Western Digital Hard Disk For Mac

Open Up Disk Utility. Your Disk Utility program lives within a folder called Utilities. Even though Mac computers are capable of reading hard drives that are formatted for Windows, if you intend on using your external HDD as a bootable disk or want to use it to backup files with your Mac's Time Machine, you must format it to be entirely Mac compatible. Double-click the 'WDUtilitiesInstallerforMac211100.dmg' to create the 'WD Drive Utilities' disk image on your desktop. Open the 'WD Drive Utilities' disk image. Do NOT start the installer application. Instead, right-click the file 'WD Drive Utilities Installer' application and select the 'Show Package Contents.

1. Best External Hard Drives For Mac
2. Western Digital Hard Disk For Mac And Windows

When I bought the WD My Passport Ultra drive, I was surprised to see that it didn't support OS X out of the box. Yes, it had some software specifically made for OS X on it, but even that didn't help. Turns out, it just wasn't in the right format. These hard drives are customized to run well on Windows (as you'd expect), and they don't run well with OS X.

So to get it running, what we'll need to do is format it in Journaled format, which is OS X only format or MS-DOS (FAT), which means it will run with both OS X and Windows. If you're only going to be using the hard drive on a Mac, I recommend you stick with Journaled.

Why You Need to Re-Format the External Hard Drive

When I first got the hard drive, I wasn't able to copy anything over to it (but I was able to copy from it). Disk Utility showed that it was formatted to MS-DOS (FAT) but I'm pretty sure it would have been NTFS instead. If you experience the same issue, your only recourse is to reformat it in one of two formats.

If you're only going to use the external hard drive with Macs or you want to use it for Time Machine backups, format it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you're like me who also needs to use at least a part of the hard drive from Windows PCs, you'll need to choose MS-DOS (FAT) format. But here you won't get great support for Time Machine. Plus you can't make partitions bigger than 2 TB or move files larger than 4 GB around.

How to Re-Format the External Hard Drive

First, connect the external hard drive, bring up Spotlight Search by using the keyboard shortcut Cmd + Space and type in Disk Utility. Press Enter and Disk Utility will launch. You can also find it in Utilities folder in Applications.

Now, from the left column select 1 TB WD My Passport (or whatever your hard drive name is), and click on the Erase tab.

From here, in Format, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled), give it a name if you want, and click Erase.

You'll get a warning. Again, click Erase.

In a couple of seconds, you'll have an OS X ready hard drive to go.

How to Create Partitions

I'm planning on using my hard drive for both Time Machine backups and to carry media files around. I might need to use the hard drive with Windows computers so I'm going to format one of the partitions as MS-DOS (FAT), fully aware of its limitations. The other one, for Time Machine backups, will be in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.

To create a partition, select the hard drive from the left column and click the Partition tab.

From the drop-down below Partition Layout, select the number of partitions you want. Don't go overboard here.

Now, just below, you'll see a visual representation of the partitions. You can use the breakpoint to change the size of the partitions by moving it up or down. You can also click on a partition, give it a name and select the format.

Once you've decided all the details, simply click the Apply button. From the pop-up, select Partition.

What Do You Use It For?

What are you planning on doing with the external hard drive? Time Machine backups perhaps? Or just storing media? Share with us in our forums section.

Read Next

What Is Mac Recovery Mode and How To Use It

Summary: This article analyzes why the WD My Passport for Mac drive is not mounting/working on Mac and how to fix this issue. If you worry about losing data, you can recover data from the WD hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac at first.

This page will analyze why WD My Passport drive won't mount on Mac, and provides 7 possible solutions to this issue.

• 1. Show the mounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive on Mac destop
• 2. Force Mount the WD Mac hard drive in Disk Utility
• 3. Run First Aid to fix WD My Passport for Mac not mounting error
• 4. Check the power supply of the WD My Passport for Mac drive
• 5. Check the USB cable
• 6. Check the USB port of your Mac
• 7. Check for driver update

What is meant by mounting a WD My Passport drive on Mac?

The WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is specially designed for Mac mini computers, iMacs, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. You can access My passport for Mac drives only when macOS recognizes the format of the drive. This process is called mounting.

However, once your computer fails to recognize that format (also known as file system), the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is not mounting on Mac computer.

Why is WD My Passport for Mac not mounting?

WD hard drives, including My Passport and Easystore, won't mount on Mac when the disk format is not recognized. Such error could be caused by virus infection, sudden power failure, sudden power outage, unwanted interruption during transferring data, etc. If the external hard drive won't mount, you can't open this WD My Passport for Mac drive and access your important files.

Here is one typical case from forums:

When I first got the hard drive, I wasn't able to copy anything over to it (but I was able to copy from it). Disk Utility showed that it was formatted to MS-DOS (FAT) but I'm pretty sure it would have been NTFS instead. If you experience the same issue, your only recourse is to reformat it in one of two formats.

If you're only going to use the external hard drive with Macs or you want to use it for Time Machine backups, format it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If you're like me who also needs to use at least a part of the hard drive from Windows PCs, you'll need to choose MS-DOS (FAT) format. But here you won't get great support for Time Machine. Plus you can't make partitions bigger than 2 TB or move files larger than 4 GB around.

How to Re-Format the External Hard Drive

First, connect the external hard drive, bring up Spotlight Search by using the keyboard shortcut Cmd + Space and type in Disk Utility. Press Enter and Disk Utility will launch. You can also find it in Utilities folder in Applications.

Now, from the left column select 1 TB WD My Passport (or whatever your hard drive name is), and click on the Erase tab.

From here, in Format, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled), give it a name if you want, and click Erase.

You'll get a warning. Again, click Erase.

In a couple of seconds, you'll have an OS X ready hard drive to go.

How to Create Partitions

I'm planning on using my hard drive for both Time Machine backups and to carry media files around. I might need to use the hard drive with Windows computers so I'm going to format one of the partitions as MS-DOS (FAT), fully aware of its limitations. The other one, for Time Machine backups, will be in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.

To create a partition, select the hard drive from the left column and click the Partition tab.

From the drop-down below Partition Layout, select the number of partitions you want. Don't go overboard here.

Now, just below, you'll see a visual representation of the partitions. You can use the breakpoint to change the size of the partitions by moving it up or down. You can also click on a partition, give it a name and select the format.

Once you've decided all the details, simply click the Apply button. From the pop-up, select Partition.

What Do You Use It For?

What are you planning on doing with the external hard drive? Time Machine backups perhaps? Or just storing media? Share with us in our forums section.

Read Next

What Is Mac Recovery Mode and How To Use It

Summary: This article analyzes why the WD My Passport for Mac drive is not mounting/working on Mac and how to fix this issue. If you worry about losing data, you can recover data from the WD hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac at first.

This page will analyze why WD My Passport drive won't mount on Mac, and provides 7 possible solutions to this issue.

• 1. Show the mounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive on Mac destop
• 2. Force Mount the WD Mac hard drive in Disk Utility
• 3. Run First Aid to fix WD My Passport for Mac not mounting error
• 4. Check the power supply of the WD My Passport for Mac drive
• 5. Check the USB cable
• 6. Check the USB port of your Mac
• 7. Check for driver update

What is meant by mounting a WD My Passport drive on Mac?

The WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is specially designed for Mac mini computers, iMacs, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. You can access My passport for Mac drives only when macOS recognizes the format of the drive. This process is called mounting.

However, once your computer fails to recognize that format (also known as file system), the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is not mounting on Mac computer.

Why is WD My Passport for Mac not mounting?

WD hard drives, including My Passport and Easystore, won't mount on Mac when the disk format is not recognized. Such error could be caused by virus infection, sudden power failure, sudden power outage, unwanted interruption during transferring data, etc. If the external hard drive won't mount, you can't open this WD My Passport for Mac drive and access your important files.

Here is one typical case from forums:

WD My Passport for Mac hard drive (2 TB) won't mount on my MacBook Air, grayed out in Disk Utility. I have 1 TB family photos on this hard drive, which are very precious for me. How to fix if WD My Passport for Mac not working on Mac? Any data recovery solution? Thanks a lot!

If you haven't got an effective workaround when WD My passport hard drive fails to mount in Finder or Disk Utility, this page will help. You'll know how to mount the Western Digital my passport drive on Mac again.

How to fix the unmounted WD My Passport hard drive on Mac?

The connected WD My Passport drive should be automatically mounted on the desktop, in Finder and Disk Utility. When it won't mount on Mac as you expect, you can try these methods.

1. Show the mounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive on Mac destop

Sometimes, the My Passport drive is recognized and mounted by the Mac, and you just don't see it. You can go to Finder > Preferences and confirm if the 'External Disks' under 'Show these items on the desktop' is selected. This will ensure if the external drives connected to this Mac are allowed to show on the desktop.

But if your WD My Passport drive is not even showing up, it's reasonable that you can't see it mounting on Mac. Then, you shoud check the connections and some hardware issues.

2. Force Mount the WD Mac hard drive in Disk Utility

You can go to Utility and see if this hard drive appears in the left sidebar. If your WD My Passport for Mac drive for Mac is not mounting but grayed out in Disk Utility, you can right-click and select the 'Mount' button to force mount the hard drive. However, if this external hard drive is corrupted, the 'Mount' button will not be available and you need to try the next solution.

But sometimes, you can't mount a hard drive on Mac because of internal disk errors like file system corruption, partition table lost, the directory is corrupted, etc. You WD My Passport for Mac drive won't be recognized by your Mac in these cases. Fortunately, you can fix the hard drive not mounting issue with the native disk repair tool, First Aid.

3. Run First Aid to fix WD My Passport for Mac not mounting error

First Aid is a Mac built-in tool to verify and check minor problems of a hard disk. Whenever you can't mount a WD hard drive or My Passport for Mac is not working, First Aid should be a good disk repair tool.

Best External Hard Drives For Mac

• Step 1: Go to /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility/, then click Continue.
• Step 2: In the sidebar, select the unmounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive.
• Step 3: Click the 'First Aid' button.
• Step 4: Click Run.

If Disk Utility reports that the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive appears to be OK or has been repaired, you're done. Otherwise, this WD My Passport drive has been corrupted. You have to retrieve your data from this corrupted hard drive as soon as possible.

When those methods didn't make any difference and the WD My passport for Mac hard drive is not mounting still, you need to check some hardware issues that get involved in the disk connection.

Let's start with some basics factors.

4. Check the power supply of the WD My Passport for Mac drive

It's well known that insufficient or no power supply in USB ports could also lead to hard drive not mounting issue. Therefore, you should make sure the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is getting the appropriate power. If the drive came with a Y-cable, use both USB connectors. Moreover, do not connect the drive through a USB hub, connect it directly to the Mac. Make sure the power adapter is connected directly to a wall outlet, not to an extension cord.

5. Check the USB cable

When external hard drive is not showing up on Mac, ensure the cable is properly connected to both the drive and computer. Then try connecting your WD My Passport for Mac hard drive with a new USB cable if you can fetch another one.

6. Check the USB port of your Mac

If the problem still continues, try using a different USB port. Perhaps your Mac has two USB port - the back and front ones. Assuming the My passport driveis plugged in the front USB port, try to insert the drive to the back USB port.

7. Check for driver update

If the hardware seems to be OK, let's check the software that related to this disk problem. The My passport disk driver, a software component, bridges the operating system and the drive to communicate with each other. But the files of My passport driver could be deleted, outdated, or corrupted for virus invasion or misoperation.

Western Digital Hard Disk For Mac And Windows

So, when the WD My Passport drive is not working or the external hard drive won't mount on Mac, check the disk driver.

• Step 1: Click the Apple icon and select 'App Store…'
• Step 2: Click Update (NOT UPGRADE!) to install a specific update or Update All to install all available updates.

Sometimes, WD My Passport for Mac driver, software, and WD disk tool are needed, especially when you want to open a WD My Passport for Mac drive that is locked. You can go to WD official website and download software for WD My Passport troubleshooting and for WD My Passport driver update.

How to fix WD My Passport for Mac hard drive not mounting error without losing data?

However, if WD My Passport for Mac hard drive still won't mount on Mac, the last solutions is to reformat the hard drive. But reformatting will delete all data stored on the hard drive, and most of the time, many important files are stored on the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive.

If you haven't backed up important files, how can you recover files from the WD My Passport drive? It's high time to recover lost data from the unmounted hard drive first.

Step 1: Recover lost data from unmountable hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac

As for Mac data recovery, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is highly recommended as it's a free Mac data recovery software. It can easily retrieve files from WD Passport drives. This software can recover lost data from corrupted hard drive, unreadable hard drives, formatted hard drives, unrecognized hard drives, unmountable hard drives, inaccessible hard drives, and recover lost data from uninitialized hard drive.

You can use this hard drive data recovery software on macOS Big Sur 11/Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13/10.12 Sierra and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.

• 1. Free download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
• 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac and select the unmounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive.
• 3. Click 'Scan' to search for all lost files on this drive.
• 4. Preview the listed scanning results, choose files we want, and click 'Recover' button to get them back.

Hopefully, you'll get all your files off after the WD My Passport is not working nor mounting.

Step 2: Fix WD My Passport for Mac drive not mounting error by reformatting

After getting lost files back, you can fix WD My Passport for Mac hard drive not mounting error by reformatting without worrying about losing data. This will reset the WD My Passport hard drive.

• Guide to reformat WD My Passport for Mac external hard drive

Conclusion

WD My passport for Mac hard drives always offer quick and easy way to expand the storage space of your computer. It has amazing features like cloud storage, password protection with hard drive encryption, and compatiblity with Apple's Time Machine backup software, so that you can store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents.

But the WD My Passport for Mac drive not mounting issue will call a halt on all these good things. You need to repair the WD My Passport for Mac that is not working or corrupted first, and recover data with the assistance of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

For any questions or suggestions, please email us below.