What's happening
You plug your WD My Passport Ultra into a Mac running Big Sur (11.x). You hear a clicking or ticking sound from the drive — one or two clicks per second. The drive light might flicker or stay solid. But it doesn't show up in Finder, Disk Utility, or even System Profiler. This usually happens right after a Big Sur update (11.2, 11.3, or 11.4 are common triggers), or when you switch to a newer Mac that uses Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports without a powered hub.
Why it clicks
That clicking isn't always a dead drive. In many cases, it's the drive's internal head parking and unparking because it's not getting enough stable power. Big Sur changed how it handles USB power negotiation, especially on Macs with the T2 security chip (2018+ MacBook Pros, iMac Pro, Mac mini 2018). These machines can limit USB port power to 900mA per port unless the connected device explicitly requests more. The My Passport Ultra needs around 1.5A to spin up, but it's only getting ~900mA. The head clicks as it tries to spin, fails, parks, and retries — over and over.
I've also seen this on older Macs (2015-2017) after a Big Sur update where the USB controller driver gets corrupted or conflicts with third-party USB apps like Paragon NTFS or Tuxera.
The fix — step by step
- Use a different USB port — not the same one. Try a port on the opposite side of the Mac. If you're on a MacBook, use the left-side ports — they're usually on a separate USB controller with better power delivery.
- Disconnect everything else from USB. Unplug keyboards, mice, hubs, other drives. Give the WD all the power it can get from the bus.
- Try a powered USB 3.0 hub. This is the single most effective fix. Plug the hub into the Mac, then the WD into the hub. The hub provides its own power (make sure it's a powered hub, not a cheap unpowered one).
- Reset the SMC and NVRAM.
- For Intel Macs with T2 chip: Shut down. Hold down Control+Option+Shift+Power for 7 seconds, release all, then press Power to boot. Then immediately hold Command+Option+P+R for 20 seconds until you hear the second chime.
- For older Intel Macs: Shut down. Hold Control+Option+Shift+Power for 10 seconds, release. Then hold Command+Option+P+R through the first chime, release after the second.
- For Apple Silicon Macs (M1/M2): Just shut down, wait 30 seconds, and boot up. There's no SMC or NVRAM reset on these — the chip handles it automatically.
- Run First Aid in Disk Utility. Launch Disk Utility from Applications > Utilities. See if the drive shows up under External (even if greyed out). If it does, select it and run First Aid. If it doesn't show up at all, skip this — it's a power issue, not a filesystem issue.
- Check for USB driver conflicts. If you have Paragon NTFS, Tuxera, or any third-party USB/disk utility installed, uninstall it temporarily. These drivers can interfere with Big Sur's native USB stack. Reboot after uninstalling.
- Try a different cable. The WD's included cable is notoriously flimsy. Use a short, thick USB 3.0 cable (preferably with a ferrite core). Don't use a USB-C to USB-C cable unless the drive supports it natively — use USB-A to USB-C if possible.
- Test on another Mac or PC. If the drive works on a Windows machine or an older Mac running Catalina, you've confirmed it's a Big Sur compatibility issue. If it still clicks on Windows, the drive's controller or platters are physically damaged — time for data recovery or warranty replacement.
If it still fails
If none of the above works, you're probably looking at a hardware failure. The WD My Passport Ultra has a known issue where the USB bridge board inside the enclosure fails. You can open the case (it's not user-serviceable, but you can crack it open with a spudger) and remove the internal SATA drive. Then connect it directly to a SATA-to-USB adapter. If that works, you've got a dead bridge board — just replace the enclosure. If the drive still clicks and doesn't spin up in a SATA dock, the platters or heads are gone. At that point, professional data recovery is your only option, and it's expensive ($500+).
Also check Apple's System Report (About This Mac > System Report > USB). If the drive shows up there but with a "0 mA" current value, the power negotiation is failing. That confirms the power starvation diagnosis.
One last thing: if you're on macOS 11.3 or later, Apple tightened security requirements for kernel extensions. Some older WD utilities (WD Drive Utilities, WD Security) won't load properly. Uninstall them — they do nothing useful anyway.