Is WD Elements compatible with Mac?
And therelated question can you use your WD Elements on a Mac?
The answeris yes. Your WD Elements drive can work great on your Mac.
On this video, we will show you how to connect and map WD My Cloud to Mac How to map a WD network drive on a Mac for Article: http://2tech.me/how-to-connect. You can use Keychain Access to manage these certificates. How to view certificates To browse the Keychain Access User Guide, click Table of Contents at the top of the page. WD My Cloud (for desktop) is Western Digital's companion application to its new My Cloud ($299.99 at Amazon) NAS—a device for sharing and streaming data to a variety of WD mobile apps and the Web.
But thereare a couple of things you need to know and do to get it set up just fine.
You’lllearn here the things you need to know about using your WD Elements for Mac.
And some ofthe potential pitfalls.
Plugging In Your WD Elements USB Cable Into Your Mac
Your WD Elements portable hard drive has a USB 3.0 type A connection to your Mac.
Why is thatimportant?
Is your Macan iMac 2017 or later? Or MacBook Pro 2016 or newer?
Or MacBookAir 2018?
If youranswer is yes then your Mac will have a USB C (Thunderbolt) port on it.
You’ll beable to use your WD Elements drive. But you will need an adaptor to plug theUSB cable from your Elements drive into your Mac.
Theseadaptor cables are easy to get from Amazon.
And shouldyour Mac be an older Mac with USB 2.0.
Yourfine.
The USBcable provided will fit. And your WD elements drive will work at USB 2.0 speedto match your Mac.
You’ve Plugged In And WD Elements Not Showing Up On Mac?
You’ve loggedin and connected up your WD Elements external hard drive on your Mac. You wereexpecting to see the drive icon on the desktop.
But it’snot there?
The firstthing to check is your Finder Window Preferences.
Open up afinder window. Go to preferences.
In the finder preferences pop up window be sure you’ve checked the ‘External Disks’ box under the General tab.
Then yourWD Elements external drive’s icon should appear.
What If Your WD Elements Is Still Not Showing Up On Mac?
- Try plugging into another port on your Mac. You may have a hung port.
- Try shutting down and rebooting your Mac to clear any problems with your Mac’s software on its USB ports.
- Try another USB cable. Sometimes USB cables break inside and it’s difficult to tell from the outside.
- Try plugging it into a Windows PC. Does it show up? If your Elements drive still doesn’t show up you may have a duff drive.
Using Your WD Elements On Mac?
![Wd access app mac ios Wd access app mac ios](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134068863/179353249.png)
Your WDElements drive is bus powered.
What doesthat mean?
It meansthat your Elements drive takes its power from your Mac. Your USB cable bothpowers your Elements drive. And transfers your documents backwards andforwards.
Great. Becauseyou don’t have to worry about carrying another power plug and its cable aroundwith you. Particularly when you take your Elements drive out and about withyour Mac.
But becauseyour WD Elements drive gets its power from your Mac check your Mac is chargedenough. Or plug in your Mac so that your Mac doesn’t run out of power part waythrough a large transfer of files.
Is Your WD Elements Drive Read Only On Your Mac?
When shipped to you your Western Digital Elements drive is in a format called NTFS. NTFS is a PC format that a Windows PC uses. Your Mac can see and read your NTFS Elements drive.
But whenyou want to put documents on the drive, or update any files on the drive yourMac says no. You can only read your Elements external hard drive.
Don’t fretyou can change the formatting. Byreformatting your WD Elements for your Mac.
How Do I Format WD Elements For Mac?
To use yourWD Elements drive on your Mac you need your Elements drive in HFS+ format. Thisformatting is also known as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system. Don’t worry about the name.
Just know that this is a file system that your Mac uses for a Time Machine backup. https://yellowfeedback773.weebly.com/blog/delete-apps-from-chrome-bookmarks-bar-on-mac.
And if youwant to copy and paste files.
Or drag anddrop files from your Mac onto your WD Elements drive.
It’s theformat you use when you want to use your WD Elements drive just for yourMac. Because a Windows PC can’t see aHFS+ drive when it’s plugged in.
To set upyour WD Elements drive to work on your Mac you’ll need to format it for Mac.
You’ll find my article on how you format the WD Elements hard drive here.
Click overand in a few minutes you’ll have the formatting all done.
How Can You Use Your WD Elements Drive Without Reformatting?
Formattingwill erase any documents you have on your WD Elements drive. So if you’ve put files on there from yourWindows PC. And really what you want to do is use the drive without changinganything on there.
There issoftware you can use that leaves your Elements drive in NTFS formatting. Butmakes it read and writeable from your Mac.
It’s theoption to choose when you mainly use your WD Elements drive on your Windows PC.And sometimes you use your Elements drive on your Mac.
Using Your WD Elements Drive On Your Mac And A PC
Yes you canuse your WD Elements drive for both a Mac and a PC if you want.
And particularlyif you want to use for both without using special software. And its easy to do.
You justconnect up your WD Elements drive to your Mac and format it to ExFAT.
There aresome articles around on the web suggesting FAT32. And yes you can set your Mac to format yourElements drive to FAT32. FAT32 is compatible with Mac and Windows. But thesedays the FAT32 file system is outdated, not as sturdy and has file sizerestrictions.
ExFAT is freelyread and writable by both your Mac and Windows PC. Both operating systems cansee an ExFAT file system. And use the files, photos, movies, music, in fact anyfiles that are on there.
You can find out how to Format your WD Elements external hard drive for Mac and PC using my article here.
Your WD Elements Drive Not Working On Mac?
Havingproblems with your Western Digital Elements drive working. And then not workingon your Mac?
1. When you formatted your WD Elements did you check that the format scheme was ‘GUID Partition Map’?
You’ll have problems with formatting the drive without setting the scheme right. Because NTFS is set up differently. And a set up hang over from NTFS will mean odd problems with your Elements drive.
2. You should try repairing your Elements drive in Disk Utility.
Using the First Aid option. That may solve your problem.
If thedrive is in a poor state First Aid may well tell you to erase the drive.
Which meansstarting from scratch and loosing the files on there.
3. Did you download Drive Utilities from the Western Digital site onto your Mac?
Yes, DriveUtilities allows you to run a check on your WD Elements drive. And you can seeif the software reports any errors on the drive.
But didyour problems with the drive show up after you downloaded this software?
Check thatyour version of the Western Digital software is compatible with your Mac’soperating system.
You could haveproblems with your Mac OS clashing with the WD Drive Utilities software.
If you’reone of those having problems with your WD Elements drive working and then not.And for no real reason you can see. Then uninstall the Western DigitalUtilities.
You can dothat by using the WD Uninstaller in your Application’s folder.
And your onand off issues with your WD Elements drive should go away.
Why Won’t My WD Elements Drive Backup?
Having problemswith your Time Machine backups failing to your WD elements drive? This seems another type of conflict with theWD Disk Utilities software.
Check thesoftware version your using. Is it for your version of Mac OS?
Tryuninstalling the WD Disk Utilities. Then see if your Time Machine Backup issuesdisappear.
Last Words
Yes, WDElements is basic storage for your Mac. And it usually works great on Mac. Butif you have problems use my tips here. And have your WD Elements for Mac andlose your issues.
You candiscover other articles on the site all about your WD Elements drive.
Why not check them out?
Summary: This article analyzes why the WD My Passport for Mac drive is not mounting/working on Mac and how to fix this issue. If you worry about losing data, you can recover data from the WD hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac at first.
What is meant by mounting a WD My Passport drive on Mac?
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The WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is specially designed for Mac mini computers, iMacs, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. You can access My passport for Mac drives only when macOS recognizes the format of the drive. This process is called mounting.
However, once your computer fails to recognize that format (also known as file system), the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is not mounting on Mac computer.
Why is WD My Passport for Mac not mounting?
WD hard drives, including My Passport and Easystore, won't mount on Mac when the disk format is not recognized. Such error could be caused by virus infection, sudden power failure, sudden power outage, unwanted interruption during transferring data, etc. If the external hard drive won't mount, you can't open this WD My Passport for Mac drive and access your important files.
Here is one typical case from forums:
WD My Passport for Mac hard drive (2 TB) won't mount on my MacBook Air, grayed out in Disk Utility. I have 1 TB family photos on this hard drive, which are very precious for me. How to fix if WD My Passport for Mac not working on Mac? Any data recovery solution? Thanks a lot!
If you haven't got an effective workaround when WD My passport hard drive fails to mount in Finder or Disk Utility, this page will help. You'll know how to mount the Western Digital my passport drive on Mac again.
How to fix the unmounted WD My Passport hard drive on Mac?
The connected WD My Passport drive should be automatically mounted on the desktop, in Finder and Disk Utility. When it won't mount on Mac as you expect, you can try these methods.
1. Show the mounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive on Mac destop
Sometimes, the My Passport drive is recognized and mounted by the Mac, and you just don't see it. You can go to Finder > Preferences and confirm if the 'External Disks' under 'Show these items on the desktop' is selected. This will ensure if the external drives connected to this Mac are allowed to show on the desktop.
But if your WD My Passport drive is not even showing up, it's reasonable that you can't see it mounting on Mac. Then, you shoud check the connections and some hardware issues.
2. Force Mount the WD Mac hard drive in Disk Utility
You can go to Utility and see if this hard drive appears in the left sidebar. If your WD My Passport for Mac drive for Mac is not mounting but grayed out in Disk Utility, you can right-click and select the 'Mount' button to force mount the hard drive. However, if this external hard drive is corrupted, the 'Mount' button will not be available and you need to try the next solution.
But sometimes, you can't mount a hard drive on Mac because of internal disk errors like file system corruption, partition table lost, the directory is corrupted, etc. You WD My Passport for Mac drive won't be recognized by your Mac in these cases. Fortunately, you can fix the hard drive not mounting issue with the native disk repair tool, First Aid.
3. Run First Aid to fix WD My Passport for Mac not mounting error
First Aid is a Mac built-in tool to verify and check minor problems of a hard disk. Whenever you can't mount a WD hard drive or My Passport for Mac is not working, First Aid should be a good disk repair tool.
Step 1: Go to /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility/, then click Continue.
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Step 2: In the sidebar, select the unmounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive.
Step 3: Click the 'First Aid' button.
Step 4: Click Run.
Mac dock settings. If Disk Utility reports that the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive appears to be OK or has been repaired, you're done. Otherwise, this WD My Passport drive has been corrupted. You have to retrieve your data from this corrupted hard drive as soon as possible.
When those methods didn't make any difference and the WD My passport for Mac hard drive is not mounting still, you need to check some hardware issues that get involved in the disk connection.
Let's start with some basics factors.
4. Check the power supply of the WD My Passport for Mac drive
It's well known that insufficient or no power supply in USB ports could also lead to hard drive not mounting issue. Therefore, you should make sure the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive is getting the appropriate power. If the drive came with a Y-cable, use both USB connectors. Moreover, do not connect the drive through a USB hub, connect it directly to the Mac. Make sure the power adapter is connected directly to a wall outlet, not to an extension cord.
5. Check the USB cable
When external hard drive is not showing up on Mac, ensure the cable is properly connected to both the drive and computer. Then try connecting your WD My Passport for Mac hard drive with a new USB cable if you can fetch another one.
6. Check the USB port of your Mac
If the problem still continues, try using a different USB port. Perhaps your Mac has two USB port - the back and front ones. Assuming the My passport driveis plugged in the front USB port, try to insert the drive to the back USB port.
7. Check for driver update
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If the hardware seems to be OK, let's check the software that related to this disk problem. The My passport disk driver, a software component, bridges the operating system and the drive to communicate with each other. But the files of My passport driver could be deleted, outdated, or corrupted for virus invasion or misoperation.
So, when the WD My Passport drive is not working or the external hard drive won't mount on Mac, check the disk driver.
Step 1: Click the Apple icon and select 'App Store…'
Step 2: Click Update (NOT UPGRADE!) to install a specific update or Update All to install all available updates.
![App App](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134068863/469634014.jpg)
Sometimes, WD My Passport for Mac driver, software, and WD disk tool are needed, especially when you want to open a WD My Passport for Mac drive that is locked. You can go to WD official website and download software for WD My Passport troubleshooting and for WD My Passport driver update.
How to fix WD My Passport for Mac hard drive not mounting error without losing data?
However, if WD My Passport for Mac hard drive still won't mount on Mac, the last solutions is to reformat the hard drive. But reformatting will delete all data stored on the hard drive, and most of the time, many important files are stored on the WD My Passport for Mac hard drive.
If you haven't backed up important files, how can you recover files from the WD My Passport drive? It's high time to recover lost data from the unmounted hard drive first.
Step 1: Recover lost data from unmountable hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac
As for Mac data recovery, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is highly recommended as it's a free Mac data recovery software. It can easily retrieve files from WD Passport drives. This software can recover lost data from corrupted hard drive, unreadable hard drives, formatted hard drives, unrecognized hard drives, unmountable hard drives, inaccessible hard drives, and recover lost data from uninitialized hard drive. You can use this hard drive data recovery software on macOS Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra 10.13/10.12 Sierra and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7.
1. Free download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac and select the unmounted WD My Passport for Mac hard drive.
3. Click 'Scan' to search for all lost files on this drive.
4. Preview the listed scanning results, choose files we want, and click 'Recover' button to get them back.
Hopefully, you'll get all your files off after the WD My Passport is not working nor mounting.
Step 2: Fix WD My Passport for Mac drive not mounting error by reformatting
After getting lost files back, you can fix WD My Passport for Mac hard drive not mounting error by reformatting without worrying about losing data. This will reset the WD My Passport hard drive.
• Guide to reformat WD My Passport for Mac external hard drive
Conclusion
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WD My passport for Mac hard drives always offer quick and easy way to expand the storage space of your computer. It has amazing features like cloud storage, password protection with hard drive encryption, and compatiblity with Apple's Time Machine backup software, so that you can store a massive amount of photos, videos, music and documents.
But the WD My Passport for Mac drive not mounting issue will call a halt on all these good things. You need to repair the WD My Passport for Mac that is not working or corrupted first, and recover data with the assistance of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
For any questions or suggestions, please email us below.