WD MyPassport SE no longer working (WDBACX0010BBK-00) dropped and now inaccessible on computer

[dantheman2]

Yesterday I dropped my 1TB WD MyPassport external USB3.0 hard drive (P/N: WDBACX0010BBK-00), which is SATA3. It was already a couple of years old and needed replacing soon but just as I was backing it up tonight, it died on me. Wont appear in My Computer, Disk Management or Disk Utility on mac. When plugged in it still lights up and spins but is only idling and doesn't flash and spin up faster like it normally does when first attached to a computer. No clicking happening at all, the disk just fires up and idles at the same speed.

There is suggestion on the web that the unfortunate setup of the direct USB attachment to the board as seen in the picture below could be the cause for a lot of problems:
http://http://screencast.com/t/hTwqZaCeiO6J

As you can see from that image, the Micro USB interface is soldered straight onto the board and hence the drive can't simply be plugged in through a SATA connecter in a PC. However, I think if this was able to be done, the data would be available no worries simply through My Computer as usual. The head doesn't sound like it is cracked and the drive is spinning fine, and the power is reaching the drive via the USB it's just that the data isn't processing properly. Other promising signs include that it is appearing in the 'Safely Remove Hardware' section in the bottom right corner of the desktop as 'MyPassport 0730" but the USB interface isn't installing properly. All of these signs is pointing to a connection issue to me, but I am no expert.

Without forking out the $$$ to send it to a specialist data recovery person I want to try and ascertain if the data can be obtained before expensive recovery techniques.

Any help or expertise in the area would be greatly appreciated! And if you think it's time to send it for professional recovery, how much should I be getting charged for such a job? Approx 400gb of data on the drive.
Thanks

 

[bambiboom]

dantheman,

I sympathise completely with your problems with a Western Digital Passport. I have a 320GB SATA II Passport that has been a constant worry since it was about a year old. This one was seconds away from the rubbish bin more than once. We are not alone, the problem with the Passport and other 2.5" external drives is obvious by the proportion of negative user comments on sales sites.

And I'll mention my history with the Passport because the dropping may or may not be related to the drive not reading- my Passport acted the ways yours is doing almost the entire time I've had it.

Unfortunately, I can offer only sympathy and not any exact advice as I could never determine the problem with it's disappearing act- it just would show up as empty, not at all, or only one partition would read, and so on. I didn't run this often, only when backing up or making a large transfer to another system. The thing that worked most consistently was that after I tried all the USB ports on the Dell Precision T5400 was that the drive would suddenly read- but of the eight USB ports on the T5400- it works on only one port. I had read that the best chance for this to work was to start with the back USB port closest to the motherboard- I suppose as a method, but in my case, the port that works consistently- for now- is one of the two front ports.

I think there is also something going on with the timing of it's use. I had- counter-intuitively- better luck when plugging the Passport in with the system fully running, rather than connected before starting. That may have to do with all drivers being fully loaded and the USB device detection being triggered after everything is stable.

Sorry, this vague, conjectural, and trial and error, and not related to the dropping aspect, but that is what worked in my case.

Because I can't trust this drive, and my ancient Seagate 160GB 3.5" USB drive has never faltered once, I am receiving in the next couple of days >

1. StarTech.com 3.5in SuperSpeed USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Enclosure w/ Fan > $39.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003F5NS9W/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2. WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

> Note the Star Tech enclosure has a power switch and switchable fan- and a much higher proportion of satisfied users than any 2.5" USB external drive. Like the Seagate 160GB, I will only run this drive when backing up. The new WD Blue, with it's single 1TB platter is measured as fast in some parameters as the WD Black.

Good luck and I'd be interested to learn what happens with your Passport - your "Passport to digital Hell"!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. Dell Precision T5400 (2009)> 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16 GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 / Segt Brcda 500GB > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > HP 2711x 27" 1920 x 1080 > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office > architecture, industrial design, graphic design, rendering, writing

2. HP z420 (2013)> Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.9GHz > 24GB ECC RAM > Quadro 4000 > Samsung 840 SSD 250GB / Seagate Barracuda 1TB > Windows 7 Professional 64 > to be loaded > AutoCad, Revit, Inventor, 3ds Max, Solidworks 2010, Adobe CS4, Corel Technical Design X-5, Sketchup Pro, WordP Office X-4, MS Office 2007