'My Passport' hard drive "location is not available" HELP please!

islandmom

Commendable
Aug 6, 2016
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Please help, all my family photos and videos are not working : ( Let me start by saying I am NOT tech savy, just a typical mom trying to organize thousands of kids videos and photos!

I have been using a WD "My Passport Ultra" for years now - when I run out of space on my laptop, I transfer the files to the hard drive. I have been able to view all the photos and videos on the hard drive without issue - until yesterday.

I did one of my usual transfers and all of a sudden I got a message that said "Location is not available, The device is not ready". I tried to eject the hard drive and got a message "Windows is unable to stop the USB Mass Storage device". The message said to close programs and then unplug it, so I did. I then re-connected the device and while I can see it come up and I can see all my folders inside, if I click a folder to view the contents I get the same message: "Location is not available, The device is not ready". I was able to open ONE folder successfully but none of the videos work and the photos won't come up (if I click them I get nothing but black". I am afraid something happened and everything is now corrupt.

Please tell me if there is anything I can do to fix the hard drive/recover everything. I am devastated!! I did have SOME of the files backed up to my OneDrive, but not all of them (as I only learned how to use OneDrive recently).
 
G

Guest

Guest
I have the same external drive, are you able to try this drive on another computer or at a friends house? If yes, do you get the same message or not?
 
Hey there & welcome, @islandmom!

Sorry to hear about your issues with the WD My Passport! I'd second what @jftasse suggested and advise you check how the external drive would should up if you connect it to another computer/laptop. If this error only pops in your computer, you should try some of the fixes suggested here and take ownership of the WD Passport in Windows.

I'd also suggest you go to Disk Management and see how the drive appears there. Taking some screenshots/pics from there would be really helpful to us.

Keep us posted with the troubleshooting. Feel free to ask more questions, we are here to help! :)
SuperSoph_WD