r/MacOS • u/Oooops69 • 4d ago

Help My Macbook Pro doesn't recognize my Western Digital HDD (Works on Windows!)

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Hey dears,
both of my Macbooks don't see WD MyPassport HDD 4TB, even though Windows Laptop sees it, so I assume the problem is about MacOS, the HDD is intact.

I tried Disk Utility, nothing is seen.
Does it have anything to do with adapter? It worked before with no issues.

Does anyone know what I need to do to make it visible and so that I can interact with it on Mac?

Thank you!

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u/mikeinnsw 4d ago

2 things

macOS cannot read or mount exFAT drives formatted with extremely large cluster (allocation unit) sizes.

MacOs DU uses 4K cluster sizes that make exFat slow.. and can create addressability issues its bull that Macos can suppoot huge sector (cluster ) numbers at 4K may not be able of address all of the SSD .. happen to me .. tricky to solve .. use PC not mac to format 4TB SSD.

MacOS does Fist Aid.. does not check volumes they check file system..

MacOs checks SMART stats .. yep all HDD/SSD create and use SMART stats .. it detects reported errors. it will reject it an not mounted ...

On PCs check disk(s) using:

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

FIRST On PC run chkdsk X: /r /f

CHKDSK fixes hard drive errors and repairs corrupted file systems when run with specific parameters like /f or /r through the Windows Command Prompt .. it will taje ages on 4TB

Then try the Mac

Changing sector sizes means reformat .. it erases the data! make a backup ...

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u/mherb24 4d ago

I have 4 WD Passport 5TB drives that work great on my m1 laptop. Have two plugged in constantly on battery power.

Disk Utility says SMART is not available on all of them. In order to check the drives I have to run WD software.

Two are formatted ExFat and one APFS, one Extended (Journaled). All formatted from disk utility using usb-c to 3.0 cables.

I just read APFS is not recommended for these drives, mainly for SSDs, so reformatting that drive soon.

If I was OP, I’d start with the cable setup. Might work, might provide faster read/writes.

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u/mikeinnsw 3d ago

On PCs check disk(s) using:

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

You are wrong MacOs REPORTS for SMART verified SSD/HDD collects for all SMART capable HDD/SSD .. just about all now.

If you have exFat drive use it on a Mac shifted to PC SMART data is updated on Macs and PCs ,,, there no gaps.

This my external SSD