MBP not recognizing WD My Passport [SOLVED]

[Hisdem]

Hi, this is my first thread so please bear with me, I used MRoogle but didn't find anything related.

Today, I was doing a time machine backup, and the backup failed. Ok, it's normal since the drive started updating the firmware. But after the firmware update failed (updater got stuck), the drive now spins, light on, but the MBP won't see it, and neither will the firmware updater.

Has anyone else been through this? If so, what was the solution? Just have to go for the warranty?

Please note I have never dropped the drive or anything, it just sits here on the desk.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TopHatPlus]

hmmm sounds like you may need to back up your external hard drive, and reformat your primary external hard drive, i ran into this issue and it said my western digital 2 tb external hard drive needed to be re formatted.

 

[Hisdem]

I see, but how can I format the drive without having it mounted to the MBP? It just won't be available for use, since the computer won't display it as being connected. Neither will my PC.

 

[Jez27]

Is the light on the drive completely solid when illuminated or is it flickering?

I had a similar situation with my WD My Passport drive where the drive would be powered completely fine by the MBP, but the light would just show as solid and it wouldn't spin as it normally would - as if some data was being read/written.

If the disk is spinning "normally" and the light is flickering when connected, I'd be inclined to say that it's a problem with the firmware from when there was the error with it and the drive itself isn't completely dead (Which would've been my first thought had you not mentioned the firmware bit).

Never had that specific problem myself though, so can't say for sure. Have you tried hooking it up to someone else's Mac or PC to see if it's recognised on theirs?

If it's still not recognised, you're probably best just going through the warranty replace/return channels.

 

[Hisdem]

The light is solid, as it was normally, I'm seeing this as a firmware error, since the update didn't complete etc. But is there no solution to this? Tried hooking the drive to my old PC and it didn't work. I'll wait for my sister to get home so I can try it on her MBP.

 

[AlphaDogg]

You may need a new drive.

 

[Hisdem]

Aparently, the WD firmware updates are buggy and cause the drive to have trouble. Only thing is I haven't been able to find a way to reformat the drive without it being mounted...

 

[CaveRat]

What exactly happened when you tried to connect it to a PC? Did you also try to run Windows WD Firmware Updater Tool (which can be downloaded from WD site)?

 

[Hisdem]

What exactly happened when you tried to connect it to a PC? Did you also try to run Windows WD Firmware Updater Tool (which can be downloaded from WD site)?

Well, Windows did see hardware being plugged in (Vista), but when I tried to access the drive, it wasn't mounted either, and Windows kept requesting drivers. I tried the firmware updated, but it just kept saying there was no USB WD drive available, despite the fact the drive was connected to the PC, and spinning normally.

EDIT: Tried connecting it to another MBP and same result. Won't show up on Disk utility, desktop, system profiler, nothing. But it will power up and spin normally.

 

[Hisdem]

UPDATE:

Issue solved. After trying to connect the drive to 4 different PC's, the drive was detected in Windows Vista Device Manager, and by the WD firmware updater tool. I was able to update the firmware and now the drive is working normally. Hope this won't happen again.

 

[bluebowtie67]

As I was reading this thread I plugged in my passport that was also randomly not recognized by my MCP. Not dropped since last use or anything of the sort. I don't have a PC to check it with, BUT I then noticed that it seemed like the drive was spinning and then skipping or something, then started spinning fast again- fraction of a second skip- so I held it and tried to feel for the skipping but it had stopped. I thought that was weird. Then, while still holding it (at about a 45 degree angle horizontally (like midway through flipping a page)) I decided to check Finder and it was mounted and accessible. All I did was hold it at an angle and it worked somehow. I ejected it, plugged it into my iMac (which it also didn't work on earlier) and it was accessible right away, even laying flat on my desk like normal. Weird. I don't know how stable it is now so I'm backing everything up again (it currently IS a backup). Just FYI in case the other solution doesn't pan out for someone, or in case they don't need to do all of that.

 

[Cleareye]

Passport Edge appears to be dead after having trouble trashing files on it for 24 hours. Now it won't show up at all.