External 2TB WD Elements Unaccessible on 8.1

[Trey5537]

Hi Forum,

I have an WD Elements external hard drive that I am unable to access on my 8.1 desktop. The device shows up in "Device Manager" and is listed as working properly. However, I am unable to access the contents of the hard drive. Usually I would go to my computer and the HD would be listed, and I would then be able to access the content.

When I first built my PC I used the external to create a system image, and then a few weeks later I used the same HD to create a back up on my MacBook. Is this why it's not working on my PC? I was wanting to create a new system image for the PC.

Thanks in advance.

Trey

 

[i7Baby]

It doesn't show up in Windows Explorer?

 

[Trey5537]

It doesn't show up in Windows Explorer?

No it does not. I'm thinking it's because I used it to create a system restore point with my Mac? I can't figure it out...

 

[i7Baby]

Does it show up in Disk management?

 

[Trey5537]

Does it show up in Disk management?

I just checked and no it does not.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey, Trey!

Unfortunately, this is a common issue.
What happened is that your WD Elements was formatted in the NTFS file system to use in Windows OS (Unless you've re-formatted it).
Once you've connected it to the Mac, it must have changed the file system to use for Mac OS.
The difference is that Windows is using NTFS, FAT and FAT32 file system to read/write HDDs, while OS X is using HFS+ and FAT32.
In order to use the WD Elements on both operating systems, you'd need to reformat it in FAT32.
Here's a link that will help you with that: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ENQLu4

However, you should keep in mind that you need to backup the data from that external HDD on your Mac before proceeding.
Re-formatting it will delete all your data.

Hope I helped. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph__WD

 

[Trey5537]

Hey, Trey!

Unfortunately, this is a common issue.
What happened is that your WD Elements was formatted in the NTFS file system to use in Windows OS (Unless you've re-formatted it).
Once you've connected it to the Mac, it must have changed the file system to use for Mac OS.
The difference is that Windows is using NTFS, FAT and FAT32 file system to read/write HDDs, while OS X is using HFS+ and FAT32.
In order to use the WD Elements on both operating systems, you'd need to reformat it in FAT32.
Here's a link that will help you with that: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ENQLu4

However, you should keep in mind that you need to backup the data from that external HDD on your Mac before proceeding.
Re-formatting it will delete all your data.

Hope I helped. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph__WD

SuperSoph_WD,

I will give this a try and then report my results! I will be in touch...

Thanks!

 

[Trey5537]

Hey, Trey!

Unfortunately, this is a common issue.
What happened is that your WD Elements was formatted in the NTFS file system to use in Windows OS (Unless you've re-formatted it).
Once you've connected it to the Mac, it must have changed the file system to use for Mac OS.
The difference is that Windows is using NTFS, FAT and FAT32 file system to read/write HDDs, while OS X is using HFS+ and FAT32.
In order to use the WD Elements on both operating systems, you'd need to reformat it in FAT32.
Here's a link that will help you with that: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ENQLu4

However, you should keep in mind that you need to backup the data from that external HDD on your Mac before proceeding.
Re-formatting it will delete all your data.

Hope I helped. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph__WD

SuperSoph,

I finally got around to trying what you suggested above. This corrected the issue and allows me to use the external HD on both systems. However, it appears I am unable to use the external HD to backup both systems? I would like to use the 2TB HD to back up both the MAC and PC, but when trying to backup the MAC, the MAC forces me to change the partition. Is there a way around this or do I need to have two different externals for backing up both machines?

Thanks,

Trey

 

[rgd1101]

2 partition, 1 for MAC, the other for PC

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again, Trey!

@rgd1101 is correct! You can backup both the PC and the Mac by splitting the external into 2 partitions:
One can be NTFS/FAT32 for Windows and the other should be HFS+ for Mac, this way both computers will let you back up your systems without any issues.
Here's a link that explains how to change the file system using Windows: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=H84p3n
or using Mac: http://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/how-to-format-a-drive-or-partition-with-the-hfs-file-system/

Hope this helps! Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD