My Passport 1Tb on a iMac late 2010 27" Problems [ Edited ]

[willynanita]

I have serious problems with one My Passport 1Tb when used in a mac.

The disk is mounted fine and I can read and write using third party software for NTFS but the disk becomes unusable after sometime. When you open it there are no files in it and it says 0kb used.

I thought it was the NTFS file system, so I ereased 890gb of data and formatted again in Fat 32. Copied back (1.5 days after) the 890 gb of data and connected it to the mac.

After less than an hour the disk again shows there are no files in it. I can connect it to the PC and it mounts fine (the files are there), then I go back to the Mac and it mounts fine but after a while the files dissapear again.

It is not the cable, because I already got a new one from WD to replace the one from factory.

What could be causing the problem? Firmware?

If only these drives didn't have the USB port solded to the disk, I would have used the disk in another case!!!!! I am so upset right now.

The fact is I have two of these and the other one that were connected at the same time stays connected and showing all data.

What can I do?

Willy.

[WDJeremy]

What happens when you reformat the drive with the Mac file system?  Also, does it pass all three of SmartWare's diagnostics either on your PC or Mac?

[willynanita]

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WDJeremy wrote:

What happens when you reformat the drive with the Mac file system?  Also, does it pass all three of SmartWare's diagnostics either on your PC or Mac?

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Well I haven't tried reformatting to Mac file system because this drive is supposed to be seen in both PC and Mac in my home, but now that I can erease everything from it, I will try it.

How do I get the SmartWare's dignostics?

[willynanita]

I just installed on the mac the Smartware software and updated both Passport Firmware and the Smartware software.

I then ran the first two diagnostics and they passed fine. The Complete drive test  I don't think it's necessary right now because I am not having hard drive problems, but problems with the case or USB, firmware or something else.

I noticed there is a sleep timer. I turned that to NEVER. Could this the cause of my problems?

I will keep the drive mounted and see if the files disappear again.

Willy.

[willynanita]

I must add that since I have two of these drives, I connected both to the Mac. The one giving me problems is vibrating a lot (without being used) while the other one is very quiet.

What could be causing this vibration?

[willynanita]

43 minutes later, the drive is still vibrating a lot and it is hot, the other one is still quiet and with a normal temperature.

So far the files are still showing. I will keep it both running and see what happens.

Willy.

[WDJeremy]

I recommend that you run the complete test on the vibrating drive but the spindown timer wouldn't change it from vibrating.  Keep me informed of your progress.

[willynanita]

I will do the complete test on the vibrating drive.

Thing is that later the day I was testing both drives, the good one all of the sudden showed no files while the vibrating one was showing everything fine.

I really don't know if I can trust these drives to work on the mac. I need to have them on all the time because I don't use them as a back up but as a normal day to day drives.

[willynanita]

I did the Complete test on the vibrating drive and it passed. It is still spinning hard and getting hot. I will do the same test on the other drive tomorrow, this one took about 5 hours.

Regards,

Willy.