WD My Passport not showing up in device manager or anywhere else

[CC49]

WD MY PASSPORT not recognized on device manager or anywhere else. Can't back up my files!

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, CC49!

I'm sorry to hear about your WD My Passport issues. I'd suggest you to try using a different USB cable and try a different USB port on your computer. If that doesn't help, I'd suggest to plug the drive in another PC altogether and check if it get recognized there. Is there any indication of the drive spinning/powering up?
I'd recommend you to check Disk Management afterwards, and see if the external shows up there. If you manage to do so, you can try testing it using WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. Running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests will help us determine the health and SMART status of the WD My Passport. Here's a link to the software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ccbK2C

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[ShogunM]

I have a slightly different problem. My WD passport *used to* work with my laptop and stopped a couple weeks ago. I have since confirmed (several times) that the disk itself works on other computers.

My WD Passport does not show up in Disk Manager, however, I sometimes get an "Unknown USB Device" error showing in Device Manager. I was able to successfully reconnect it once by deleting some of the USB devices in Device Manager, however, I have not been able to replicate that since that time.

Please help!

Welcome to the community, CC49!

I'm sorry to hear about your WD My Passport issues. I'd suggest you to try using a different USB cable and try a different USB port on your computer. If that doesn't help, I'd suggest to plug the drive in another PC altogether and check if it get recognized there. Is there any indication of the drive spinning/powering up?
I'd recommend you to check Disk Management afterwards, and see if the external shows up there. If you manage to do so, you can try testing it using WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics. Running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests will help us determine the health and SMART status of the WD My Passport. Here's a link to the software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ccbK2C

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

I have a slightly different problem. My WD passport *used to* work with my laptop and stopped a couple weeks ago. I have since confirmed (several times) that the disk itself works on other computers.

My WD Passport does not show up in Disk Manager, however, I sometimes get an "Unknown USB Device" error showing in Device Manager. I was able to successfully reconnect it once by deleting some of the USB devices in Device Manager, however, I have not been able to replicate that since that time.

Please help!

Welcome, ShogunM!

I'm sorry to hear that you are encountering such issues with your WD My Passport external drive. I'd suggest you to try connecting it to a different computer and see how it will get recognized there. I'd also advise you to try using a different USB cable and USB port on your computer.
Since the external HDD is detected in Device Manager, I'd recommend you to run the tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. that I've shared in my previous post in this thread. The SMART data results might give us some more details regarding the health of your WD My Passport.

Give these a try and let me know how it goes!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[ShogunM]

Sigh...

Did you read my posting? I said that it works on other computers *fine* (multiple other computers!!!). Done.

I've tried multiple different USB ports on my computer - no dice.

It is NOT detected in Disk Manager - I stated that plainly in my posting, yet you make a recommendation based on it showing up there.

Try again please.

I have a slightly different problem. My WD passport *used to* work with my laptop and stopped a couple weeks ago. I have since confirmed (several times) that the disk itself works on other computers.

My WD Passport does not show up in Disk Manager, however, I sometimes get an "Unknown USB Device" error showing in Device Manager. I was able to successfully reconnect it once by deleting some of the USB devices in Device Manager, however, I have not been able to replicate that since that time.

Please help!

Welcome, ShogunM!

I'm sorry to hear that you are encountering such issues with your WD My Passport external drive. I'd suggest you to try connecting it to a different computer and see how it will get recognized there. I'd also advise you to try using a different USB cable and USB port on your computer.
Since the external HDD is detected in Device Manager, I'd recommend you to run the tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. that I've shared in my previous post in this thread. The SMART data results might give us some more details regarding the health of your WD My Passport.

Give these a try and let me know how it goes!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Sigh...

Did you read my posting? I said that it works on other computers *fine* (multiple other computers!!!). Done.
I've tried multiple different USB ports on my computer - no dice.

It is NOT detected in Disk Manager - I stated that plainly in my posting, yet you make a recommendation based on it showing up there.
Try again please.

Okay, @ShogunM! Sorry for the misunderstanding! I guess the issue is with the drivers on your laptop then.
I'd advise you to go to the laptop manufacturer's website and find your model. Under Support/Downloads, you should be able to find all the hardware drivers available that are compatible with your OS version and model.
Make sure you reinstall the USB drivers manually from there, rather than letting Windows Updates take care of them. Windows has the tendency to install more generic and outdated drivers that are not always compatible with some hardware devices. Have you tried other USB devices on your laptop? Do they get detected?

SuperSoph_WD

 

[ShogunM]

Hello again,

Yes, other devices (keyboards and mice) work fine in all of my ports. It is *only* the WD Disk that has an issue. I have been investigating this myself and I have some more sleuthing to do, however, I may be able to get the drivers off of an identical laptop that we have elsewhere here in the company. Once I get it working again I'll post here for the update.

BTW, I've been working in the "industry" (electronics, computers, software, hardware,and rf design) for a *long* time and have quite a bit of experience with this.

It is just too bad that companies like Microsoft don't have the motto of an old company that used to say, "The quality goes in before the name goes on"... I think that was Sylvania. With Microsoft it is more like "The names goes on, money goes in our pocket, and we let the users be QA people FOR US while they are paying us too!"

Carl

Sigh...

Did you read my posting? I said that it works on other computers *fine* (multiple other computers!!!). Done.
I've tried multiple different USB ports on my computer - no dice.

It is NOT detected in Disk Manager - I stated that plainly in my posting, yet you make a recommendation based on it showing up there.
Try again please.

Okay, @ShogunM! Sorry for the misunderstanding! I guess the issue is with the drivers on your laptop then.
I'd advise you to go to the laptop manufacturer's website and find your model. Under Support/Downloads, you should be able to find all the hardware drivers available that are compatible with your OS version and model.
Make sure you reinstall the USB drivers manually from there, rather than letting Windows Updates take care of them. Windows has the tendency to install more generic and outdated drivers that are not always compatible with some hardware devices. Have you tried other USB devices on your laptop? Do they get detected?

SuperSoph_WD

 

[Kevin_260]

I had this same issue and the above suggestions didnt work. I was able to run command prompt which automatically deleted a few bad files and then everything worked again.

I found this solution here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix13LRGmzk8

You basically just open command prompt from the start menu, then type "chkcsk f/ d:" or whatever drive location you are using instead of d.

I found this by googling "The File Or Directory Is Corrupted Or Unreadable" which was the error message I received when I tried to open the drive.