How do I get my WD "My Passport" drive to work with a MacBook Air running Mac OS Big Sur v 11.6.7?

Thanks again, John, I agree with your assessment.

I'll just erase the drive and start from scratch (and not install the WD software). That should resolve the drive issue.

Appreciate your expertise and input.

Thanks for helping, John. Tried this but keep getting the message to contact the supplier. Seems that the WD SmartWare on the drive is 32 bit and my MacBook Air software is 64 bit. Maybe that's the issue. However, I can't seem to locate the supplier, so maybe I need to be on the WD site?

Thanks again. I'll delete (trash) the software and just let Finder look for the drive.