Western Digital Passport Drive

I am trying to get Vista to recognize my Western Digital Passport 2.0 USB
drive. All I get is the dreaded USB Device not recognized message. I have a
Western Digital My Book hooked up with no problem. I have taken the My Book
off to see if that was the problem but it wasn't. I have searched for drivers
thru Device Manager but it just keeps referring to the drive as unknown
device.

The drive works fine on my other computer running Windows XP. After an hour
on the phone with tech support for Western Digital, they decided I needed the
drivers from Vista.

Has anyone else had a problem? The drive is supposed to work with Vista with
no problem. I have looked for drivers but I'm not seeing them. I'm sure I'm
overlooking them.

Can anyone help me please?

Hi Carol,
I just bought the same drive. Neat package but same problem. Tried it
on a XP laptop and got the same message. Called Western Digital and was
informed that they do not support Vista X64 and, further, it probably
didn't work on the lap top because the USB port did not supply adequate
power. WD is sending me a cable that draws power from 2 USB ports.
Answer not good enough for me. I share your frustration.

If you resolved your problem, please share with me either on this forum

Sorry Dick - haven't come up with an answer yet. I tried to take the drive
back but of coruse couldn't because I had had it for more than 30 days. This
experience has sure soured me on Western Digital. Nothing on the package
indicated it would only work with certain versions of Vista. And to have them
give the answers they have is mind-numbing.

So it looks like I am out bucks. Shame too because I really like the size
and everything about it. Just wished it worked!

I have a 160G WD Passport. When I plug it in the USB connectors on the
face of my PC my Vista wasn't able to identify the HDD.
I plug the device in the USB connectors on the back (are on the MB - no
cable between) and I have no problems.
So in my case was not a problem of Drivers but probably was a problem
with the power over USB.

Note: the HDD works on my laptop w/o problems.

Try one of the following:
1. Identify another USB port and try again
2. by an USB cable with 2 ports: one for power and one for data.

I have a 160G WD Passport. When I plug it in the USB connectors on the
face of my PC my Vista wasn't able to identify the HDD.
I plug the device in the USB connectors on the back (are on the MB - no
cable between) and I have no problems.
So in my case was not a problem of Drivers but probably was a problem
with the power over USB.

Note: the HDD works on my laptop w/o problems.

Try one of the following:
1. Identify another USB port and try again
2. buy an USB cable with 2 ports: one for power and one for data.

[nolboomer]

My computer recognizes the external device but will not install. It keeps asking me to install the drivers which it should not since this is a plug and play device that does not require a driver install. I have been bounced back and forth between WD support and Dell support. Neither can help with this. WD sent me a USB connection device with 2 USB inserts. This does not work either. I even tried Microsoft Support and they send me to Dell. I am totally confused as to what I need to do. I was told however that they WD required 650 milliamps of power to run correctly, which my Dell Dimension 4600 only has 500 miliamps available. Dont know if that is true or not. I even upgraded to XP Service Pack 3 and no dice! If anyone can help I would appreciate it!

Regards

You can get a four port SELF POWERED USB hub for about 12 dollars. This
will provide the needed power instead of your ports. And you can plug other
stuff in.

Before you do, be sure you are connecting the drive to the rear USB ports of
your system. Front ports are often running of an internal hub and have even
less power available. Also, use the cable that came with the drive, and
other than a powered hub, don't use an extension.

[ciprianmp]

I bought my 250Gb Passport (FAT32 formatted) and used it with no problems on Vista. Now that I came back from travelling, I tried to access my passport on my Desktop (XP SP3), so I can share the pictures and movies with my families - so I got the same issue - driver inexistent, drive cannot be installed and accessed.

Well, Dell claims they discovered the issue, but the solution provided is useless. Who would encounter this issue and have the drive empty or an extra drive to backup all the files before mbr converting?
I've tried converting the mbr from Vista anyway as described (XP won't list the drive as it doesn't recognize it yet), but it didn't work. The error says: "The disk you specified is not GPT formatted", whatever GPT means (in 10 years of formatting hundreads of HDDs, it's the first time I hear about GPT).

[rabnet]

I have Western Digital My Passport Essential 160GB
It was working fine on windows Vista SP1.
But when I upgrade to SP2 the problem appeared, my passport is not recognized by the system and when.
I followed Darlock advice about the dual cable and it's working like a Charm.
But I still don't understand why, any way a thousand thanks my friend.