Problem Getting External HD to Display

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

Hey everyone, I would really appreciate any help you guys can give me. I’m having an issue getting my external HD to be recognized by my Mac. I am running 10.5.8 on a MacBook.

The WD Smartware “CD” is displayed, but I can’t get it to recognize the HD itself.

Thanks,
josh

2

Hi

Can you post your drive’s model number?

3

It’s a My Passport Device

P/N WDBAAA5000ASL-00

4

According to the model number you have a My Passport Essential, this drive is pre formatted NTFS (Windows). That may be the reason why you don’t see it on your mac.

Try formattin the drive, see the instructions on this link

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3865/p/228,195,312/session/L3RpbWUvMTMwNjI3ODI5NS9zaWQvOVdRQ1dOdWs%3D

1 Like
5

I have spent hours trying to get my WD HD connected to my Macs.  I had not used it for sometime - have eventually found that it is not compatible with Snow Leopard.  I have not seen any info on the site regarding this

6

The drive My Passport Essential - WDBAAA5000ASL is compatible with Leopard (OS 10.5) and Snow Leopard (OS 10.6)

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3704#

The drive is preformatted in NTFS for Windows and need to be reformatted in order to work properly with Mac.

To format the drive I would suggest to follow the instructions in the link posted from  ricardodegracia :wink: