My "My Passport Essential 0730" 320GB external HDD isn't being displayed in my computer in my PC

Hi all, can anyone please help me on this.

My HDD is not being displayed in my computer as well as disk management and every time I plugin my HDD even after  a second of unplugging it, I need to reinstall the driver.

The HDD is detected by the device manager as well as the Safely removal Hardware console but no other info of the HDD is displayed.

I reinstalled the driver several times and  downloaded the driver from the official WD Website but still the problem remains the same.

The LED present on the drive remains ON and do not flicker during the whole session of plugging it in.

I tried different things present on the web to make it work but recieved no Positive response from the HDD.

I also tried the HDD scan And HDD Sentinel software but the device was detected in both of them but no other info rather than common info was displayed in the report.

Here is the report of HDD sentinel software.

– Physical Disk Information - Disk: #1: WD      My Passport 0730 –

Hard Disk Summary

Hard Disk Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : USB
Vendor Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : VID: 1058, PID: 0730
Hard Disk Model ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : WD My Passport 0730
Firmware Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1008
Hard Disk Serial Number . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0730S0123456789A
Total Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2097151 MB
Power State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Active
Current Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? (Unknown)
Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? (Unknown)

Properties

Vendor Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : OK
Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 6 [04C0]
Device Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Disk
ASC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0
ASCQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0

SCSI Information

Removable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Failure Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Failure Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Disabled

Transfer Rate Information

Total Data Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB, 0 MB since installation (8/4/2012)
Total Data Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB, 0 MB since installation
Average Reads Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.00 MB
Average Writes Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.00 MB
Current Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Maximum Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Read Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Write Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Disk Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 %

 I also tried the USB device viewer software and it showed the following result.

—===>Device Information<===—
English product name: “My Passport 0730”

ConnectionStatus:
Current Config Value: 0x01 → Device Bus Speed: Full
Device Address: 0x04
Open Pipes: 2

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x84 → Direction: IN - EndpointID: 4
bmAttributes: 0x02 → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0040 = 0x40 bytes
bInterval: 0x00

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x03 → Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 3
bmAttributes: 0x02 → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0040 = 0x40 bytes
bInterval: 0x00

===>Device Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x12
bDescriptorType: 0x01
bcdUSB: 0x0210
bDeviceClass: 0x00 → This is an Interface Class Defined Device
bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
bMaxPacketSize0: 0x40 = (64) Bytes
idVendor: 0x1058 = Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
idProduct: 0x0730
bcdDevice: 0x1008
iManufacturer: 0x01
English (United States) “Western Digital”
iProduct: 0x02
English (United States) “My Passport 0730”
iSerialNumber: 0x03
English (United States) “06AE5D8D06AE5EBB”
bNumConfigurations: 0x01

===>Configuration Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x09
bDescriptorType: 0x02
wTotalLength: 0x0020 → Validated
bNumInterfaces: 0x01
bConfigurationValue: 0x01
iConfiguration: 0x00
bmAttributes: 0x80 → Bus Powered
MaxPower: 0xFA = 500 mA

===>Interface Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x09
bDescriptorType: 0x04
bInterfaceNumber: 0x00
bAlternateSetting: 0x00
bNumEndpoints: 0x02
bInterfaceClass: 0x08 → This is a Mass Storage USB Device Interface Class
bInterfaceSubClass: 0x06
bInterfaceProtocol: 0x50
iInterface: 0x00

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x84 → Direction: IN - EndpointID: 4
bmAttributes: 0x02 → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0040 = 0x40 bytes
bInterval: 0x00

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x03 → Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 3
bmAttributes: 0x02 → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0040 = 0x40 bytes
bInterval: 0x00

Try running a test with DLG.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940/session/L3RpbWUvMTM0NDI3ODg0OS9zaWQvUE5raGkxM2w%3D

Your HDD is reporting a capacity of 2097151MB. That’s 2TB. AIUI, this is a symptom of an internal problem with the HDD.

The text string , “06AE5D8D06AE5EBB”, is not a regular WD serial number, either.

So it appears that your computer is communicating with the bridge IC in the enclosure, but the bridge IC appears not to be communicating with the HDD.

If the bridge ic is not communicating with the HDD so what should I do now.

I’m not a data recovery professional, but if the HDD has an internal problem, then there’s not much that you can do. :frowning:

I was hoping that HD Sentinel or HDDScan would be able to see the HDD’s model number, eg WD320xxxx, but it appears that the drive is not reporting this information.

Here are two examples of good drives:
http://hardverapro.hu/apro/wd_my_passport_kulso_2_5_250gb/hsz_2-2.html (250GB My Passport)
http://www.emag.ro/hdd-extern-western-digital-elements-1-5tb-3-5-5400rpm-usb-2-0-negru-wdbaau0015hbk/pd/EBJP7BBBM/ (1.5TB My Book Elements)

The following example is of a bad drive with a firmware problem. The HDD is communicating with the bridge IC, but it is reporting a “factory alias” rather than its correct model number. It is also reporting an incorrect capacity.

http://puhpol.0pk.ru/viewtopic.php?id=171

Here are apparently good examples for other models and manufacturers:

http://www.intercon.hu/vatera/samsung_g3.txt
http://ebay.stephenemert.com/ebay/F30E20AC.txt
http://ebay.stephenemert.com/ebay/YFDYFHD6452.txt
http://ebay.stephenemert.com/ebay/E124W67E.txt
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/crawl_message?board.id=ata_drives&message.id=26098
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f16/hard-drive-failure-637224.html
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=18965.0;attach=10250
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/so-one-usb-port-not-equal-other-usb-port-t3978656.html
http://homenet.beeline.ru/index.php?showtopic=265386
http://hardwarebg.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-200639.html
http://skodamea.ro/forum/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=421&p=6676
http://spb-device.livejournal.com/12016802.html