Problems with my hard drive.

[bobbytoskey]

I'm sorry if the same question has already been asked (and answered) elsewhere, but I couldn't find anything that quite matched my problem.

I just purchased my fifth 2tb WD My Passport Ultra and I'm not sure if there is something wrong with it or if I'm doing something incorrectly. I use the hard drives for video storage that I can watch on my tv.

The new hard drive will show up on both my pcs, but not on my Iomega media player, Sony video streamer or when I connect it directly to either of my tvs. My 4 other passports work on all these devices.

I feel like I must be doing something wrong since it works on my computers, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the TH community, Bobby!

It is possible that your media player and video streamer might be supporting a different file system. You should check this out in their product specifications (or in the manuals). You are most probably able to see the content on the WD My Passport on all PCs due to the fact that it has an NTFS file system. However, not all devices support this particular Windows-specific file system. You might be required to re-format the external HDD and use the exFAT or FAT32 file system. You should keep in mind that this procedure will erase all the data you have on that WD My Passport drive, so make sure you have it backed up elsewhere before proceeding.

Another important thing you should take into consideration is the fact that the exFAT/FAT32 file systems have some limitations when it comes to massive media storage.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[bobbytoskey]

Welcome to the TH community, Bobby!

It is possible that your media player and video streamer might be supporting a different file system. You should check this out in their product specifications (or in the manuals). You are most probably able to see the content on the WD My Passport on all PCs due to the fact that it has an NTFS file system. However, not all devices support this particular Windows-specific file system. You might be required to re-format the external HDD and use the exFAT or FAT32 file system. You should keep in mind that this procedure will erase all the data you have on that WD My Passport drive, so make sure you have it backed up elsewhere before proceeding.

Another important thing you should take into consideration is the fact that the exFAT/FAT32 file systems have some limitations when it comes to massive media storage.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Thank you, SuperSoph

I don't think that is the problem as all my other hard drives use the NTFS file system also.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Thank you, SuperSoph

I don't think that is the problem as all my other hard drives use the NTFS file system also.

I see. 🙁 Have you tried swapping the USB cables from one of the other WD My Passport external HDDs then? It is possible that the cable is malfunctioning and that's why you are unable to detect the hard drive on these devices.
You can still try to reformat it through Disk Management , once you back up your files & then and transfer them back to it. Afterwards, attempt to connect the WD My Passport on your media player and video streamer once again. Hopefully, this time, you'd be able to get the drive detected.

Keep me posted.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[bobbytoskey]

Thank you, SuperSoph

I don't think that is the problem as all my other hard drives use the NTFS file system also.

I see. 🙁 Have you tried swapping the USB cables from one of the other WD My Passport external HDDs then? It is possible that the cable is malfunctioning and that's why you are unable to detect the hard drive on these devices.
You can still try to reformat it through Disk Management , once you back up your files & then and transfer them back to it. Afterwards, attempt to connect the WD My Passport on your media player and video streamer once again. Hopefully, this time, you'd be able to get the drive detected.

Keep me posted.
SuperSoph_WD

I've actually tried all of those. It's not looking good.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

I've actually tried all of those. It's not looking good.

Hello again, Bobby!

I'd recommend you to run the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows in order to determine the health and SMART status of this WD My Passport external drive.

If there are still issues with its detection even after several re-formatting procedures, you should definitely get in touch with our Customer Support and let them know about it. 🙁

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[bobbytoskey]

I've actually tried all of those. It's not looking good.

Hello again, Bobby!

I'd recommend you to run the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows in order to determine the health and SMART status of this WD My Passport external drive.

If there are still issues with its detection even after several re-formatting procedures, you should definitely get in touch with our Customer Support and let them know about it. 🙁

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Thanks.

I tried the Drive Status Check and it passed.

The Quick Drive Test passed.

I tried the Complete Drive Test several times and it has failed ever time, but always at different points.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Thanks.

I tried the Drive Status Check and it passed.

The Quick Drive Test passed.

I tried the Complete Drive Test several times and it has failed ever time, but always at different points.

This is very unfortunate, Bobby! I'd strongly recommend you to backup your data from the WD My Passport and check its warranty on our website. If it's still covered, get in touch with our Customer Support. You should be able to send an RMA request and get a replacement from us.

Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[buck5000]

If you want my take on your situation go look at my post back here : http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3022162/passport-ultra-showing-media-player.html
I would bet money that your problem is that WD now is shipping at least some of their Hard Drives formatted with the newer GPT (GUID Partition Table) instead of the older MBR (Master Boot Record) partitioning system, which their older My Passport 2TB models used to come with from the factory.
My older hardware-based players wouldn't see the new WD hard drive until I went into Disk Management and deleted the existing Volume and converted to MBR before reformatting.