I’ve recently invested in the WD Elements 1TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive and checked that it would be compatible with my macbook (which it should be). However when I plug the hard drive into my macbook it just doesn’t appear. Is this normal?
I don’t know about Macs but the Elements drive comes formatted NTFS for Windows. If you are only going to use the drive on a Mac it will need to be reformatted http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3865 because NTFS is read only on Mac. If you wish to use the drive on both Windows and Mac download and install NTFS-3G http://mac-free.com/download/NTFS-3G.html This will allow the Mac to read and write to the drive.
Joe
Yeah I understand I need to reformat the drive, but my macbook needs to recognise its even there in the first place to do so. And that’s the issue!
Thanks for the response though. 
Any other suggestions? Also, am I able to reformat the drive for a Mac on a windows laptop? Can I download that second programme you linked and use it on a windows system?
