MacBook Air not recognizing Western Digital EHD

[sturg]

I have a WD EHD that I bought several years ago that I'd like to erase/reformat to use with my new Macbook Air. The problem is that the Macbook Air does not recognize the EHD. And I do have all the boxes checked under "Finder" preferences to indicate that those things are supposed to show up when connected.
It does say on the back of the EHD box that it's compatible with Sierra, El Capitan, or Yosemite. It goes on to say that "may require reformatting for other operating systems".
Currently I am running Catalina 10.15.7. MBA 2020.
How can I get this thing to work with my new computer? Is it too out-of date/old to use with my new computer? Should I just get a newer EHD?
WD tech support by phone support opens soon, so I do plan on calling, but if anyone can help I'd appreciate it very much, ty.

 

[MacInWin]

You previously said you are using a dongle adapter to get to USB. Do you know that it definitely works? Have you tested it? I think you said several of your work companions have had to replace it already. Any drive compatible with Yosemite should be at least visible to your MBA, if the adapter you have works.

 

[sturg]

You previously said you are using a dongle adapter to get to USB. Do you know that it definitely works? Have you tested it? I think you said several of your work companions have had to replace it already. Any drive compatible with Yosemite should be at least visible to your MBA, if the adapter you have works.

Yeah I'm not sure that it is working. Probably gonna get a new one to see if that's the problem.
Update: Apparently the hub DOES work. Tried it out with my external CD drive. So now on the phone with WD support....waiting.
Another update: was unsuccessful in getting in touch with WD support either online or by phone.
But I did determine that my drive, the cable, and the hub all work perfectly well. However, I am no further ahead on solving my problem. I still have no connection from the drive to my new computer.

 

[sturg]

Yeah I'm not sure that it is working. Probably gonna get a new one to see if that's the problem.

 

[sturg]

So after spending more time researching the problem I now suspect that the problem may lie in the usb hub/dongle that I have. I read in several places about how the device must be connected directly to the computer, so I went ahead and purchased a new cable that will allow me to do that. Should be here on Tuesday. I will update again after I see if that solves it or not.

 

[sturg]

And sure enough, as soon as I used my new cord allowing me to connect directly the problem was solved. Now I can offload files to it, make my backups, etc. Question now is, should I go ahead and get a newer SSD external drive just to have a second backup option. My WD passport for Mac is several years old, and I was just reading another post about them failing.

 

[sturg]

Just took delivery of a Samsung T5 (1TB) also. So now I have two different, working EHDs to use for backups, and offload files to.