Have you ever faced the situation that your WD My Passport hard drive does not show up on the Mac computer? If the answer is yes, then you're on the right page. In this article, we will tell you how to fix the WD Passport recognition issue in detail. Keep reading to find out more details.
Try installing the most recent WD hard drive unlock application, adjusting the Finder parameters, and using Disk Utility to repair the drive if the WD My Passport isn't showing up on your Mac. If required, you can format the WD hard drive as long as you've first utilized a data recovery tool to retrieve all of your crucial files.
Feel frustrated when your WD My Passport is not showing up on the Mac or MacBook? Here's a quick guide to help you jump to the solutions directly:
| Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| Rescue Data from WD My Passport | ensure you have connected the WD My Passport hard drive to the Mac computer. Select the target...Full steps |
| Fix 1. Quick Solutions to Fix WD Passport Not Showing Up on Mac | Check the light of the WD My Passport. The light turned on means the hard drive...Full steps |
| Fix 2. Update to the Latest WD Drive Unlock Application | On Mac computers, you need to first unlock the WD drive before accessing it normally...Full steps |
| Fix 3. Show WD Passport by Changing Mac Finder Settings | Visit the Mac Finder > Preferences > General Tab. Mark the External Disk option in...Full steps |
| Fix 4. Repair WD My Passport with First Aid in Disk Utility | Go to System Preference > Disk Utility. You can also open Disk Utility on Mac startup....Full steps |
At this time, when you face any issue that WD My Passport is not showing up on Mac, you might want to dig deep to find the possible reasons and available solutions. In this article, we will discuss fixing the WD My Passport issue with Mac Computer in detail. So, read this article carefully.
The main purpose of using the WD My Passport external hard drive is to keep backup and store data. This is not a big issue that macOS does not recognize a WD My Passport external hard drive. You had better clarify if an external HDD error or a macOS crash causes the problem.
Hi! I recently bought a Macbook Air M2. I couldn't get my old WD Discovery My Passport to show up on the laptop whenever I plug it in using an Apple USB-C Multiport Adapter. It's not on the desktop or the sidebars where the USBs normally show up when plugged in. I already downloaded the WD Discovery App from the WD website. Pls help! raymundtanchuling from Apple Community
If you encounter WD My Passport recognize issues like this user, you'd better try to recover data from the external hard drive on Mac first. Then, try to fix the problem with the tested methods in this passage.
It is necessary to rescue data from the WD hard disk if any disk errors occur suddenly. You may not have to worry if you have kept regular backups of the problem WD disk. On the contrary, you'd better stop using the WD hard drive and find a reliable external hard drive recovery tool for Mac.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Pro is a trustworthy data recovery tool. Millions of users have applied this tool to bring back their lost, deleted, or formatted data from the WD hard drives.
Recover WD My Passport Now
Find deleted or lost files from your Western Digital My Passport hard drives or external HDDs on the MacBook/iMac with one click.
With this professional recovery tool, you can solve WD My Passport not working on a Mac without losing data. No matter whether you have troubles with your WD My Passport HDD, SSD, external hard drive, or USB, the EaseUS recovery tool can help you find the disappeared or missing data from multiple WD storage devices.
If you don't have a full backup of your WD My Passport device, follow the steps below to save your data on WD My Passport with EaseUS Mac hard drive data recovery software.
Step 1. Ensure you have connected the WD My Passport hard drive to the Mac computer. Select the target disk and choose "Search for lost files" to access the data on the WD drive.
Step 2. Don't know the particular file path on the WD My Passport? No worries, you can choose a specific file type from the left side. For example, you can choose "Pictures" to recover deleted photos on Mac.
Step 3. You can also preview the files on WD My Passport before recovery. By the way, you should save the recoverable files to a new place. It is not safe to save the files on the WD My Passport hard drive now.
Besides recovery, this software also allows you to back up the WD My Passport to iCloud or other storage devices. Share and recommend this useful tool on social media to help more WD users!
Here are some quick solutions that may help you solve the WD Passport recognition problem directly without trying difficult methods:
If these quick fixes fail and cannot fix the problem, you can read the following parts to find more effective solutions.
On Mac computers, you need to first unlock the WD drive before accessing it normally. After the macOS Big Sur update or when connecting to an Apple Silicon M1 MacBook Air, you might even see an error message saying, "You must run the WD Drive Unlock application from the WD Drive Unlock CD associated with the drive you want to unlock". If you're in this situation, download and install the latest WD Discovery Desktop App from the official website.
If your WD My Passport is showing up in neither the Finder nor the desktop, it's possible that the configuration of the Finder Preferences prevents your Mac detects the external hard drive. In other words, you didn't allow the connected external hard drives to show up in the Finder or on the desktop. Follow the steps below to check the Finder Preferences. This method can also help you fix the USB not showing up on Mac quickly.
Step 1. Visit the Mac Finder > Settings > General Tab.
Step 2. Mark the External Disk option in the Finder Preferences.
Step 3. In the Sidebar, mark External Disks again under Locations. This is to show your WD Passport external hard drive in Finder.
Sometimes, you can't see your external hard drive or USB flash drive showing on your Mac because there are minor hardware errors. You might not know what these errors are, but you can repair them yourself. The tool you can apply is First Aid. It is a built-in feature on macOS to help users to repair hard disk-related problems. This solution won't cause data loss, so you don't need to worry about whether you need to make a whole backup first.
Step 1. Use Spotlight to enter Disk Utility. You can also open Disk Utility on Mac startup.
Step 2. Choose the WD external hard drive, and click "First Aid" on the top of the right panel.
Step 3. Click "Run" to confirm the operation and repair the external hard drive on the Mac. Then, the system will start to check and repair your WD My Passport external hard drive.
If the hardware errors are the culprit of your problem, then running a First Aid could possibly bring things back to normal. You can share this method with your friends now! If this one fails, try the last method.
| 🔺Warnning: Before reading this last solution, you should remember that this should be the last resort. Formatting your drive will erase all data on it. |
Formatting a hard drive is the most straightforward way to factory reset it. It means erasing all data and settings on the hard drive. The reason why this can be applied as a solution is when you erase all data on this hard drive, you also permanently delete all the culprit files. If you have backed up your external hard drive before, you can restore the backup after formatting. If you don't, there is still data recovery software that you can rely on. Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Pro now!!
Now, you can start to format your WD Passport external hard drive.
Step 1. Go to Disk Utility and click on the WD My Passport device.
Step 2. In the sidebar, select your WD Passport hard drive, then click the Erase button.
Step 3. CClick the Format pop-up menu, then choose a file system format.
Step 4. Enter a device name and click Erase.
This article offers a complete guide to help you fix the WD external hard drive that is not showing issues in different situations. It's worth mentioning again that once this issue happens, rescue files from your WD Passport hard drive with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac first.
Find more information in this part to learn more about WD My Passport not detected on Mac issues:
1. Why is the WD My Passport external hard drive not showing up in Mac Finder?
Many reasons can cause this issue on your Mac:
2. Does formatting the WD Passport solve the issue of not showing on Mac?
Yes, but you need to back up your WD Passport before formatting the drive. If you forget to back up the disk in advance, try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to recover a formatted hard drive on Mac.
3. Can I fix my WD Passport issues without losing data?
Sure, you can fix WD Passport issues with the following methods. Before the solutions, you can choose to back up the disk in advance:
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