Problems with WD and Mac. Too Many to Mention in Title

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

I have a Macbook Air and 3 TB My Book drive (new).

I have installed Smartware software and set up the drive. 

I want to use Time Machine as my preferred backup system

Since I instaled it a month ago, Time Machine has only backed up to it once. TM shows the drive as being the drive of choice, but it always says it’s unavailable. I can hear the drive running all the time, and it starts up everytime I start using the computer, so I know it’s paired and working. 

I use Smartware to unlock ithe drive although I would like to remove the security if that’s the issue. TM still can’t see it, although it’s listed in Finder.

When I log into Smartware only “Home” and “Settings” are availble. In Settings, Drive Settings is unavailble (greyed out). 

What do I need to do to get access to change the setting to the drive, and secondly, how do I get TM to recognize it and use it as the backup of choice? 

I hope it’s not time to return it to Best Buy…

2

Did you set Password Protection ON ?

Have you read the WD User Manual - it is in pdf format in your WD Smartware folder ?

You will also see an app called DriveUnlock in the WD Smartware folder

3

It won’t allow me to do anything. I have logged into it, I have unlocked it, etc., and I can’t do anything with it but look at “Home” which tells me nothing, “software setup”, which again tells me nothing. 

I just want to use this as a repository for my Time Machine, and I’ve already wasted too much time on it. Going back. 

Thanks. 

4

Reformat the drive using the Mac Disk Utility.

This will clean your drive of everything.

Don’t install any software on it.

Just set it for use in Time Machine.