Passport Drive not seen at all - windows 8.1

A few weeks ago, my passport 1TB drive stopped being visible to my laptop, running W 8.1. I’ve also tried it out on an alternate computer running windows 7, and same issue. None of the WD software recognizes any drive connected when it is plugged into the USB. Prior to failure, the unit was making a regular, periodic high pitched beep. Now it has just “gone dark”.

Any ideas on how to recover the drive - lots of pictures and such on it that I’d like to recover.

Thanks

Welcome to the Community. Sorry to hear you cannot access your files. Be sure to use the USB cable that came bundled with the Passport, also avoid using USB hubs since these can cause power inconsistencies. If the problem continues, I recommend you to contact support directly. 

http://support.wdc.com/country/index.asp