Brandon,I find it unacceptable that a disk of 3TB just stoped being recognised by the computer. And I find unacceptable that until today you have not send any troubleshooting so far.How can that a disk that you buy (not cheap may I say) just stops working? So that means that all the photos I have there I just lost it??? Does that mean the disk just gone bad? Out of no reason?
The disk has 1 year.The huge feeling that I have now is to never buy from WD again. I have other Lacie disks that never gave me trouble and now this disappointment.
It is unbelievable.And no, the disk cannot be seen in another computer.
Jan 13, 2012 My WD external hard drive just suddenly stopped being recognized by my computer while I was watching a movie. The light still comes on and it doesn’t make any clicking noise, but it just doesn’t show up on my computer anymore.I’ve tried initializing it, but it keeps saying “the media is write protected” and wouldn’t …. WD My Passport Ultra 1TB drive not detected on PC, how to fix it 'I have a WD My. Portable Drives for Mac My Passport Air My NAS Hard Drives WD Red.
You’ve justbought yourself a new WD Elements hard drive for your MacBook Pro. You’vehooked it up to your MacBook ok.
But darn. Tryas hard as you can you can’t drag any files onto it. It’s why you bought the thing. But your WDElements drive seems blocked.
Your Macwon’t put anything on it. So what use is it to you now?
Why is thishappening?
Or
Is ityou’ve heard that your WD Elements drive can work fine on a Mac. And you’rehere to find out how.
Can I use aWD Elements External Hard Drive on my Mac?
The answeris Yes!
It doesn’tmatter whether you have an iMac, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air you can.
You onlyneed to get it ready for your Mac to use first.
Do I needto Format WD Elements for Mac
Yes and No.
Yes.
If you wantto use your WD Elements drive without any special software on your Mac. Thenyes you need to put the WD Elements drive in a format your Mac can read andwrite to.
And yes ifyou want to use your WD Elements drive for a Time Machine backup.
And No. Youcan skip the formatting.
And insteadget some software so that you can use on your Mac. The software is useful ifyou have files already on the Elements drive. And you don’t want to loose themby reformatting.
I have a document on the site that tells you all about this option here.
Want toformat your WD Elements drive?
Yes? Good.Then read on.
Format WD Elementsfor the Mac OS you Have
Whether youhave Mac OS Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave the way you format your WD Elementsdrive for Mac is the same.
For earlierversions of the Mac operating system, screens may be slightly different.
And you canbe confident that Apple hasn’t changed the way you format an external drive ona Mac.
Preparingto Format WD Elements for Mac?
Turn onyour Mac and log in.
Put the USB Micro B cable end into your WD Elements drive.
Put your WD Elements drive on a firm steady surface.
Then plugyour WD Elements drive into your Mac.
Havingtrouble at this point because you don’t have a port on your Mac that fits theUSB cable end?
Then you’llneed to get yourself an adaptor cable.
Go take a look at my document all about it here.
Allconnected up? Good.
Once you’ve plugged in. Your Mac will see the Western Digital Elements hard drive connected. The drive will show up on your desktop as an icon.
WD ElementsDrive not Showing Up?
You mayneed to set a couple of things in your finder window preferences.
Open up afinder window and select preferences.
You’ll needto make sure you choose ‘Hard Drive’ and ‘External Drive’ in the preferenceswindow.
If yourElements external drive is still not showing then:
Now you’reready to format.
How to FormatWD Elements for Mac?
You have inyour Mac’s operating system a piece of software called
Disk Utility. It’s freely available for you to use.
It’s thesoftware you use to format your WD Elements drive. And should you want toreformat the drive again later, you use Disk Utility.
Warning: Formatting the WD Elements drive will wipe anything on there. If you’ve files you want to use then copy them off first. Save them somewhere else before you format your WD Elements drive.
1. Open up DiskUtility.
Your DiskUtility program lives within a folder called Utilities.
And theUtilities folder lives in your Application’s folder on your Mac.
If yourApplication’s folder is in your dock, double click on it. Double Click onUtilities. And then double click to start up Disk Utility.
Or
Click onyour Spotlight search. It’s the magnifying glass icon at the top of yourdesktop.
Type inDisk Utility.
Then Doubleclick to start up your Disk Utility software.
2. In YourDisk Utility Window.
Once yourDisk Utility pop up window appears, look to the left of the window.
You’ll seea list. Your Mac’s internal drive is listed first. Underneath, under theheading ‘External’ is where you’ll find your WD Elements drive.
If the listisn’t expanded in your pop up window, you can click on the small arrow to theleft of the drive icon.
Is there nosmall arrow?
Are youthinking help! I have no expanding list.
Apple addeda setting from Mac OS 10.13.
Look to thetop left of your Disk Utility popup window. Do you see the ‘View’ drop downmenu?
Pick thereto see the drive and the volume – show all devices.
3. Click onyour WD Elements Drive
Choose yourWD Elements external hard drive on your Mac’s external drives list.
Be sure tochoose your WD Elements drive at the top level. You can have problems with yourMac refusing to format your Elements drive if its not picked at the rightlevel.
The yellow arrow in the Internal/External picture above shows you where to click.
4. Look atthe Top of your Disk Utility Pop Up Window.
Click onthe Erase button.
Don’tworry. You’re not erasing yet. There are a couple more settings you need tofill in first.
5. Fillingin your WD Elements Formatting Options
On thisnext popup window is where you set up how you want your formatting.
Under nameyou’ll give your WD Elements external hard drive a name.
Pick a namethat makes it easy to find on your desktop. Perhaps one that reminds you of whatyou’re using your WD Elements for.
The nextthing to choose is the Format.
The up downarrows at the end expand to allow you to choose different options. The redarrow in the picture above shows you where.
Pick:
Mac OSExtended (Journaled) if you want to use your WD Elements drive to drag and dropfiles too.
This is also the option you choose if you want to use your WD Elements drive for a Time Machine backup.
Next make sure you pick GUID Partition Map for the Scheme.
Check yoursettings.
6. Clickthe Erase Button.
When youclick the Erase button at the bottom right of the popup window you start theformatting.
Your formattingonly takes only a few minutes.
You candismiss the Disk Utility popup window when it’s done.
Your WDElements drive will show up on your desktop as a drive Icon. You’ll find it hasthe name you gave it on the format screen.
And now youcan use the WD Elements External hard drive as you use your internal harddrive.
7. DoubleClick on Your WD Elements Drive Icon on Your Desktop.
That will openup a finder window for you.
You’ll see your WD Elements drive is lovely and empty. Ready for you to use.
You’re freeto create new folders. Drag and drop files to it as you would on your internalhard drive.
You can go on to hook it up to Time Machine for a Time Machine backup.
And should you want to go on and partition your Elements drive you can find out how. You can read an article site all about it at this link.
When You’reFinished using your WD Elements Drive
Once you’vefinished with the drive don’t forget to right click on the drive icon. Thenpick Eject from the menu. This ejects the drive. Do this before pulling outyour USB cable.
If youdon’t do that you risk corrupting the files on your disk.
WD ElementsFor Mac Frequently Asked QuestionsWhy doesn’tMy WD Elements drive work on My Mac out of the Box?
Your WD Elements drive comes in something called NTFS. NTFS is plug and play on a Windows PC but not quite on a Mac.
You canconnect up an NTFS Elements drive onto your Mac. And your Mac will see it fine.But you can’t put files on there.
Your Macwill read any file on the Elements drive but not write to it.
WD ElementsMac not Recognized
If you’veplugging in your WD Elements drive and your Mac seems to do nothing. It doesn’tseem to recognize it.
1. Tryanother port on your Mac.
2. Shutdownand restart your Mac to see if that clears the problem.
3. Checkyour USB cable. A bad USB cable can cause your WD Elements drive not to showup.
4. Makesure you’ve picked show ‘Hard Drive’ and ‘External Drive’ in your finderpreferences window. (See how in the WDElements not Showing Up section above)
WD ElementsFormat for Mac Error
Getting anError when formatting with Disk Utility?
Be sureyou’ve selected your WD Elements drive at the right level in the Disk Utilityscreen. See Step 3 and picture above.
If you’restill having a problem with the erase on your Mac then watch this video. Thetext is a little small but the video is incredibly useful. The instructions youtype into your Mac’s Terminal window are:
diskutillist
Followed by:
diskutilunmountdisk force (paste in the copied item here)
Erase Process has failed. Click Done to Continue
VideoCredit: Tech & Design
How to format WD Elements for your 2017 Mac?
On a 2017 Mac you’ll have USB C (Thunderbolt) ports. You’ll need a USB C to USB An adaptor as your first step to plugging in your WD Elements drive.
Plugged in?
Then allthe steps I have described above will work for you. Pay particular attention tostep 2. Be sure your Disk Utility view is set to show drives and volumes. Asthis is a specific issue you might have.
Last Words
Found my ‘FormatWD Elements for Mac. How? In 7 quick Steps’ article useful?
Whileyou’re here do feel free to take a look at the other WD Elements documents Ihave on the site.
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