If the My Passport for Mac external hard 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.
Everything was fine until the upgrade to 10.11.6. Now on my desktop, my connected external Time Machine drive no longer shows the Time Machine icon (like it used to), it's just the plain yellow drive icon.
![For For](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/wd/uploads/default/optimized/3X/3/1/312520019e62eb0e81baf9acde99cb5a8b8ec5b1_1_580x500.png)
And when I plug in another external drive, it no longer automatically shows on the desktop (like it used to), so I have to go use a Finder window to access it (vs. Previously just clicking the icon for a finder window). Yes, I've done all the Preferences options, and everything listed here short of a total reinstall.
This is why I got away from Windows.). My WD 2TB HDD suddenly ejected automatically and a message of improper eject came up.
I connected the hdd again but it did not detect. It was not showing in disk utility either. I checked it in another macbook but same issue. Then I connected in windows laptop and it got detected in USB 2.0 port but was not showing up in windows explorer. I checked in disk management and tried to open it but was not opening. Right clicking was giving me only two options: delete volume and help. All other options were greyed out.
Can anyone please help here? I don't want to format the hdd. Is your drive password protected like mine? My computer was being glitchy and when I tried to eject my g-drive it wanted a password, something I never saw before 'wanting a password to eject.' Once I entered the password, the drive no longer appeared except for in Disc Utility.
After days of panicking and trying to 'verify disk,' I right clicked on the disc and it said 'unlock.' I entered the password and it worked! The drive still doesn't show up when plugged in until I go through disc utility to unlock it, but at least I have access to it again.
Click to expand.I had this problem and solved it by brute force (EDIT: It wasn't this problem. It was that my hard drive wouldn't turn off. I can't seem to delete my post though) - switch on the hard drive, and when the blue light flashes, press and hold the power button until it turns off. This will take a while.
![My passport for mac on pc My passport for mac on pc](http://17c4dcd7f91259d8cc66-f5932f6db0039e8c02f89a70c334ff0e.r2.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/P1030613_1920-668x501.jpg)
I didn't count, but it could have been 30 secs (it felt like a minute though). Leave it for a bit (again, I didn't time it, was about the same time it took to turn the thing off) then plug it in to your machine and see if it whirrs to life. Note that this was with my WD Passport wireless HD which first stopped being able to connect wirelessly, then just stopped connecting at all. WD seem to know about the problem but don't do much about it; there are a lot of angry folk on their forums. Hello, If a My Passport is not showing in Disc Utilities often the reason is something simple.
Here are several things try: 1. Try using a different USB cable, make sure it is as short as the original one, or even shorter. This is important it terns of providing enough power for the drive to function properly. Try connecting it to different USB ports. Try connecting it to a different Mac.
Sometimes the drive can misbehave due to insufficient power even if it appears to be spinning when plugged in. To make sure this is not the case you can use a Y-USB cable or connect it through a powered USB hub. If you have access to a Windows machine test it there with WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, you can alos check if it's recognised by Disc Management and what status it's showing Hope that helps.