WD My Passport clicking, will USB to SATA adapter work?

[Alexander_92]

Hello there, my Western Digital My Passport started clicking (disk management shows "not initialized," not showing up in "my computer") a little while ago and I was wondering, since their is no SATA port on the HD only USB, would a USB to SATA cable work and allow me to connect it to my motherboard and recover the files? Has anybody tried this with My Passports? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[R2D2_WD]

Hi Alexander_92,

I am sorry for any inconveniency caused by your WD My Passport drive. Unfortunately, clicking sounds may indicate a physical issue with the drive. They may refer to actuator or arm damage; it is really hard to tell what is going on with the drive.
I fear that these kinds of issues are not repairable. Trying another connection type is a good decision but it may not work, because this may not be a connectivity issue, but a mechanical problem.
I would recommend you to test the drive on another PC and with another USB cable. Sometimes, if a drive cannot get enough power, it starts to make beeping or clicking sounds. In most of the cases this is caused by a faulty cable or USB port.
If the hard drive is about to fail, but is still running, you may try to connect it to a Linux PC and try to recover the data. If you do not have access to a Linux PC, try using a Linux Live CD.

Hope this helps