WD PASSPORT keeps disconnecting only when connected to macbook

scissorz · Jul 5, 2011

hi i have a white macbook and every time i connect my wd passport 320gb to it (via USB, this is the only connection it has), it connects, then a couple seconds later, it disconnects.. and says my device was not properly ejected.. but then it keeps connecting and then disconnecting over and over again without me even touching it.. saying the same thing every time.. and while its doing this, the HD makes some clicking noises so i freak out and unplug it cuz my life is on this HD.. i cant get the HD to be connected without a problem for more than 5 minutes.. but the weird thing about this is i also have a pretty new imac, and when i connect the HD to the imac, there are no problems what so ever. i dont think its disconnected once from it.. this thing is so frustrating, ive searched all over the forums but none seem to be like my case.. i dont know if its my HD or if its my macbook.. im thinking something's wrong with my USB sockets on my macbook but im really not computer literate so im not sure.. ive been using this HD for about a year no problem but it just recently started doing this.. both my macbook and imac are running the same version snow leopard.. here's some specs on my macbook if that'll help any.. please!! does anybody out there know whats going on with my hard drive? u'd be saving my LIFE! thank you!! let me know if anybody needs more info on this..

the external is mac osx journaled.. partitioned into 2 drives

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.17f0
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

oh yea... i also ran disk utility on it and it says both volumes appear to be ok..

randalthor · Jul 5, 2011

scissorz said:
hi i have a white macbook and every time i connect my wd passport 320gb to it (via USB, this is the only connection it has), it connects, then a couple seconds later, it disconnects.. and says my device was not properly ejected.. but then it keeps connecting and then disconnecting over and over again without me even touching it.. saying the same thing every time.. and while its doing this, the HD makes some clicking noises so i freak out and unplug it cuz my life is on this HD.. i cant get the HD to be connected without a problem for more than 5 minutes.. but the weird thing about this is i also have a pretty new imac, and when i connect the HD to the imac, there are no problems what so ever. i dont think its disconnected once from it.. this thing is so frustrating, ive searched all over the forums but none seem to be like my case.. i dont know if its my HD or if its my macbook.. im thinking something's wrong with my USB sockets on my macbook but im really not computer literate so im not sure.. ive been using this HD for about a year no problem but it just recently started doing this.. both my macbook and imac are running the same version snow leopard.. here's some specs on my macbook if that'll help any.. please!! does anybody out there know whats going on with my hard drive? u'd be saving my LIFE! thank you!! let me know if anybody needs more info on this..

the external is mac osx journaled.. partitioned into 2 drives

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB21.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.17f0
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

oh yea... i also ran disk utility on it and it says both volumes appear to be ok..

sounds like you might have loosened the connection to the board for that usb port. is it just that port or all of them on the laptop?

chscag · Jul 5, 2011

Before doing anything else, if "your life is really on that hard drive", I suggest making a backup of it as soon as you can.

It sounds like the drive is drawing too much power from the USB port on the MacBook. Especially since you said it's OK when attached to the iMac. Either that, or there may be something wrong with the USB ports on the MacBook. Have you tried plugging anything else into one of the MacBook USB ports to see if it works OK?

scissorz · Jul 31, 2011

yes everything else seems to work fine... its just the drive... but i kinda sorta solved the issue if anybody else has the same problem... i took it to the genius bar... they said the logic board is messed up and somethings wrong with the usb sockets.. and they told me it would cost $400+ to fix it and there was no other way around it.. so of course i said no thank u.. i dont have that kinda money and even if i did i might as well save for a new macbook.. couple weeks went by and i wanted to organize my drives so i started moving a buncha **** around... took a bunch of stuff out of the WD PASSPORT drive and all of a sudden i plugged it back in for a quick transfer of files and there were no problems... my passport was obviously too full (it was nearing 90% full) and it was takin too much power to read everything (or somewere in that general direction).. but now it seems to work without unplugging.. still makes me a little nervous tho but it hasnt ejected by itself once since i removed some stuff of my drive.. thanks for the help fellas..

scissorz · Jul 31, 2011

it was both ports that were doing that btw

WD PASSPORT keeps disconnecting only when connected to macbook

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