What to Do if WD My Passport Drive Is Not Showing Up on a Mac

If you’ve plugged in your WD My Passport drive and it isn’t showing up on your Mac, you’re not the first. Just like any other external drive, these devices occasionally act up, which might leave you unable to access your data. Our team has seen this issue plenty of times, and we’ve examined various ways to fix it. We’ll walk you through 4 clear steps that have helped many of our readers—and even some of our team members—get their WD My Passport recognized again.

Step 1: Basic WD My Passport Checks

The first step is to rule out simple causes. You wouldn’t believe how often the issue is something as simple as a loose cable or an unresponsive USB port. These quick checks can save you a lot of time:

• 🔵 Is the light on? If so, your drive has enough power. If not, the problem could be with the connection. Check the USB cable and port to make sure everything is securely plugged in. If you’ve noticed the WD Passport light on but not working, that’s okay—there are more things to try.
• ⚙️ Have you tried a different USB cable or port? Faulty USB cables or ports can easily cause problems. Switch the cable, or try to plug the drive into another USB port. Sometimes, a simple change like this makes all the difference. If it works with a different cable or port, you’ve probably found the root of the issue.
• 🔁 Restart your Mac. It’s surprising how often this helps. Disconnect your WD My Passport, restart your Mac, and reconnect the drive. A quick reboot often resolves small system hiccups that prevent devices from showing up.
• 🔍 Check for physical damage. Take a moment to look at the drive and the cable. Are there any visible issues, like bent connectors or frayed wires? If so, this could be why your drive has troubles. While minor wear is normal, any serious damage might require professional help or a replacement.

Step 2: Use Disk Utility for Troubleshooting

If the basic checks didn’t resolve the issue, it’s time to dig a little deeper with macOS’s built-in Disk Utility. This tool helps you check whether your WD My Passport is detected by your Mac at all and allows you to run some basic diagnostics to fix common problems.

Check if the WD My Passport Shows Up in Disk Utility And Is Mounted

It’s important to check if your Mac can detect your WD My Passport drive. In most cases, even if the drive isn’t showing up in Finder, it will still appear in Disk Utility but might not be mounted. When this happens, the drive is connected to your Mac, but it hasn’t been made accessible for use yet. Here’s what to do:

1. Open Disk Utility in Spotlight Search. Simply click the 🔍 magnifying glass icon in the top-right corner of your screen, type “Disk Utility,” and press Enter. Alternatively, you can go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
2. Once Disk Utility is open, you need to see all connected devices. In the top-left corner of the Disk Utility window, click View and select Show All Devices. This option will reveal every drive and partition connected to your Mac, even those that aren’t currently mounted.
3. Look for your WD My Passport in the list of devices on the left. If the drive is recognized but not mounted, it will appear “grayed out.” This means your Mac sees the drive, but it isn’t accessible yet.
4. To mount the drive, click on it in the list and then hit the Mount button at the top of the Disk Utility window. If successful, the drive will appear in Finder, and you’ll be able to access your files.

Sometimes mounting can fail, and you might see an error message like “Could not mount.” When this happens, the next course of action is to run First Aid.

Run First Aid to Repair the Drive

First Aid is a built-in tool in macOS that checks for and repairs disk errors, like file system corruption or partition issues. It helps when your Mac detects the drive but cannot mount it, or when the drive has problems like missing files or slow performance. You can run First Aid right here in Disk Utility, it often fixes logical issues and can make your WD My Passport accessible again. Here’s how to run First Aid:

1. If you haven’t already, open Disk Utility.
2. On the left-hand side of Disk Utility, find your WD My Passport under the list of external devices. Click on it.
3. At the top of the window, you’ll see the First Aid button. Click it, then press Run in the dialog box that appears. This will start the process.
4. The process may take a few minutes (it depends on the size of your drive.) First Aid will check for errors and attempt to repair them. If it finds any issues, it will either fix them or report that they could not be repaired.
5. Once First Aid completes, try to mount your WD My Passport again. If First Aid repaired the drive, it should now be accessible in Finder.

If your WD My Passport drive is mounted in Disk Utility but you still can’t see it in Finder or on the desktop, it may be a system setting issue. Move on to Step 3: Check Your Finder Settings.

Step 3: Check Your Finder Settings

If your WD My Passport is detected and mounted in Disk Utility but still isn’t showing up in Finder or on your desktop, the issue might be a simple system setting. By default, macOS may not display external drives in certain views, but this can be easily fixed:

1. Click anywhere on your Finder window, then select Finder from the top menu bar and click Preferences or Settings (in newer macOS versions). You can also press Command + , to open Finder Settings directly.
2. In the General tab of Finder Settings, find the section labeled Show these items on the desktop. Make sure that External disks is checked. This option will allow your WD My Passport to appear on the desktop whenever it’s connected and mounted.
3. Now, click on the Sidebar tab in Finder Settings. Under the Locations section, check External disks. This will make your WD My Passport show up in Finder’s sidebar.
4. Now, close Finder Settings and check to see if your WD My Passport is now visible in Finder or on the desktop.

Step 4: Backup Your WD My Passport Data and Reformat the Drive

If none of the previous steps have worked and your WD My Passport for Mac still does not work properly, it may be time to reformat the drive.

Reformatting can usually fix any logical (non-physical) issues that might result in WD My Passport detection troubles on Mac. The problem, of course, is that formatting erases all data on the drive, and we’re pretty sure you don’t want to lose everything stored there. To avoid data loss, you’ll need the help of a data recovery app before you can reformat it.

How to Backup Your Data from WD My Passport

To safely retrieve data from your WD My Passport, we’ll need a specialized data recovery tool. We’ve reviewed and tested many of these tools, and you can check out our detailed article, Top Data Recovery Software for Mac You Should Try, for more details. These tools are typically used to recover files that were deleted or lost, but many can also retrieve/back up existing data from problematic external drives. One such tool is Disk Drill, made by CleverFiles, which is particularly useful in these situations.

Here’s how you can create a backup of your WD My Passport with Disk Drill:

1. Download Disk Drill from the CleverFiles website. Once downloaded, install the application and launch it on your Mac.
2. Plug your WD My Passport into your Mac, and check if it is detected in Disk Utility. Even if it’s not showing up in Finder, Disk Drill should still be able to detect it.
3. In Disk Drill’s main interface, look for the option labeled Byte-to-Byte Backup (under Extra Tools tab). Click this option.
4. Select your external drive and click Create Backup.
5. Disk Drill will ask you where to save the backup. Pick a location with enough free space—ideally, another external drive or your Mac’s internal storage. The destination needs to have space for the full copy of your WD My Passport.
6. After the backup is complete, check the destination folder to make sure the backup was successful. The backup will be saved as a disk image file, which you can use later if you need to recover data or restore the drive.

💡 Note. A byte-to-byte backup is a full copy of your drive, which includes deleted data, hidden files, and system data. This type of backup preserves everything on the drive exactly as it is. This feature is not meant to serve as a classic backup solution; it is kinda tailored specifically for problematic drives. We always use this option when we suspect the drive is compromised. It reduces the load on the disk itself, as every read operation on a failing drive risks further damage.

Now that you have a backup, you can reformat the drive without any worries—your data is safe, and your drive’s state is preserved down to the byte. You can always return to this backup anytime you want to retrieve files or restore the drive.

But if you want to make sure that the data you need is safe, or that the data you will manage to recover from disk image is worth upgrading to the PRO version, here’s how you can scan the backup:

1. Open Disk Drill.
2. At the bottom of the Disk Drill interface, you’ll see the option Attach disk image…, click this option to open a dialog box and locate the disk image backup you created.
3. Select the disk image, and click Open. This will load the disk image into Disk Drill.
4. After the disk image is attached, click Search for lost data. Disk Drill will scan the disk image just like it would a physical drive to recover files from the backup.
5. Once the scan completes, click Retrieve found items at the top of the interface. You’ll see a list of files categorized into groups: Existing files, Deleted or lost, and Reconstructed. Disk Drill will show files that you’ve deleted in the past but haven’t been overwritten yet.
6. You can select individual files or entire folders from the list. At the right, you’ll see a preview window that allows you to view the contents of the files before recovery. You can pick and choose what you want to retrieve, or simply select everything.
7. Click Recover, then select a safe destination for the recovered files— your Mac’s internal storage or, if you’ve already formatted your drive after creating the backup, you can recover your files back to their original locations on your WD My Passport.

Reformat Your WD My Passport Drive

Once you’ve safely backed up your data, you can proceed with reformatting your WD My Passport to resolve issues like the drive not being recognized on your Mac. As we previously mentioned, reformatting usually takes care of any non-hardware problems. Here’s how to reformat your WD My Passport in Disk Utility on a Mac:

1. Once again, open Disk Utility.
2. Select your WD My Passport. Make sure you select the entire drive (usually labeled by its brand name) and not just a volume or partition under it.
3. At the top of the Disk Utility window, click Erase. This opens a dialog box with options to choose the format and name for your drive.
4. Choose the Format. If you want to use the drive with both macOS and Windows, choose ExFAT. If the drive will only be used with Mac, select APFS (best for SSDs) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (for mechanical hard drives).
5. You can also rename the drive here if you want.
6. Now, click Erase to start the process. Disk Utility will format the drive, which usually only takes a few minutes.
7. After the process finishes, your WD My Passport will be reformatted and should show up in Finder as a new, blank drive.

Now, you can restore the data you previously backed up to your WD My Passport. But if the problem returns, think twice before you store more data on this drive. We’ll talk more about your drive’s health and what to consider at the end of the article.

Additional Fixes for “WD My Passport Not Detected” Issue on Mac

Here are some additional fixes that sometimes help when basic steps don’t resolve the problem with your WD My Passport not detected on your Mac.

Method 1: Reset Your Mac’s NVRAM (For Intel-Based Macs)

NVRAM (non-volatile random-access memory) stores important information about your Mac’s hardware connections, including external drives. Reset of NVRAM can refresh your Mac’s connection with the drive and potentially resolve detection issues. To reset NVRAM on Intel-based Macs do this:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Hold CMD + Option + P + R and power it back on.
3. For older Macs, release the keys after the second startup chime. For T2 Macs, let go when the Apple logo appears a second time.

Method 2: Update to the Latest WD Drive Unlock Application

If your WD My Passport is encrypted and password-protected, outdated software can prevent it from detection. The WD Drive Unlock feature is part of the WD Discovery app. An update to the latest version of WD Discovery often fixes this issue. Here’s how to update to the latest WD Discovery app:

1. Head to the official Western Digital Support page and search for the WD Discovery app for your specific WD My Passport model.
2. The most current version of the WD Discovery app is Version 4.4.396 (WDC Tracking Number: WDC-22014). This version updates the WD Drive Unlock feature and guarantees compatibility with the latest versions of macOS. Download this version.
3. Run the installer and follow the steps to install the WD Discovery app on your Mac. This will update the WD Drive Unlock tool as well.
4. Once the app is installed, restart your Mac.
5. After the restart, plug in your WD My Passport. Open the WD Discovery app, enter your password in the WD Drive Unlock section, and unlock your drive. Your Mac should now recognize it and show it in Finder.

Final Tips

In our experience, 9 out of 10 cases of a WD My Passport not showing up on a Mac can be resolved with the steps we’ve covered above. These methods—from simple checks to reformatting—typically make the drive work again. However, if your WD My Passport has hardware issues, no DIY steps will fix it. Your next option would be to reach out to a professional data recovery service. These services can recover data from physically damaged drives, but they tend to be expensive.

To avoid future problems with your WD My Passport, it’s important to always safely eject the drive from your Mac. If you pull it out without ejection, this can damage the file system seriously.

You should also protect your drive physically. Use a hard case to prevent damage from drops, bumps, or spills, especially when you’re on the move. You can easily find plenty of affordable options on Amazon, eBay, or Best Buy to keep your drive safe.

Another step we recommend is to regularly check your drive’s health with S.M.A.R.T. status. This technology monitors the health of your drive and can alert you to potential issues before they become major problems. You can use apps like DriveDx for this, or, as we mentioned earlier, you can activate S.M.A.R.T. monitoring directly in Disk Drill. This way, you’ll get alerts if something’s off, which will give you time to address issues before they lead to data loss or drive failure.