFI EFI. Example 'Productivity', 'Universal' etc.
- If name is Universal, Type
diskutil mount Universal
, press enter(instead of typing the name of the drive, you can also type in the identifier, eg. 'disk3s1, disk2s1, etc')
The External Drive should show up on Finder or Desktop. Good Luck, hope that works for you.
StrawHaraApple Reader Digital Book
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HaloHalo
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My Passport Ultra Mac Installation
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USB-C™ And USB 3.0 Compatible
Featuring USB-C™ technology, the My Passport™ Ultra portable drive delivers quick and easy storage for your PC, while the included USB 3.0 adapter makes sure it’s compatible with older machines.
Featuring USB-C™ technology, the My Passport™ Ultra portable drive delivers quick and easy storage for your PC, while the included USB 3.0 adapter makes sure it’s compatible with older machines.
Innovative Style And Function
Fusing modern anodized metal and textures, the My Passport™ Ultra portable drive is available in a variety of colors to seamlessly match your personal style and the latest computers.
Fusing modern anodized metal and textures, the My Passport™ Ultra portable drive is available in a variety of colors to seamlessly match your personal style and the latest computers.
Get More Out Of WD Discovery
Included WD Discovery™ software2 makes it easy to back up your photos, videos, and documents to the My Passport Ultra drive. To help preserve your online life, WD Discovery allows you to import your content from popular social media and cloud storage services, like Facebook, Dropbox and Google Drive™.3 WD Discovery software can also be used to manage your drive settings like reformatting, LED control and more.
Included WD Discovery™ software2 makes it easy to back up your photos, videos, and documents to the My Passport Ultra drive. To help preserve your online life, WD Discovery allows you to import your content from popular social media and cloud storage services, like Facebook, Dropbox and Google Drive™.3 WD Discovery software can also be used to manage your drive settings like reformatting, LED control and more.
Easy-To-Use Auto Backup Software
For your photos, videos or business documents, the WD Backup™ software included in WD Discovery makes it easy to help protect what’s important to you by automating your backup routine. Simply download WD Backup™, plug in your drive and set your hourly, daily or monthly schedule.
For your photos, videos or business documents, the WD Backup™ software included in WD Discovery makes it easy to help protect what’s important to you by automating your backup routine. Simply download WD Backup™, plug in your drive and set your hourly, daily or monthly schedule.
Password Protection With 256-Bit Aes Hardware Encryption
The WD Security function within WD Discovery helps keep your files private with a password you can choose, making it easy to enable password protection and 256-bit AES Hardware Encryption.
The WD Security function within WD Discovery helps keep your files private with a password you can choose, making it easy to enable password protection and 256-bit AES Hardware Encryption.
High Capacity
With up to 4TB1 of capacity, you have plenty of room to keep your photos, videos, music, and documents with you, wherever you go and in your control.
With up to 4TB1 of capacity, you have plenty of room to keep your photos, videos, music, and documents with you, wherever you go and in your control.
Windows Ready
My Passport Ultra is formatted for Windows® 10 to deliver plug-and-play storage out of the box. With WD Discovery™ software, you can also download the NTFS driver for macOS, so you can work seamlessly between operating systems without reformatting.
My Passport Ultra is formatted for Windows® 10 to deliver plug-and-play storage out of the box. With WD Discovery™ software, you can also download the NTFS driver for macOS, so you can work seamlessly between operating systems without reformatting.
3-Year Limited Warranty
The My Passport Ultra drive is built using tried and true WD components for lasting endurance and comes with a 3-year limited warranty to deliver reliable storage you can depend on.
The My Passport Ultra drive is built using tried and true WD components for lasting endurance and comes with a 3-year limited warranty to deliver reliable storage you can depend on.