MY PASSPORT ESSENTIAL AND ESSENTIAL SE
USER MANUAL
ABOUT YOUR WD DRIVE
– 3
Operating System Compatibility
Your My Passport Essential or Essential SE drive and the WD SmartWare 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 Windows computers, go to the
Start
menu and select
Windows Update
.
For Mac computers, go to the
Apple
menu and select
Software Update
.
Disk Drive Format
Your My Passport Essential or Essential SE drive is preformatted as a single NTFS
partition for compatibility with all updated Windows operating systems. If you want to
use the drive with a Mac computer, see “Reformatting the Drive” on page 41 and
“Troubleshooting” on page 54.
Physical Description
As shown in Figure 2, the My Passport Essential and Essential SE drives have:
• A power/activity LED indicator
• A USB 3.0 interface port
Power/Activity LED
The power/activity LED shows the drive’s power state as follows:
Windows
®
Mac
®
OS X
®
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
®
• Windows 7
• Leopard
®
• Snow Leopard
™
Figure 2. My Passport Essential and Essential SE Drive
LED Appearance
Power State/Activity
On steady
Idle
Fast flashing, approximately 3 times per second
Activity
Slow flashing, approximately every 2.5 seconds
System standby
USB 3.0 Interface Port
Power/Activity LED
