WD My Passport 1TB randomly stopped working

[Tinku-Jia]

I am confused with issue with Western Digital Passport 1TB External drive. This was fine working but it stops in between. I though this might be issue related to power of connectivity. Now just noticed that my laptop is not at all detecting this drive. I had purchased this for backup purpose and now everything is gone. I had stored lots of data in that, and really does not want to loose it. I am looking for working solution that I can try here to troubleshoot this issue. Any suggestions on the same will be appreciated.

[chuck28]

After going through the problem of yours I am suggesting below mentioned solution that you should try.

• Connect your external hard drive to computer by using USB cable.
• Click on Start and click on search programs and files and enter ‘diskmgmt.msc’ .
• It would display all the hard drives that are connected with computer.
• Now you should select the hard drive which is detected as an external hard drive. right click on and mark the same as active.

[Yistor]

Well I am highly suspecting that file system on hard drive is damaged to due to some reason. The most simple solution that I can tell you that you should reformat your hard drive. I warn you that all the data from the hard drive would be deleted if you reformat it. I am hoping that you are having backup of the hard drive data. You can give try here TestDisk application. It will let you know that it’s a kind of recovery application that can be used to repair and recover the data stored on the hard drive.

[Pinlunk]

Consider following thing and see whether it helps you out.

1. You should download and install Data LifeGuard Diagnostics from the official website.
2. First of all you should extract and run WinDlg.exe.
3. From Main screen you will get couple of windows. All the drives available on your system should be displayed on top of the window. partition information should be displayed for selected window on bottom hard drive.
4. Now select desired hard drive to test the same. it would prompt you to select any of below mentioned options.
   
   • Quick Test it would do SMART drive quick self-test and get all information regarding Data Lifeguard
   • Extended Test it would scan entire drive to detect bad sectors. It might take several hours to complete.
   • Write Zeros by doing this you will lost all File system and data.
   • View Test Result it will show you the test results.
5. After completing the test you will be prompted pass or fail message.

[Roey]

I am wondering that your hard drive is partially or completely died. It would be great if you are able to back up all the data. See that whether your hard drive is having warranty or not. As far as I know External drives are having short warranty period as compared to internal hard drive. in case you are having warranty of the hard drive then you should claim for the same, but there is no guarantee for the data restore.