I have just received new 1TB My Passport Ultra for use on my Mac. However, it briefly powers up, then shuts down, usually without even mounting on the desktop. I have a late 2009 iMac with USB 2.0 sockets. After a lot of head scratching I tried it in my sons newer iMac with USB 3.0 sockets where it worked OK. He also has the same 1TB My Passport Ultra, so I tried it I’m my iMac. The same thing happened. I brief power up, then a shut down without appearing on the desktop.
I thought the My Passport Ultra was backward compatible with USB 2.0. This backup drive is therefore useless.
Any advice welcome.
You’ve probably already tested it, but are you plugging it directly into the USB port on your Mac, or into a port on a hub (like the keyboard)? Some USB ports might not provide the power a USB3 device requires.
Do you have another computer with USB2 ports to test this on? You mentioned your son’s iMac sees it on the USB3 port, but does it work on the USB2 port on it?
Yes, I have tried all the ports on the back of my iMac. I will check which
ports on my sons iMac are USB 2 and try that. I have no other computers
with USB 2.
WD say this drive is backward compatible with USB 2. But is this really
true?
Hey @Phil_Booth, have you been able to test this?
I’ve tried WD USB3 drives in an old laptop with only USB2 connectors and they are recognised and work properly, but this was a Windows system. I haven’t tried it on a Mac before.
Hi. None of my sons iMac ports are USB 2, so haven’t been able to test this further. It’s strange that he has the same ‘My Passport Ultra’ bought over a year ago and has the same issue on my iMac.
@Phil_Booth, I have an old USB2 Mac I can try this on myself; haven’t looked into it yet, though. I wonder if the drive is formatted NTFS and your Mac doesn’t recognise it, or perhaps there is something about the USB2 ports on your Mac that don’t supply enough power to use the drive.
If it’s the first one, you can check Disk Utility (found in the Applications > Utilities folder) to see if your Mac recognises the drive is attached, but doesn’t know how to mount it. If that’s the case, you might want to upgrade your OSX and see if that helps, or re-format your drive to something the Mac likes.
If it’s the second one, just make sure it’s plugged directly into the Mac, and not into some hub (including the keyboard). If that doesn’t help, then Disk Utility won’t even see it and there’s not much you can do from your Mac.
I have been using my passport on another mac with USB 3, and it works fine. I have now tried again it on my mac with USB 2 and for the moment it seems to be working OK. Strange!!
I love self-correcting technology. (also known as rebooting and crossing our fingers!)
