On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 6:49 PM, Michael D. Setzer II <mikes@kuentos.guam.net> wrote:
Would be interest to see how gparted sees the existing format, since ntfs
should not be a problem if you have ntfs-3g installed?

gparted isn't seeing anything near as I can tell, hence the request for dmesg info... sounds like some background system work is happening but is getting caught up somewhere.  I agree with fat16/32 limitations especially since the OP is archiving images which can get rather large.  Formatting just seemed easiest as a way to eliminate some possibilities because of fat fs wide acceptance.  If it works, then it was a file system issue and if not then most likely a deeper hardware issue.  If the former then a matter of installing support for the desired fs or format to one that best suits OP's needs.  I am not thinking the latter because a couple articles where the posting OPs' stated they plugged in the drive and the system recognized it including Eddie above; but, technologies change and WD firmware may be conflicting with the OP's system since the are just purchased.  At this point it is just conjecture until we get a better picture.