Summary: WD My Passport for Mac is not showing up Mac? Follow the tutorial in this article to fix WD My Passport not working issue and recover data from unrecognized WD My Passport for Mac.
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The Disk Utility on Mac is a very useful system tool for fixing specific disk problems. For example, you can run a disk check when your apps quit simultaneously, an external drive is not working properly, or your Mac won’t startup. Disk Utility will check the health of your hard drive and repair any disk errors if possible. Nov 23, 2020 Disk Utility, developed by Apple, is a comprehensive system utility for performing disk and disk volume-related tasks on the Mac operating systems. These tasks include formatting, partitioning, erasing, cloning disks, repairing a damaged disk, etc. Open Disk Utility In general, you can just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. However, if your Mac doesn't start up completely or you want to repair the disk your Mac starts up from, open Disk Utility from macOS Recovery. The trick is to boot the Mac into Recovery Mode first, and run the Repair function from there. Once booted into Recovery mode you’ll find the limitations on Disk Utility’s repair function has been removed, and you can go about repairing the boot disk as intended. We’ll cover exactly how to do this, step by step. How to Repair a Mac Boot.
Everything has flaws, even the WD My Passport for Mac drive that you used for years.
It happens frequently that:
- WD My Passport won't show up when connecting to your Mac computer
- WD My Passport is greyed out in Disk Utility
- WD hard drive's light is on but not working after macOS Big Sur update
- My Passport WD external drive won't open the password application on M1 Mac
- Mac didn't unlock the My Passport WD drive but asking for WD Drive Unlock application
- My Passport WD becomes encrypted or unreadable on your Mac
Either way, your important data on this drive will become inaccessible and concerns you a lot.
If the WD My Passport is not showing up on Mac desktop, Finder or Disk Utility after connecting to your Mac, how to find it and make it work? If you can't see files from WD external hard drive on Mac, how to access data? You'll get answers here.
Troubleshoot WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue
Usually, malfunctioned USB port or Mac computer, the broken USB cable and some hardware problems could make WD My Passport not showing up.
You can do the following basic checks before go further troubleshootings.
- Safely remove the WD My Passport and reconnect it to the USB port. Try quickly plug and slowly plug, which sometimes just works for no reason.
- Check whether the USB cable or USB port is bad by connecting other hard drives to this USB port or cable and see if that makes a difference.
- Reboot your Mac computer to see if your WD My Passport drive is not showing up in Disk Utility/Finder or not.
- Connect the WD My Passport to another Mac computer or Windows PC, which will find out if it is the incompatible file system of the drive that makes this WD My Passport undetectable.
How to fix WD My Passport not showing up on Mac issue?
If the WD My Passport for Mac still does not work or not show up on Mac after the basic checks, go ahead to try out the solutions as below to make it show up on Mac.
Solution 1: Check Finder Preferences
If your WD My Passport is not showing up in Finder and desktop, it's possible that the configuration of the Finder Preferences is stopping your WD My Passport drive showing up.
In other words, you didn't allow the connected hard drives showing up in the Finder or on the desktop.
Now, follow the guide below to set Finder Preferences and make the WD My Passport for Mac show up in Finder or on the desktop.
- 1. Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab.
- 2. Tick the 'External disks' option to show the WD My Passport for Mac on the desktop.
- 3. Go to Sidebar tab, tick 'External disks' under 'Devices' to show your WD My Passport for Mac in Finder.
Solution 2: Check My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility
If the WD My Passport for Mac drive is still not showing up in Finder or on the desktop, you can see whether it is showing up in Disk Utility or not.
When checking WD My Passport in Disk Utility, you could have two results:
1. Your WD My Passport drive is detected and showing up in Disk Utility, but it is greyed out or not mounting.
2. Your WD hard drive is not recognized, so it's not showing up in Disk Utility at all.
Here, we'll show you solutions to case 1.
Method 1: Mount WD My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility manually
Sometimes, hard drives cannot be automatically mounted in Disk Utility, even though Mac has detected the hard drive. So it's possible that you'll see the WD My Passport for Mac drive not mounting in Disk Utility. In this situation, you can manually mount the hard drive.
- 1. Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
- 2. Click 'Show All Devices' in View option at the left corner of Disk Utility.
- 3. Select your WD My Passport for Mac drive from the left sidebar and click the Mount button on the top of Disk Utility window.
Instead, you can also click on the mount icon beside the drive to mount it immediately.
Method 2: Repair WD My Passport for Mac drive with First Aid
If you can't mount the WD My Passport for Mac manually, there should be some file system problems in this drive.
But don't worry. There is a native repair tool called First Aid in your Mac computer's Disk Utility, which is able to analyze and repair basic hard drive problems especially with file systems and catalogs, extends, volume bit maps. You can follow the instructions to fix this problem.
- 1. Go to Disk Utility.
- 2. Select the WD My Passport for Mac.
- 3. Click First Aid on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- 4. Click Done when the reparation finishes.
Solution 3: Install the Latest WD Utilities
This has been discussed a lot that Western Digital hard drives not working after Big Sur update or when connecting to an Apple Silicon M1 MacBook Air.
Typically, you'll receive a similar message as follows and you can't open or unlock your WD drive (My Passport):
If you have used WD Utilities or have created a secure password to keep others from accessing the files on the drive, you have to password unlock the drive (unless you enable auto unlock for this computer) each time you:
- Shut down or restart your Mac
- You disconnect and reconnect the WD My Passport
- Mac wakes up from sleep mode
And you have to unlock it with passwork though you have uninstalled the WD My Passport software from your Mac.
To fix that Western Digital My Passport hard drives not working or unlock (only if you know the right password) after Big Sur update, simply download, update, and install the latest WD Discovery Utilities for macOS 11 Big Sur.
If unfortunately,you can't remember the password, you can only reformat the WD drive (My Passport for Mac) to make it work again, at the expense of data loss.
Solution 4: Erase/Reformat My Passport for Mac
If First Aid was unable to repair the errors in the WD My Passport, meaning the disk file system has been damaged, which is quite common, then you have to fix the WD My Passport for Mac not showing up on Mac problem by reformatting.
The situation is, reformatting will assign a new file system but will erase all your data on this drive as well.
To avoid the loss of important data, please make sure you have a backup copy of data. Without a backup? It's not necessarily the end of the world. You can at first recover lost data from the WD My Passport for Mac with professional Mac data recovery software, like iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is free hard drive data recovery software for Mac that is able to recover deleted files on Mac, recover lost data from formatted, inaccessible, corrupted, unmountable, unreadable hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards, etc.
It's compatible with macOS Big Sur 11/Catalina 10.15/Mojave 10.14/High Sierra/Sierra 10.12 and Mac OS X 10.11/10.10/10.9/10.8/10.7, on both Intel- and M1-based Macs
1 Recover lost data from My Passport for Mac with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac
- 1. Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac.
- 2. Launch iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
- 3. Select My Passport for Mac and click 'Next' button to scan all data on this drive.
- 4. Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click 'Recover' to get them back.
2 Reformat My Passport for Mac in Disk Utility
After recovering data from this drive, you can now courageously proceed to erase your WD My Passport for Mac drive with no fuss.
- 1. Go to Disk Utility.
- 2. Select the WD My Passport for Mac drive in the left sidebar.
- 3. Click Erase on the top of the Disk Utility window.
- 4. Complete the information for your drive (such as new format, partition scheme, and so on) and click Erase.
What to do if the WD My Passport drive is not recognized/detected?
If My Passport for Mac hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility at all, it means the WD hard drive is not recognized. Very probably, your My Passport for Mac may have some hardware problems. It's better to send it to a local reparation center.
Understanding why My Passport drive not showing up on Mac
Sometimes, an external hard drive not showing up on Mac just because the USB cable or the USB port on your Mac is bad. In addition, the following reasons may also lead to WD My Passport for Mac not showing up or not working.
- Recent macOS update issue
- System failure
- Virus infection
- Motherboard issue
- WD My Passport drive damage or corruption
Bonus Maintenance Tips for WD My Passport drives for Mac
Apparently, most hard drive not showing up issues are caused by unsafe ejection and sudden power outrage. In order to maintain your WD My Passport for Mac in good condition, you should pay attention to:
- Make sure that your WD My Passport doesn't become physically damaged.
- Always safely and properly eject the WD My Passport for Mac drive after using it.
- Don't just unplug the USB cable, on the contrary, unmount your drive by right-clicking (control-click) on the icon on the Desktop or in the Finder and choose Eject.
- Properly use WD software like WD Drive Utilities, WD Backup software ( to back up important files to your My Passport drive), and WD Discovery ( to organize and share your files to the My Passport drive to backup your online social life).
Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
'My Mac recovery mode is not working, and I have searched the internet for some valid solutions. Can someone help me to get to the recovery mode safely? Thanks in advance!'
Just like any other device, the MacBook is also vulnerable to working issues. Usually, when a fault or error arises on the MacBook, the users opt for Recovery Mode to fix the issue. But the worst situation is when the macOS recovery mode gets stuck.
Luckily, you don't even have to worry about this problem as we can help you resolve it and even recover lost partition files.
Now, let's discuss how to fix 'Mac can't boot into Recovery Mode' and also get some extra helpful information, for example, what's Recovery Mode. Even you can also learn the best solution to recover lost partition files.
Part 1. What Is Recovery Mode?
As we are trying to fix the Mac stuck in recovery mode, you must know about this mode as much as possible. Mac Recovery Mode is like a program that loads the Mac built-in recovery tool from a specific disk partition that holds the duplicate OS X installer with a recovery image.
Just think about a situation when your Mac couldn't be recovered using any other method. Then the last option left would be using the Recovery mode to diagnose disk problems. It is a multifunctional Mac utility that enables the users to recover and restore data from Time Machine safely. The users can also fix and wipe the data on the hard disk and even re-install macOS.
You can use the Mac Recovery Mode to:
- Scan, verify, erase, and repair the connected drives with Disk Utility.
- Restore Mac from Time Machine Backup
- Erase, Install, or re-install factory version of OS X
- Check the Internet connection or get help online.
- Reinstall the macOS system
After this, you'll need to know how to enter and exit the recovery mode.
How to Enter Recovery Mode?
- Start with clicking on the Apple menu and choose the Restart option or Power on your Mac.
- When the Mac restarts, hold the Command + R keys together until the Apple logo appears. Within a few minutes, the macOS utility window will appear on the screen.
This is how to enter recovery mode. In case the login window doesn't appear on the screen, you might have to restart your Mac and try again.
![Mac disk utility Mac disk utility](https://appletoolbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Cant-Erase-or-Reformat-a-Drive-in-Disk-Utility-Here-Are-3-Ways-to-Fix-It-1280x720.jpg)
How to Exit Recovery Mode?
It often happens that you enter the Recovery mode but don't know how to exit recovery mode. But it is straightforward.
- You only have to choose the 'Restart' option from the Apple menu to exit the mode.
- You can also use the Startup Disk option from the menu if Mac keeps returning to the recovery mode. Your Mac will be good to go by selecting the normal boot disk and clicking on the Restart button.
Part 2. Four Ways to Fix 'Mac Won't Boot into Recovery Mode.'
In some instances, Mac users try to resolve some common disk errors or some other issue with Mac, and they find out that the Mac recovery mode is stuck. If the Mac won't boot into recovery mode, it means you have to use the Internet connection and Apple server to look for a possible solution.
Here are four common macOS recovery methods that can resolve almost any issue on your Mac to ease up your tension and worries.
Way 1. Use Time Machine Backup:
Mac users make a smart move as they keep their Backup external drive connected to Time Machine. If any file is lost or corrupted, the users can restore the files using the Backup. It often comes in handy when you can't boot into recovery on Mac.
- Restart Mac and click on the Options tab during start-up. Connect your Time Machine, and it will boot in a while.
- Choose the Recovery Drive to boot Mac and click on Use Disk to update the system storage.
Way 2. Create a bootable installer:
You can also use if the Mac recovery mode is not working to create a bootable installer using the Disk Utility feature. It is advised that you use a dedicated USB for this process. The steps you have to follow are given below:
Disk Utility Erase
- Get to the Utility window by restarting your Mac and accessing the Options tab during start-up.
- Choose the Disk Utility mode and connect a bootable installer drive with the Mac.
- You have to select the drive from the pop-up list, and Mac will restart. Now you can repair Mac easily so that it can be used like before.
Related: Disk Utility is an inbuilt tool on Mac. You can also use it to resize a volume on your device.
Way 3. Use Mac Internet Recovery:
If you have no idea what to do to resolve the macOS recovery, not working issues, you can rely on the Internet recovery feature! As you get your Mac online, it will automatically look for a viable solution to repair Mac.
- Directly access the internet recovery mode by long-pressing the Option + Command + R during the restart. A globe icon will appear on the screen with a status bar.
- Connect to a network and follow the steps guided by the utility. When you finish the process, Mac repair will be done, and you will access it.
Way 4. Reinstall Mac OS X:
If none of the methods work out to repair the Mac OS X, then the last option left will be re-installing. It is the final logical solution. It will be better if you already have a backup of the data files stored on Mac; otherwise, they will get lost.
Choose the 'Reinstall Mac OS X' option from the Utility window and wait while the new copy of Lion is set up and installed on your device.
Part 3. How to Start Mac in Recovery Mode?
![Erase Erase](https://cdn.tutsplus.com/mac/authors/legacy/Josh Johnson/2012/08/15/diskutility-1.jpg)
When the Mac system or volume is damaged, it is better to use the Internet recovery mode instead of standard recovery. Internet recovery starts up Mac from Apple's servers directly. It can run a quick test of the memory and hard drive to look for issues.
Mac will enter the internet recovery mode if the boot sector is missing or the recovery partition is damaged or corrupted. To start Mac in recovery mode, here are the steps that you need to follow:
- Restart or power on Mac and hold the Command + Option + R keys after hearing the start-up chime. Release the keys when you see the animated globe on the screen.
- Depending on your Internet connection, it might take a while, so keep your Mac connected to a power source.
- Once the connection is established, you will see the macOS utility window on the screen. You only have to click on the option to select one of them.
The recovery tools allow the users to re-install the version of macOS or restore the computer. Apart from this, you can run Disk Utility to fix errors and look online for solutions too.
Video Tutorial on How to Boot Mac into Recovery Mode
Part 4. How to Recover Lost Files
If you don't have a backup copy of your data files and lost them because of the recovery mode, you will need Recoverit Data Recovery Mac.
It is a complete data recovery tool that can restore a lost file from Mac's recovery mode, along with other data loss scenarios. This tool is skilled in getting the important files back on your device from any storage space.
You can download the software from their official website. The software is available for Mac and Windows both. So, you can easily download it on your Mac OS X. Adobe reader xi pro mac. After it is installed, follow the steps given below to recover the lost files:
Step 1: Select a partition.
Launch the software and select the drive from where the data files are lost. If you don't know which drive to search, tap on the 'I can't find my partition' option and hit the Start button.
Step 2: Scan the partition.
Typically, the software will run an all-around scan and search for the lost and deleted files on the entire drive.
Step 3: Preview and recover partition
When the scan completes, the files will be listed on the screen. The software will sort out the files according to format to make the search easier. You can select multiple files at a time and have a preview of them.
Finally, tap on the Recover option, and the files will be restored on your drive. During recovery, make sure that you don't save the files in the same location because it may lead to data loss again.
Can T Open Disk Utility Mac Os
Hopefully, you have gathered more than enough information if your Mac won't boot into recovery mode. You can repair your device by using the Mac Utility. But if the Utility can't help you out, then you can rely on Recoverit Data Recovery. This way, you will be able to recover lost data from your Mac.
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