Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

mattur.ast · Mar 21, 2007, 01:03 PM

When trying to hook up a WD external hard drive to my computer, it didn't show up on the desktop or in disk utility. The hard drive works on other macs and PCs, just not mine. I don't know if it's the way I've got something set up, or what. Can anyone help?

peeb · Mar 21, 2007, 01:25 PM

Is it self powered? Check that it is getting enough power. What computer do you have, what drive?

mattur.ast · Mar 23, 2007, 09:54 AM

yes, it's USB powered. The blue light comes on when connected.

I'm running on a Powerbook G4 5,2 .... OS X 10.4.9

Thanks for the help.

mattur.ast · Mar 23, 2007, 09:55 AM

oops, sorry i forgot to tell you which drive...it's a Western Digital Passport.

peeb · Mar 23, 2007, 10:52 AM

So it is powered only by the USB cable? No power plug? My suspicion is that your mac USB port is underpowered. You can get USB cables that have two plugs on one end, and one on the other, so that you can plug the drive into two USB ports to get sufficient power. I have the same problem with my PB - the USB ports are under-powered. It sucks.

mattur.ast · Mar 23, 2007, 11:37 AM

thanks!