Western Digital MY PASSPORT ULTRA Manual

Accessing Online Support

Visit our product support website at support.wdc.com and choose from these topics:

• Registration – Register your WD product to get the latest updates and special offers at: register.wdc.com
• Downloads –Download software and updates for your WD product at: support.wdc.com/downloads
• Email Support – Get technical and other support through email at: support.wdc.com/support
• Warranty & RMA Services – Get warranty, product replacement (RMA), RMA status, accessories, and data recovery information at: support.wdc.com/warranty
• Knowledge Base – Search by keyword, phrase, or answer ID at: support.wdc.com/knowledgebase
• WD Community – Share your thoughts and connect with other WD users at: community.wdc.com
• Phone Support – Get phone numbers for contacting support by region at: support.wdc.com

About Your WD Drive

Welcome to your My Passport^™ Ultra for Mac portable hard drive. This drive offers high capacity in a sleek portable device. It features ultra-fast USB 3.1 connectivity, local and cloud backup, and password protection to help protect your files from unauthorized use.
This introductory chapter includes the following topics:
Features
Kit Contents
Optional Accessories
Operating System Compatibility
Disk Drive Format
Physical Description
Registering Your Drive
Handling Precautions

Features

With a compact design, high capacity, and your choice of local or cloud backup, My Passport Ultra for Mac fits perfectly into the busy life of anyone with an on-thego digital life.

Password Protection with Hardware Encryption — The My Passport Ultra for Mac drive's built-in 256-bit AES Hardware Encryption with WD Security^™ software helps keep your content private and safe. Just activate password protection and set your own personalized password.

Password Protection — The WD Security^™ software helps keep your content private and safe. Just activate password protection and set your own personalized password.

Reimagined Design — The bold, vibrant design of the My Passport Ultra for Mac drive is sure to stop you in your tracks. It is portable storage reimagined and gives you the opportunity to express yourself! Available in a wide range of beautiful colors, you can pick what complements your own personal style.

Easy to Use — My Passport Ultra for Mac portable storage is ready to use out of the box so you can start transferring files, saving your memories and backing up right away. It comes with all the software you need to help protect all your data, including WD Security and WD Drive Utilities^™ software.

For the latest WD product information and news, visit our website at http://www.wdc.com.
For the latest software, firmware, and product documentation and information, go to http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx

Kit Contents

As shown in figure 1, your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive kit includes the following:
Figure 1: My Passport Ultra for Mac Portable Hard Drive Kit Components

• My Passport Ultra for Mac portable hard drive, with the WD Discovery^™, WD Security and WD Drive Utilities software
• USB 3.1 Type-C cable
• Type-C to A adapter

Optional Accessories

For information about optional accessories for WD products, visit www.wdc.com

Operating System Compatibility

Your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive and the WD Drive Utilities and WD Security software are compatible with the following operating systems:

Compatibility can vary, depending on hardware configuration and operating system.
For highest performance and reliability, always install the latest updates and service pack (SP). For Mac computers, go to the Apple menu and select Software Update.
For Windows computers, go to the Start menu and select Windows Update.

Disk Drive Format

Your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive is formatted as a single HSF+J partition for compatibility with macOS X operating systems. If you want to use the drive with a Windows computer, see Reformatting the Drive and Troubleshooting.

Physical Description

As shown in figure 2, the My Passport Ultra for Mac drive has:

• A USB 3.1 interface port
• A power/activity LED indicator

USB Type-C™ Interface
The USB Type-C^™ interface supports interface transfer rates up to 10 Gb/s.
USB 3.1 is backward compatible with USB 2.0. A USB 2.0 interface supports data transfer rates up to 480 Mb/s.
Figure 2: My Passport Ultra for Mac drive

Power/Activity LED
The power/activity LED shows the drive's power state as follows:

Registering Your Drive

Always register your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive to get the latest updates and special offers. You can easily register your drive using the WD Discovery software. Another way is to register online at http://register.wdc.com

Handling Precautions

WD products are precision instruments and must be handled with care during unpacking and installation. Rough handling, shock, or vibration can damage drives. Always observe the following precautions when unpacking and installing your external storage product:

• Do not drop or jolt the drive.
• Do not move the drive during activity.

Connecting the Drive and Getting Started

This chapter provides instructions for connecting the drive. It includes the following topics:
Connecting the Drive
Getting Started with the WD Software

Connecting the Drive

1. Turn on your computer.
2. Connect the drive to your computer as shown in figure 3Verify that the My Passport for Mac drive appears under DEVICES in the Sidebar area of your Finder display:
3. 
   Note: If the External disks check box is selected on your Finder Preferences dialog, the My Passport for Mac icon displays on your desktop:
   

Figure 3: Connecting the My Passport Ultra for Mac Drive

Your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive is now ready to use as an external storage device. You can enhance its capabilities by installing the WD software that is on the drive:

• WD Apps Setup

Getting Started with the WD Software

• For Windows, run WD Discovery.exe to install WD software to help you get a backup plan and modify drive settings. If you don't have internet connectivity, please install WD Backup^™ and WD Drive Utilities^™ from the WD Software Offline Installers > For Windows folder.
• For Mac, open WD Discovery for Mac.dmg to install WD software to help modify drive settings. If you don't have internet connectivity, please install WD Drive Utilities^™ from the WD Software Offline Installers > For Mac folder.

WD Discovery

The WD Discovery application, a collection of drive management tools such as WD Security, can be installed from your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive. WD Discovery is a tray application; a small icon appears in the Windows system tray in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. The application can also be "unpinned", which causes the application to open in a window.
The chapter includes the following topics:
Installing WD Discovery
Using WD Discovery
Devices Tab
Apps Tab
Available Apps

Installing WD Discovery

The WD Discovery application can be installed from your drive.

1. Double-clickWD Discovery.exe.
2. ClickInstall Now.
3. Install application updates as needed.
   The WD Discovery screen displays a list of connected devices, an option to import data from cloud storage or social media, update messages, and a link for registering your drive.
   

Using WD Discovery

By default, the WD Discovery application is visible in the system tray. If it suddenly seems to be missing, it is likely the application has been "unpinned," which means the application is running in a window.
It is recommended that you register your drive as soon as possible. Registration offers a number of benefits, including:

• Warranty period can be established
• Notification of software and firmware updates for registered drives
• Support services are available

Devices Tab

The Devices tab displays the list of drives, and volumes on the drives, connected to your system. Entries include the device name, drive letter, capacity, product name, and percentage of free space remaining. Clicking once on a drive listing opens a file explorer window.

Apps Tab

The Apps tabs displays the list of WD applications included in the WD Discovery suite and a number of third party applications created by other companies and organizations. The WD applications include:

• WD Drive Utilities: allows you to keep your drive performing at its best, and includes sleep, health, RAID settings, and drive erase features
• WD Security: implements password protection and the 256-bit hardware data encryption capabilities of your supported WD hard drive

Available Apps

A series of third party applications is available. To view the list, click the Available Apps tab.
Note: Applications displayed on the Available Apps tab are created by other companies and organizations; while they have been tested and approved for use on the My Passport Ultra for Mac drive, you should contact the publisher for full instructions and software license terms and warranty information.

Locking and Unlocking the Drive

This chapter includes the following topics:
Password Protecting the Drive
Unlocking the Drive
Changing Your Password
Turning Off the Drive Lock Feature

Password Protecting the Drive

You should password protect your drive if you are worried that someone else will gain access to your drive and you do not want them to see your files on the drive.

The WD Security software uses your password to electronically lock and unlock your drive. If you forget your password, you will not be able to access the data that is on your drive or write new data to it. You will have to erase the drive before you can use it again.

1. ClickGo > Applications > WD Security to display the WD Security screen, Set Security dialog.
2. If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the one that you want to create a password for.
3. Read the warning about the possibility of data loss if you forget your password.
4. Type your password in thePassword box, using up to 25 characters.
5. Retype your password in theVerify Password.
6. Type a hint to help remember your password in thePassword Hint box.
7. Select theEnable auto unlock for this computer... check box if you want the WD Security software to remember your password for the selected drive on this computer.
   
   If you select the Enable auto unlock for this computer... check box, the first time you restart your computer or disconnect and reconnect the drive after creating a password, your operating system requests permission to allow the WD Security software to access your password:
   Click Always Allow to avoid this dialog in the future.
   
8. ClickSet Password to save your password and enable hardware encryption for your drive.
   
   After creating a password, the drive remains unlocked for as long as you continue your current work session. Then the WD Security software:
   • Locks the drive when you shut down your computer, disconnect your drive, or your computer goes into the sleep mode
   • Requires you to type your password to unlock the drive when you restart your computer or reconnect your drive, UNLESS you selected the Enable auto unlock for this computer... check box when you created your password

Unlocking the Drive

After you have created a password to help keep others from accessing the files on your drive, unless you selected the Enable auto unlock for this computer... check box, you will have to type your password to unlock the drive whenever:

• You shut down and restart your computer
• You disconnect and reconnect the drive to your computer
• Your computer exits the sleep mode

You will have to do this even if you do not have the My Passport Ultra for Mac software installed on your computer.
In each case, the WD Security software replaces the desktop icon for your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive with the WD Unlocker virtual CD (VCD) icon:

The WD Unlocker VCD provides the WD Drive Unlock utility that you can use to unlock the drive. Or, you can use either the WD Security or the WD Drive Utilities software to unlock the drive.

With the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities Software
Whenever you shut down and restart your computer or disconnect and reconnect the drive to your computer, starting either the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities software displays

• Automatically if you only have the one locked My Passport Ultra for Mac drive connected to your computer
• When you select the locked drive on either the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities screen if you have more than one supported My Passport Ultra for Mac drive connected to your computer

To unlock the drive:

1. If you do not see the Unlock Drive dialog, click either:
   • Go > Applications > WD Security
   • Go > Applications > WD Drive Utilities
2. If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the one that is locked to display the Unlock Drive dialog.
3. On the Unlock Drive dialog:
   1. Type your password in thePassword box.
   2. ClickUnlock Drive.

With the WD Drive Unlock Utility
Whenever you connect your password-protected drive to a computer that does not have the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities software installed, you can use the WD Drive Unlock utility to unlock the drive there. The Drive Unlock utility is on a virtual CD (VCD) drive that appears on your desktop display.

1. Double-click the WD Unlocker VCD icon on your desktop:
   
2. Double-click the WD Drive Unlock application on the screen that displays:
   
   The WD Drive Unlock utility screen displays:
   Note: The displayed capacity on this screen is an example. You will see a displayed capacity that matches your connected drive.
   
3. On the WD Drive Unlock utility screen:
   1. Type your password in thePassword box.
   2. Select theEnable auto unlock for this computer... check box if you want the WD Drive Unlock utility to remember your password on this computer.
   3. ClickUnlock Drive.

Changing Your Password

1. ClickGo > Applications > WD Security to display the WD Security screen.
2. If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the one with the password that you want to change to display the Edit security settings dialog:
   
3. On the Edit security settings dialog, select theChange password option to display the change password dialog:
   
4. On the change password dialog:
   1. Type your current password in theCurrent Password box.
   2. Type your new password in theNew Password box, using up to 25 characters.
   3. Retype your new password in theVerify Password box.
   4. Type a hint to help remember your new password in thePassword Hint box.
   5. Select or clear theEnable auto unlock for this computer... check box to signify whether you want the WD Security software to remember your new password for the selected drive on this computer.
   6. ClickUpdate Security Settings.

Turning Off the Drive Lock Feature

1. ClickGo > Applications > WD Security to display the WD Security screen.
2. If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the one with the password that you want to remove to display the Edit security settings dialog:
   
3. On the Edit security settings dialog, theRemove password option is selected by default:
   1. Type your password in thePassword box.
   2. ClickUpdate Security Settings.

Managing and Customizing the Drive

This chapter includes the following topics:
Checking Drive Health
Erasing the Drive
Registering the Drive
Restoring the WD Software
Turning Off the LED
Safely Disconnecting the Drive

The My Passport Ultra for Mac software makes it easy for you to manage and customize your drive for the best possible performance:

• Diagnose—Run diagnostics and status checks to make sure your drive is working properly.
• Sleep Timer—Reduces power to your drive during extended periods of inactivity to conserve power and extend the life of the drive.
• Drive Erase—Erase all of the data on the drive, including your password if you have set one.
• About—See the installed software version, check for software updates, and register your drive to receive free technical support during the warranty period and find out about product enhancements and price discount opportunities.

Checking Drive Health

The WD Drive Utilities software provides three diagnostic tools to help make sure that your drive is performing well. Run the following tests if you are concerned that your drive is not operating properly:

• Drive status check
  The drive status check is a failure-prediction function that continuously monitors key internal performance attributes of the drive. A detected increase in drive temperature, noise, or read/write errors, for example, can provide an indication that the drive is approaching a serious failure condition. With advanced warning, you could take precautionary measures, like moving your data to another drive, before a failure occurs.
  The result of a drive status check is a pass or fail evaluation of the drive's condition.
• Quick drive test
  Your drive has a built-in Data Lifeguard^™ diagnostic utility that tests the drive for error conditions. The quick drive test checks the drive for major performance problems.
  The result of a quick drive test is a pass or fail evaluation of the drive's condition.
• Complete drive test
  The most comprehensive drive diagnostic is the complete drive test. It tests every sector for error conditions and inserts bad sector markers as required.
  It is best to run the drive diagnostics and status checks on a regular basis, before you encounter any problems with your drive. And, because they are so fast, running the drive status check and the quick drive test provides a high level of assurance with minimal inconvenience. Then, run all three whenever you encounter disk error conditions when writing or accessing files.

1. ClickGo > Applications > WD Drive Utilities to display the WD Drive Utilities screen, Diagnose dialog.
2. If you have more than one supported drive connected to your computer, select the one that you want to check.
3. On the Diagnose dialog, click the button for the test that you want to run:
   • Run Drive Status Check
   • Run Quick Drive Test
   • Run Complete Drive Test

Erasing the Drive

Note: Erasing your drive also deletes the WD software and all of the support files and utilities. You can download these to restore your My Passport Ultra for Mac to its original configuration after erasing the drive.
My Passport Ultra for Mac provides two ways to erase your drive, depending on whether it is locked or not:

Using the Drive Erase Function
To erase your drive when it is not locked:

1. ClickGo > Applications > WD Drive Utilities to display the WD Drive Utilities screen, Diagnose dialog.
2. If you have more than one supported drive connected to your computer, select the one that you want to erase.
3. On the WD Drive Utilities screen, clickDrive Erase to display the drive erase dialog.
4. On the drive erase dialog:
   1. If you want to change the volume name, type over the name in theVolume Name box.
   2. Use the Volume Format selector to specify the format for the new volume, eitherHFS+J or exFAT.
   3. Read the explanation of the loss of data if you erase your drive. If you want to save any of the data that is on the drive, back it up to another device before continuing with the drive erase.
   4. Select theI understand... check box to signify that you accept the risk and activate the Erase Drive button.
   5. ClickErase Drive.

Go to http://support.wdc.com and see Knowledge Base answer ID 7 for information about downloading and restoring the WD software on your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive.
Note: Erasing your drive also removes your password. If you used a password to protect your drive, you will need to re-create it after restoring the WD software. (See Password Protecting the Drive.)

Using Five Invalid Passwords
When you have forgotten or lost your password, you can erase the drive by entering five invalid passwords on the Unlock Drive dialog. See:

• With the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities Software
• With the WD Drive Unlock Utility

1. On the Unlock Drive dialog, make five attempts to unlock the drive by:
   1. Typing a password in the Password box.
   2. Clicking Unlock Drive.
2. Entering the fifth invalid password displays a too many password attempts dialog, depending on the application you used to open the Unlock Drive dialog:
   • Using the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities software
   • Using the WD Drive Unlock utility
3. To erase your drive:
   1. If you are using the WD Security or WD Drive Utilities software and you want to change the volume name, type over the name in the Volume Name box.
   2. Read the explanation about erasing all of the data on the drive and select the I understand check box to indicate that you accept the risk and activate the Erase Drive button.
   3. Click Erase Drive.

Go to http://support.wdc.com and see Knowledge Base answer ID 7 for information about downloading and restoring the WD software on your drive.
Note: Erasing your drive also removes your password. If you still want to use a password to protect your drive, you will need to re-create it after restoring the WD software. (See Password Protecting the Drive.)

Registering the Drive

WD Discovery software uses your computer's Internet connection to register your drive. Registering the drive provides free technical support during the warranty period and keeps you up-to-date on the latest WD products.

1. Make sure that your computer is connected to the Internet.
2. Click theWD Discovery icon.
3. If you have more than one supported drive connected to your computer, select the one that you want to register.
4. Click the Register device button.
5. On the Product Registration screen:
   1. Type your first name in the First Name box.
   2. Type your last name in the Last Name box.
   3. Type your email address in the Email box.
   4. Select your location in the Select a country box.
   5. Select or clear theSubscribe to all emails from WD check box to specify whether you want to receive notifications about software updates, product enhancements, and price discount opportunities.
   6. ClickRegister device.

Restoring the WD Software

In addition to deleting all of the data on your drive, erasing or reformatting the drive also removes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities and online help.
If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD software on your computer, or move the drive to another computer and install the software there, you will need to restore the WD software on your drive. To do this, after you have erased or reformatted the drive, go to http://support.wdc.com and see Knowledge Base answer ID 7.

Restoring the WD Software and Disk Image
In addition to deleting all of the data on your drive, erasing or reformatting the drive also removes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, online help and user manual files.
If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD software on your computer, or move the drive to another computer and install the software there, you will need to restore the WD software and disk image on your drive. To do this, after you have erased or reformatted the drive, go to http://support.wd.com and see Knowledge Base answer ID 7.

Turning Off the LED

The drive LED can be turned off using the WD Drive Utilities software.

1. ClickGo > Applications > WD Drive Utilities to display the WD Drive Utilities screen, Diagnose dialog.
2. ClickSettings.
3. ClickLED to turn the LED off.

Safely Disconnecting the Drive

Windows and Macintosh operating systems have a means for safely disconnecting and removing the drive without turning off the system:

• Windows has a Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon in the system tray which, when used, ensures that all data is flushed from system cache before device removal.
• Mac users can simply drag the drive icon to the trash before disconnecting it.

Managing and Customizing the Software

This chapter includes the following topics:
Checking for Software Updates
Uninstalling the WD Software

Checking for Software Updates

If an update is available, follow the on-screen download and installation instructions:

Uninstalling the WD Software

Use the Finder to uninstall WD software from your computer.

1. ClickGo > Applications.
2. Drag the WD Drive Utilities icon to the trash. Enter your password if prompted.
3. Empty the trash.

Reformatting the Drive

Reformatting the Drive

This chapter includes the following topics:
Reformatting the Drive
Restoring the WD Software
Reformatting the Drive

Restoring the WD Software

After you have reformatted your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive for use on Mac computers, go to http://support.wdc.com and see Knowledge Base answer ID 7 for information about downloading and restoring the Mac versions of the WD Drive Utilities and WD Security software on your My Passport Ultra for Mac drive.
The WD Backup software is not available for Mac computers.

Troubleshooting

This chapter includes the following topics:
Installing, Partitioning, and Formatting the Drive
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have problems installing or using this product, refer to this troubleshooting section or visit our support website at http://support.wdc.com and search our knowledge base for more help.

Installing, Partitioning, and Formatting the Drive

*The FAT32 file system has a maximum individual file size of 4 GB and cannot create partitions larger than 32 GB in Windows. To create partitions larger than 32 GB in FAT32 when reformatting the drive, download the External USB/FireWire FAT32 Formatting Utility from http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=34. Windows users can avoid these size limitations by formatting the drive to exFAT.
For further details, see:

• Answer ID 291 at http://support.wdc.com
• Article IDs 314463 and # 184006 at https://support.microsoft.com
• The appropriate third-party software documentation or support organization

Frequently Asked Questions