My Passport Mac Not Showing Up

Posted on 05-10-2021 by admin

I have reached out to WD Customer Support and exhausted all troubleshooting suggestions with them. Since my device reached End of Support in 2013, there really isn’t anything more they can do. Maybe someone else has seen this issue and might be able to help! I’m pasting below all of the troubleshooting steps I performed based on my interactions with WD Customer Support.

My Passport Mac Not Showing Up On Iphone
My Passport Mac Not Showing Up

Use Disk Utility on Mac to Repair WD My Passport Not Showing Up Consider Mac Disk utility as the medical help that offers the preliminary first aid to a corrupted WD passport without formatting it. In addition, disk utility incorporates disk management that serves as a repair tool to remove the inner disk errors and other bugs from your external drive. I have a WD 2TB My Passport external drive. I used it on my Macbook a month ago and it worked fine. I tried to use it again today but it does not show in my Devices on Finder anymore. What I observed: The light is on and it is blinking. It is vibrating very lightly, like it always does. WD My Passport Ultra 2TB.

Since I submitted my Incident, I have upgraded my iMac to macOS Big Sur version 11.3. And the issue remains the same.

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. Reformat it to MAC, and transfer all the files. My hard drive isn’t showing up at ALLL now. After trying and trying finally an icon pops up on the desktop. There’s no yellow USB icon anymore labelled “My Passport” but a silver USB with what looks like a meter and it’s labelled as “Untitled”. WD My Passport for Mac Not Showing Up. Hello, we just had our Mac fixed after it's screen froze and was unable to restart properly. The repair was getting a new hard drive. We still have the same computer, and had been backing up the old one with My Passport for Mac. However, the device became quite full, and we had it unplugged for about 160.

There is no error to capture in a screen shot, because the device is not recognized at all. When connecting it to the iMac, it spins on, like it should, and the tiny light comes on, but nothing happens on the iMac to actually recognize the device.

I am including a screenshot of Disk Utility, where you can see that nothing appears for the device. You can that a different Western Digital device is connected correctly, it is a 3TB device that is formatted as 2 volumes, one for regular use, and one used specifically for Time Machine Backups. Please note that I have connected the 3TB device into the same USB port on this iMac as the one I have currently plugged the My Passport into, and the USB port functions correctly with the 3TB device.

The My Passport drive was accessible and functioning properly approximately 2 months ago on my old 2009 iMac running OS X El Capitan. I just recently tried to connect it to my new late 2020 iMac, and it will not connect, just like many others who I’ve read that are having the same connectivity issues since using macOS Big Sur.

There is no physical damage to the My Passport device. And as stated above, it connected properly to my old iMac. I have not tried another USB cable, because 1) it is a special cable that is needed to connect this My Passport device, and 2) it worked just fine with my old iMac.

I went through all of the steps that were possible in the article/link you provided. I will provide a response for each step listed in the article. 1) There is no power adapter, it gets its power from the USB cable connected to the iMac. 2) As stated above, I did not change out the cable because it is not a standard USB cable and the device worked fine on my old iMac. 3) I have tried multiple USB ports on my new iMac and the results are the same, and other devices function properly in each of those USB ports. 4) I turned off the iMac, let it restart, waited a full hour, and then retried connecting the device, and it still did not work. 5) As I already stated, it worked on my old iMac. I do not agree, that there is any issue with my new iMac, every other device, including a Western Digital 3TB device, all work correctly. I am not contacting Apple about this issue, this is a Western Digital My Passport issue. 6) Since it showed up correctly on my old iMac, the device has not failed.

Summary: WD My Passport for Mac is not showing up Mac? Follow the tutorial in this article to fix WD My Passport not working issue and recover data from unrecognized WD My Passport.

Solution 5: Repair the WD My Passport in Disk utility. Disk Utility is a built-in used to erase, format or manage internal disks and external storage devices. The most important feature of Disk Utility is First Aid, which helps detect and repair any issue with your disk. Here is how to run First Aid on your Mac to repair the unreadable WD My.
Now, I will show you the two methods to format WD My Passport portable hard drive on Mac. Method 1: format WD My Passport portable hard drive on Mac with disk utility. Disk utility is a Mac application, you can run it on your Mac. It will list all the hard drives and devices on your Mac computer. How can I reformat my passport for a Mac?
Every journey needs a passport. The My Passport™ for Mac drive is trusted, portable storage that perfectly complements your on-the-go lifestyle. Compatible with USB-C™ and USB-A, the My Passport for Mac drive comes equipped to connect with today's latest technology. With a new, stylish design that fits in the palm of your hand, there’s space to store, organize, and share all the photos.
Step 3: Go to Sidebar tab, tick 'External disks' under 'Devices' to show your WD My Passport for Mac in Finder. Solution 2: Check My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility. If the WD My Passport for Mac drive is still not showing up in Finder or on the desktop, you can see whether it is showing up in Disk Utility or not.

Everything has flaws. At times, WD My Passport won't show up when you connect it to your Mac computer, the WD My Passport is greyed out in Disk Utility, or WD hard drive's light is on but not working. Even worse, it may become unreadable on your Mac. In either way, your important data on this drive will become inaccessible.

A: Answer Hi Matt The WD My Passport Ultra for Mac comes pre-formatted for MAC OS. The hard drive will work as a plug-n-play hard drive on the MAC computer. You will be able to back up your computer on the external hard drive using Time Machine application.

If the WD My Passport is not showing up on Mac desktop, Finder or Disk Utility after connecting to your Mac, how to find it and make it work? If you can't see files from WD external hard drive on Mac, how to access data? You'll get answers here.

Table of contents: 1. Troubleshoot WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue; 2. How to fix My Passport not showing up on Mac issue?; 3. What to do if My Passport drive is not recognized?; 4. Understanding why My Passport drive not showing up on Mac; 5. Bonus tips

Troubleshoot WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue

As mentioned above, malfunctioned USB port or Mac computer, the broken USB cable and some hardware problems can also make WD My Passport not showing up. You can do some basic checks to troubleshoot whether this issue is resulted from those factors.

1. Safely remove the WD My Passport and reconnect it to the USB port. Try quickly plug and slowly plug, sometimes it just works for no reason.

2. Check whether the USB cable or USB port is bad by connecting other hard drives to this USB port or cable and see if that makes a difference.

3. Reboot your Mac computer to see if your WD My Passport drive is not showing up in Disk Utility/Finder or not.

4. Connect the WD My Passport to another Mac computer or Windows PC, which will find out if it is the incompatible file system of the drive that makes this WD My Passport undetectable.

How to fix WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue?

If the WD My Passport for Mac still does not work or not show up on Mac after the basic checks, go ahead to try out the solutions as below to make it show up on Mac.

Solution 1: Check Finder Preferences

If your WD My Passport is not showing up in Finder and desktop, it's possible that the configuration of the Finder Preferences is stopping your WD My Passport drive showing up. In other words, you didn't allow the connected hard drives showing up in the Finder or on the desktop.

Now, follow the guide below to set Finder Preferences and make the WD My Passport for Mac show up in Finder or on the desktop.

Step 1: Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab.

Step 2: Tick the 'External disks' option to show the WD My Passport for Mac on the desktop.

Step 3: Go to Sidebar tab, tick 'External disks' under 'Devices' to show your WD My Passport for Mac in Finder.

Solution 2: Check My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility

If the WD My Passport for Mac drive is still not showing up in Finder or on the desktop, you can see whether it is showing up in Disk Utility or not.

When checking WD My Passport in Disk Utility, you could have two results:

Case 1: Your WD My Passport drive is detected and showing up in Disk Utility, but it is greyed out or not mounting.

Case 2: Your WD hard drive is not recognized, so it's not showing up in Disk Utility at all.

Here, we'll show you solutions to case 1.

Method 1: Mount WD My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility manually

Sometimes, hard drives cannot be automatically mounted in Disk Utility, even though Mac has detected the hard drive. So it's possible that you'll see the WD My Passport for Mac drive not mounting in Disk Utility. In this situation, you can manually mount the hard drive.

Step 1: Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.

Step 2: Click 'Show All Devices' in View option at the left corner of Disk Utility.

Step 3: Select your WD My Passport for Mac drive from the left sidebar and click the Mount button on the top of Disk Utility window.

Instead, you can also click on the mount icon beside the drive to mount it immediately.

Reformat Wd Passport For Mac

Method 2: Repair WD My Passport for Mac drive with First Aid

If you can't mount the WD My Passport for Mac manually, there should be some file system problems in this drive. But don't worry. There is a native repair tool called First Aid in your Mac computer's Disk Utility, which is able to analyze and repair basic hard drive problems especially with file systems and catalogs, extends, volume bit maps. You can follow the instructions to fix this problem.

Step 1: Go to Disk Utility.

Step 2: Select the WD My Passport for Mac.

Step 3: Click First Aid on the top of the Disk Utility window.

Step 4: Click Done when the reparation finishes.

Solution 3: Erase/Reformat My Passport for Mac

If First Aid was unable to fix the errors in the WD My Passport, which is quite common, the file system of this drive could be seriously corrupted and you have to fix the WD My Passport for Mac not showing up on Mac problem by reformatting.

The situation is, reformatting will assign a new file system but will erase your data on this drive as well. To avoid the loss of important data, please make sure you have a backup copy of data. Without a backup? It's not necessarily the end of the world. You can at first recover lost data from the WD My Passport for Mac with professional Mac data recovery software, like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is free hard drive data recovery software for Mac that is able to recover deleted files on Mac, recover lost data from formatted, inaccessible, corrupted, unmountable, unreadable hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, etc. It's compatible with macOS Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra/Sierra 10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.

Recover lost data from My Passport for Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac

Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac.

Step 2: Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.

Step 3: Select My Passport for Mac and click 'Next' button to scan all data on this drive.

Step 4: Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.

Reformat My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility

After recovering data from this drive, you can now courageously proceed to erase your WD My Passport for Mac drive with no fuss.

Step 1: Go to Disk Utility.

Step 2: Select the WD My Passport for Mac drive in the left sidebar.

Step 3: Click Erase on the top of the Disk Utility window.

Step 4: Complete the information for your drive (such as new format, partition scheme, and so on) and click Erase.

What to do if the WD My Passport drive is not recognized/detected?

If My Passport for Mac hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility at all, it means the WD hard drive is not recognized. Very probably, your My Passport for Mac may have some hardware problems. It's better to send it to a local reparation center.

Understanding why My Passport drive not showing up on Mac

Sometimes, an external hard drive not showing up on Mac just because the USB cable or the USB port on your Mac is bad. In addition, the following reasons may also lead to WD My Passport for Mac not showing up or not working.

Recent macOS update issue
System failure
Virus infection
Motherboard issue
WD My Passport drive damage or corruption

Bonus Maintenance Tips for WD My Passport drives for Mac

Apparently, most hard drive not showing up issues are caused by unsafe ejection and sudden power outrage. In order to maintain your WD My Passport for Mac in good condition, you should pay attention to:

Make sure that your WD My Passport doesn't become physically damaged.
Always safely and properly eject the WD My Passport for Mac drive after using it.
Don't just unplug the USB cable, on the contrary, unmount your drive by right-clicking (control-click) on the icon on the Desktop or in the Finder and choose Eject.
Properly use WD software like WD Drive Utilities, WD Backup software ( to back up important files to your My Passport drive), and WD Discovery ( to organize and share your files to the My Passport drive to backup your online social life).

Summary: WD My Passport for Mac is not showing up Mac? Follow the tutorial in this article to fix WD My Passport not working issue and recover data from unrecognized WD My Passport.