WD My Passport Ultra 1tb device not recognized

[KEC18]

Hey guys!

I have been using a WD My Passport 1TB USB Portable for almost 2-3 months now. I am currently in college so I have A LOT of school files and document stored in it. Earlier while i was doing some school stuff. My device suddenly stopped working, then I replugged it several times and my Laptop just coudn't recognize it. Im using Windows 8.1 btw.

Please help? any suggestions or solutions would be great. I just want to access my files and save the drive. I would prefer solving this technically, without having to replace the drive. Thanks in advance!

 

[Lacie Lei]

My Ultra is recognized in devices and printers as working properly. Its listed in Device manager but the usb port has a question mark by it. Ive changed it to all the different usb ports. I looked in Disk management like you described above, and it doesnt show there.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hi Lacie.

The question mark most probably means that there's an issue with the OS trying to recognize the device. That mean's that there might be an issue with the driver isntalled for the device in questions (a hard drive in this case). Would you please click with the right-mouse button on that device and select "Properties", then let me know what it says there (in the tab "General").
Also try the HDD with a different computer and a different USB cable to see if the same thing happens.

Please keep me posted.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Ahmad Talal]

Hi guys,
I had this problem. However, in my case the solution was odd. My drive had been put in storage for 5 months. It was working when I put it away but when I took it out and tried to get some files off it it wouldn't work. Drive showed up in Device Manager - but not in Disk Management. Computer made the "connecting" tone when connecting it but it wouldn't work at all. Tried it with 3 computers - same symptom. Drive sounded like it was working but was "clicking softly". I thought that the drive was faulty and was ready to bin it but none of this made sense...

Out of sheer desperation, I tried the 12V power supply from one of my Lacie drives. Voila! Everything suddenly worked!

I measured the WD power supply under load and off load and my measurements said that it was delivering 12V so it's a real mystery. If I re-connect my WD supply it won't work. Looks like the supply can't deliver enough current for the drive. Since this was a very odd fault I thought it might help someone out. Hope it does. It solved my problem. Glad it did. I had important files on the drive!

I have no idea how the 12V cable work here. Kindly elaborate. I am having the same problem..

 

[jasky311]

Hi Guys,

Chiming in as my WD My Passport Ultra 1tb has suddenly started to malfunction. Quick back story is that I was standing with my iPhone in hand over my desk, phone slips out of hand and falls into the drive (only a distance of a foot). Either way not the drive is worrying me as I can only seem to view items on the drive and any attempt to move / copy / and or open a file to work on it yields a "freeze" of the drive (best way i can describe it). I have two passports so I swapped the cables but that didn't fix the problem. Now I am attempting to test out simply copying some files off the affected drive onto the hard disk in my laptop but the process is almost impossible as the files and coming through extremely slowly (the drive will sit at 0 bytes/s for minutes at a time and then spike up to proper writing speed only for a few second.. a job of copying amount of 113gb of data shows as a "more than one day" execution. Any insight greatly appreciated!

 

[Mojomaco02]

Hey boggieman I have the same problem with my passport and it is making these weird "teek" sounds. It doesn't work on my tv. Any advice would help.
Thanks
I.S.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey guys.

First, sorry to @jasky311 for not answering sooner, I guess I got mixed up due to the numerous posts in the thread, I apologies.

@jasky311, as you've described the situation, it sounds like you might have damaged the drive, especially if you've dropped your phone on it while it was working (even from just a foot height). If this is the case, I guess you should go for the standard data recovery options: Ubuntu Live USB and/or data recovery programs (https://www.lifewire.com/free-data-recovery-software-tools-2622893). If that doesn't help you could always try a professional solution: WD Data Recovery PArtners.

Let me know how it goes or if you've managed to recover the data by now. Good luck!

@Mojomaco02, is the drive still recognized when you connect it to a computer? If "yes", would you be so kind as to post a screenshot of what you see there? Here's how to open Disk Management: How to access Disk Management in Windows. Do you have data which you need to recover from it?

Basically at this point, if you don't have important data which you'd like to retrieve from that drive, I'd advise you to download DLG (Data Lifeguard) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see what's the situation with the drive. Here's how to do it: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows. You could also give it a try with a different USB cable, to see if the same thing happens.

If you need to recover data, you could follow the suggestions I wrote above (for @jasky311's case).

Also, here's an article on different sounds/noises a drive can make, to see if you'd recognize the one you're talking about: How to tell if the noise or sound the drive is making is normal.

Please keep me posted.
Boogieman_WD