It gets rid of the proprietary formatting that seem to contribute to the problems.
That often makes the drive more reliable without having to revert to USB hubs or special cables. Once you get the files you need off the external, consider erasing and reformating it to Mac Extended Journaled using Disk Utility. WD makes very good bare drives but the enclosures into which they put them to make an external drive are not very good and not particually Mac-Friendly.
To get such a drive going again, you need one of two workabouts:ġ) a powered USB hub (has its own power supply to make up the shortfall) that goes between the external drive and the computer.Ģ) use a 'Y' USB cable to get power from two USB ports simultaneously (such as )Īlso, WD uses an odd proprietary formatting scheme that is of itself a problem area. Not the best solution for a desktop computer. The Passport is bus-powered, getting all its power from a USB port. Historically, the problem has been that many USB-powered drives can't get enough power from a USB port after they begin to age.
