WD Passport blinking light

[cynicaldev]

This is a fairly new hard drive with over 500 gb free space. Windows does not seem to recognize it although, It shows up under device and printers. But it's absent in disk management. The external lights are constantly flashing but in a systematic manner it stops blinking and stay on for a while before restarting the whole process. They're no clicking sounds.

So far I have tried changing the cable, changing the port and trying on another PC but same thing.

Incidentally, this is the third WD Passport. Both of my previous hard drive decided to stop working abruptly and they were fairly new as well. I lost a lot of data both times and I dread this is about to happen again. At this point i'm so furious at WD, I would literally work there and yell at them if I
loved near to their HQ 😡

Edit: It's now showing up under device manager - Disk drives. Still, it's not showing up in my computer nor Disk management.

 

[glamdringfh]

That certainly sounds like a failing drive.

Can you test it with Data Lifeguard or can the diagnostic software not access it at all? http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=VG63bX

If it is still under warranty I suggest getting in touch with WD Support, they might be able to replace the drive for you if it is indeed defective.

If you have critial data on your drive that you need recovered you'll need to look for a professional data recovery company, though this can be expensive.

 

[cynicaldev]

That certainly sounds like a failing drive.

Can you test it with Data Lifeguard or can the diagnostic software not access it at all? http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=VG63bX

If it is still under warranty I suggest getting in touch with WD Support, they might be able to replace the drive for you if it is indeed defective.

If you have critial data on your drive that you need recovered you'll need to look for a professional data recovery company, though this can be expensive.

Data life guard is not recognizing the hard drive. Currently it's showing under disk management but disk is unallocated and not initialized. Shall I try initializing it?

 

[glamdringfh]

NO, if you initlaize it you will lose all the data on the drive.

 

[cynicaldev]

NO, if you initlaize it you will lose all the data on the drive.

It's just showed up under data lifeguard. I'm doing a DLDIAG quick test now.

 

[glamdringfh]

Good to hear, If you can run both the Quick and Extended tests.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there cynicaldev.

I'm truly sorry for the unfortunate experience you've been having with your drives. 🙁
As @glamdringfh has mentioned, this sounds like there's something wrong with the drive, but I'd advise against checking the drive with DLG or any other diagnostics tool, at least for now. This is because whenever you have data to recover, the more you use a hard drive, the greater is the chance of further damaging it if there's a mechanical fault and running extensive tests and scans would not help with that.
I'd recommend that you try accessing the drive via Ubuntu Live USB/DVD, to see if you're able to get to your files, or try data recovery software:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm
Another option would be a professional solution, such as a data recovery company: WD Data Recovery Partners

Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[cynicaldev]

Good to hear, If you can run both the Quick and Extended tests.

I just did the quick test and the result came out as "Pass." Still thought, it's unallocated. Does this mean the only option I have is re-intialize the disk and loose all the data? I'm not sure I'll be doing extended test because estimated time remaining for the test is over 40 hours and still increasing.

 

[glamdringfh]

I think your best bet now would be to do what Boogieman has suggested above. He's an Official WD Rep and will be able to guide you from here.

Good luck, I sincerely hope you're able to recover you data. My fingers are crossed for you!

 

[cynicaldev]

This is so frustrating. If I were to do that I'm gonna have to download Ubuntu as well.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

I know how it is. I've been there myself and I understand how frustrating it can get. But in my opinion you should try out each option if there's even the slightest chance of getting your data back. Here's a link on how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows and here's where you can download it from: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
The Ubuntu option is because sometimes if the partition is corrupted or not recognizable by Windows, it might be properly recognized by the Linux based OS and hopefully let you access the drive and retrieve your files.

Please keep me posted on you progress. I will try to help with whatever advice I can in order for you to resolve this.

 

[cynicaldev]

I know how it is. I've been there myself and I understand how frustrating it can get. But in my opinion you should try out each option if there's even the slightest chance of getting your data back. Here's a link on how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows and here's where you can download it from: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
The Ubuntu option is because sometimes if the partition is corrupted or not recognizable by Windows, it might be properly recognized by the Linux based OS and hopefully let you access the drive and retrieve your files.

Please keep me posted on you progress. I will try to help with whatever advice I can in order for you to resolve this.

Thank you! I would try your advice and let you know the outcome.

 

[cynicaldev]

I know how it is. I've been there myself and I understand how frustrating it can get. But in my opinion you should try out each option if there's even the slightest chance of getting your data back. Here's a link on how to create a bootable USB flash drive with Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows and here's where you can download it from: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
The Ubuntu option is because sometimes if the partition is corrupted or not recognizable by Windows, it might be properly recognized by the Linux based OS and hopefully let you access the drive and retrieve your files.

Please keep me posted on you progress. I will try to help with whatever advice I can in order for you to resolve this.

I tried it but no avail. I used an USB to boot Ubuntu.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

That's a bummer to say the least. 🙁

You could still try the data recovery options from my first post. I'd recommend that you go for the ones in tomshardware's thread first, to see if you have any luck with any of them. Unfortunately if that doesn't prove useful or any other data recovery software option, you'd probably have to go for a data recovery company 🙁

 

[cynicaldev]

That's a bummer to say the least. 🙁

You could still try the data recovery options from my first post. I'd recommend that you go for the ones in tomshardware's thread first, to see if you have any luck with any of them. Unfortunately if that doesn't prove useful or any other data recovery software option, you'd probably have to go for a data recovery company 🙁

I spent a lot of hours messing around with this hard drive today. But nothing worked and at one point I tried to disassemble it but gave up and decided to carry on with my only option; allocation. But, when I plug the hard drive it didn't show up in device management, so I decided to leave it and go take a shower. And, when I came back the unexpected happened. The hard disk was showing up in my computer and it functioned quite normally. I was able to write data in normal speed. I literally have no idea what went wrong but i'm glad it's functioning. I think I better move all the data form the hard drive before it does something appalling again.

 

[glamdringfh]

Wow, glad to hear it came back to life for you. And yes, get any data you can off that drive ASAP!

 

[mjslakeridge]

Glad you got it to work. I use my external drives only for backup or data transfer, meaning the files exist somewhere else. Important files get backed up to a third device.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

That's a bummer to say the least. 🙁

You could still try the data recovery options from my first post. I'd recommend that you go for the ones in tomshardware's thread first, to see if you have any luck with any of them. Unfortunately if that doesn't prove useful or any other data recovery software option, you'd probably have to go for a data recovery company 🙁

I spent a lot of hours messing around with this hard drive today. But nothing worked and at one point I tried to disassemble it but gave up and decided to carry on with my only option; allocation. But, when I plug the hard drive it didn't show up in device management, so I decided to leave it and go take a shower. And, when I came back the unexpected happened. The hard disk was showing up in my computer and it functioned quite normally. I was able to write data in normal speed. I literally have no idea what went wrong but i'm glad it's functioning. I think I better move all the data form the hard drive before it does something appalling again.

Well that's a pretty fortunate turn of events. As the guys have suggested and you've probably already done, taking the data out of that drive is essential. After that, it would be a good time to run both DLG tests (the Quick test again and the Extended as well), to see what's the situation with the drive. Here's a link on how to do that: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows

Please let me know what are the results of the tests afterwards.

 

[kannan_3]

never ever buy WD passport wireless, Buy normal hard disk which works better then WD. This has several issues