I just receive my 250GB Western Digital Portable Passport and I plugged it into my Mackbook Pro and nothing seems to happen, the hard drive powers itself up but does not display on my computer. I am still not all that familiar with mac, but if anyone has any insight please let me know, since the documentation that came with the hard drive is for Windows.
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WD Portable Passport
- Thread starter silvestri
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Go into Applications/Utilitiess/DiskTool
See if it shows up in DiskTool
From that point if it shows up, it might just be a formatting/partition problem.
BE CAREFUL - do not do any partitioning/formatting unless you are 1000% certain you are on the WD Passport.
NOTE: I have 2 of them, use them all the time on the Macbook and the iMac - both intel machines
Are you sure? It might have an unusual name, but should have "WD" somewhere in it.
If it's really not there, it sounds like you've got a defective drive, cable, or USB port.
Where are you plugging it in?
Keyboard? DON'T
Directly into back of computer -OR- in a POWERED Hub!!!
No extension cords.
I had a problem with mine when I went into an extension cable .... it locked up and DISAPPEARED!!!!!
WHen min disappeared because of the extension cable, I had to unplug the drive and replugging did no good .... had to reboot
Keyboard? DON'T
Directly into back of computer -OR- in a POWERED Hub!!!
No extension cords.
I had a problem with mine when I went into an extension cable .... it locked up and DISAPPEARED!!!!!
WHen min disappeared because of the extension cable, I had to unplug the drive and replugging did no good .... had to reboot
I am using a macbook pro so where else am i supposed to plug it in? And yes I only see my internal hard drive the partition its named and my DVD Drive but the external is drawing power the light is on, just not seeing it at all anywhere.
OK you're using a Macbook Pro - so it is connected directly to the USB port on the notebook.
It should show up, unless you have a defective Passport.
There's a huge problem with the WD Passport (or rather using them with Macs). For some reason, the amount of power coming from the USB ports on Macs is not always enough to power them, and if that's the case you need a 'double usb' cable (which has two of the large flat USB plug-ins to plug in your computer...which is not always practical or even possible).
The odd thing is that it isn't consistent, in regards to what computers will have a problem. We bought one last year and it worked fine on my old PowerBook G4, didn't work on my partner's newer MacBookPro and sometimes worked on his 17" PowerBook. Had no problems on my IMac. Did some research and on the WD site they acknowledged that this was a problem with some computers and offered to sell you the replacement cable (I think for $12)
The odd thing is that it isn't consistent, in regards to what computers will have a problem. We bought one last year and it worked fine on my old PowerBook G4, didn't work on my partner's newer MacBookPro and sometimes worked on his 17" PowerBook. Had no problems on my IMac. Did some research and on the WD site they acknowledged that this was a problem with some computers and offered to sell you the replacement cable (I think for $12)
Wierd.. I just bought one for a friend with a SR MBP and it works without any problem. Its the 120GB version. Would a bigger drive require more power I wonder ?
Was thinking of buying a 250 ceramic white for my MBA when it gets here.
Was thinking of buying a 250 ceramic white for my MBA when it gets here.
That would be weird if you needed the dual cable. I have a 2007 macbook and 2 passport drives and both work fine with just the 1 usb cable.
I would just return the drive and get another one until you get one that works. I'd hate sacrificing 2 of my USB ports for my external HD.
I would just return the drive and get another one until you get one that works. I'd hate sacrificing 2 of my USB ports for my external HD.
Yeah, it seems to be a weird and inconsistent problem with that drive. It seems that some of the Apple laptop models are just on the cusp of having enough power to run the Passport with one USB port. But since it wasn't consistent and my partner needed it to be able to seamlessly work between his two laptops and it wouldn't (and a double USB wasn't an option, because the two USB ports in the non-working-with-passport computer were on opposite sides of the computer...)...
He ended up taking it back and exchanging it for a G-Raid mini drive (that works beautifully and is a lot more durable)
He ended up taking it back and exchanging it for a G-Raid mini drive (that works beautifully and is a lot more durable)