

And besides, there can be a risk that data on the external USB pen, hard, or flash drive is corrupt, which means you can’t transfer what you need between devices at all.Ĭorrupt data can be one reason your Mac won't recognize an external drive, but there are other reasons too. It’s annoying, especially when you need to transfer something right then.

However, sometimes, an external hard drive doesn't show up. Apple likes to ensure these are easy to find, so they also appear in the Finder in the left-hand column under Locations. Most of the time, when you connect an external hard drive to your Mac’s USB port, you soon see it mount on the desktop. WD includes a nice suite of software tools for backing up, encrypting data, and taking care of formatting and other drive-related chores.Get an ever-growing collection of troubleshooting apps. Just in case you were wondering, Gen 2 10Gbps USB would needlessly increase cost, as Gen 1 offers more than enough bandwidth for any hard drive setup that’s not using RAID 0 or another striped format.įor Mac users, there’s a version (formatted in HFS+) of the My Passport rendered in “midnight blue.” It’s $10 more, but ships with a micro-B to Type-C cable in addition to the regular version’s micro-B to Type-A.

The drive is Gen 1 5Gbps, but supports the USB 3.2 feature set. On the business end of the drive you’ll find a powered micro-B USB port and power indicator. In the overall scheme of things, grip is more important than a flashy sheen, as dropping your hard drive on a hard surface could ruin your whole day.

Grip is somewhat increased because of the matte finish. At least that’s my interpretation of the motivation. The latest My Passport Drives have a nice angled two-tone color scheme with one half of the top scalloped for grip. The WD My Passport sports an angled two-tone motif and is available with a black, blue or red top.
