WD My Passport is an easy-to-use external hard drive, which acts as a simple centralized solution to back up your data. You can directly connect this external hard drive to your computer to transfer the files. If you Cannot Access Your Wd My Passport External Hard Drive on your computer (Windows 10 0r 11 or Mac), perform the below instructions carefully to solve this issue.
Solution for Can't Access WD My Passport (for Windows 10 & 11)
Ensure Connection, Mainly
Check if you have properly connected the WD My Passport external hard drive to your computer.
In case it is not connected properly, remove the drive and reconnect it to a different port on your computer.
If the above technique doesn’t work, replace the USB cable with a new one and reconnect the hard drive to your computer.
If you are using an adapter, remove the external hard drive and wait for some time.
Reconnect the hard drive to the adapter.
Check whether you can access the external hard drive on your computer.
Change Hard Drive Letter And Path
Ensure that you have properly connected the WD My Passport external hard drive to your computer.
Go to the Start menu on your computer and open Disk Management.
Now, right-click on the hard drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths from the drop-down list.
Here, click the Change button.
Make sure to choose Assign the following drive letter and then pick a letter from the drop-down list.
Click OK.
Restart your computer and wait until the device turns on.
Now, check if the issue is resolved.
Fix Wd My Passport Not Accessible (for Mac)
Format Your External Hard Drive
First, make sure to connect the WD My Passport external hard drive to your Mac computer.
Now, open the Finder app using the Dock at the bottom of the window.
Choose the Applications category from the left panel of the current screen.
Now, from the list, click the Utilities option.
In the Utilities window, choose the Disk Utility option.
Click View at the top-left corner of the window that opens up.
Select the Show All Devices option.
Now, you will see the WD My Passport external hard drive that is connected to your Mac computer.
Choose your WD hard drive from the left panel of the window.
Click the Erase button.
Now, you will find that a small dialog box appears at the top of the window.
Here, you need to enter the name for your external hard drive in the Name field.
Pick the options of your choice from the Format and Scheme fields.
Now, you need to click on the Erase button. It takes some time to create the partition and set up the drive on Disk Utility.
When this process is over, click on the Done button.
Now, check whether the “cannot access WD My Passport external hard drive” issue is solved. If not, just move on to the next troubleshooting method.
Change At Finder Setting
Make sure to connect the WD My Passport external hard drive to your Mac computer.
Click the Finder icon from the Dock or select the Finder tab at the window's top-left corner.
Select Preferences from the drop-down list.
Now, the Finder Preferences dialog box will appear in the window.
Click on the General tab.
Make a tick mark on the External disks checkbox below the Show these items on the desktop option.
Now, the hard drive will show up on your Mac’s desktop.
In the Finder Preferences dialog box, click Sidebar and select the External disks checkbox.
Now, the Finder sidebar will show the WD My Passport external hard drive on your Mac.
Check whether the “cannot access WD My Passport external hard drive” problem is solved. By now, the issue should be fixed and you must be able to access the hard drive on your Mac.
You can fix the “Cannot Access WD My Passport External Hard Drive” issue on your Windows 10, 11, and Mac computers by following the above instructions. In case you require further clarifications, just use the call option on this page to contact us.