Try plugging your USB cable in FIRST, and THEN power on the external drive.
So I am just adding this answer for others that have the same situation.
#Wd my passport is uninitialized mac
And it turns out that if I start the case WITHOUT having my USB cable plugged into my Mac already, then the case enters some kind of "clone drive A to drive B" solo-mode where it won't talk to the computer at all. I'm using a two-drive USB hard disk case. My drive will ONLY initialize itself as a "talking to the computer" hard drive if I have the USB cable plugged into the Mac at the exact moment that I am turning the external drive on. Turn ON the external drive when the USB cable is connected.Turn OFF the external drive (if it's on).for a long time.īut today I realized that the proper method for my external drive is: But no drive showed up! Sometimes it worked but I didn't know why. I believed that you must always have power on your devices before plugging them into the Mac. In my situation, that was the problem! Here is what I did wrong: I turned on the external HD case's power button, and then I plugged the USB cable into my Mac. Did you use the external hard disk correctly?.Now, physically remove, then reinsert the USB drive. Running diskutil list again shows the device is gone: /dev/disk4 (disk image): (Obviously use the disk number that associated with your USB device) My relevant output, again using my non-mountable USB as an example is as follows: /dev/disk4 (disk image):ġ: Windows_FAT_16 2.1 GB disk5s1 <- My Problem Child If they are being recognized in the system, but not showing up, you may have to disconnect them and remount them in Terminal.įirst, see if they are listed. If nothing happens here (with both devices) then you have ruled out your USB devices. When you attach your USB devices, have Console running and watch to see if the device is detected and whether an error is generated. However, in Console, you can see that it is detected and an error is generated: For example, I inserted a Windows (FAT16) formatted USB flash drive that doesn't mount and doesn't show on my desktop. To verify that your USB port is detecting devices, open "Console" (Applications > Utilities > Console). When your Mac wakes up again, the drive may not have come out of its slumber.
#Wd my passport is uninitialized pro
There can be a number of reasons why your Macbook Pro won't recognize a drive.įor instance, if you have a drive mounted and your system goes to sleep, it will also power down the USB port, putting your drive to sleep.