Suggestion

t I have a suggestion for anyone who has a portable HD.

Don’t you ever dare use it to unload data in order to make more room on your hard drive.

For some reason it’s only to be used to COPY data, not MOVE data. If you move data, you’re screwed!

I moved all sorts of videos and stuff that took up a lot of my HD space.  The next day my passport failed.

 I’m not sure, but does WD have some sort of warning when installing the software/hardware that says your Passport might fail and you’ll lose everything on it, without warning?

Any drive can fail no matter who makes it internal or external. That’s why you need a backup that is 2 copies in different drives. Sadly you found that out the hardway.

Joe

I wasn’t using it as a backup Joe. I was using it for storage.

But lets use your example, what if I backed up my data to two different Passports. Would this satisfy your example of a proper backup?  What if both Passports failed? Certainly that’s not impossible since mine failed. You keep mentioning “you need a backup that is 2 copies in different drives” on other posts. Well that doesn’t make much sense since two different drives can fail.

 I found out the hard way??  I think I found out because your product failed spectacularly. You’re blaming ME, for YOUR product failing?  I lost stuff that can’t be replaced and you make it seem like it’s my fault?

Any drive can fail for a lot of reasons. It’s unlikely both drives will fail at the same time unless there is a disaster like a lightening strike. Theses forums  are full of people who did the same thing you did. If you look at Seagate forums you will probably see the same there. You didn’t post any usefull details about the problem with the drive. If the drive still shows in Disk Management you might be able to recover files with software. Did you look for hidden files? You might be able to fix the problem if somebody here can identify it.  This is just a users forum only the modrators are WD employees. When I want to free up disk space I copy it and make sure it’s OK then delete it to make space.

Joe

Hey Joe,

 I didn’t supply much information because there wasn’t any information. I called your support line and I had someone remote in and while my drive did show up under disk management, they ran some diagnostics and it failed.  They told me that I’m pretty much screwed.

 The issue that I have is that I bought this product in good faith and assumed that it would work as it should. I wasn’t told or suggested that I should make multiple copies, or do testing to make sure that my storage drive is OK, before deleting anything (how could you verify that?). I simply moved a ton of data to this drive and it died without warning, without any error messages, and now everything is gone.  What else could I have done?

 I don’t know, but maybe you have a disclaimer that the Passport might fail without warning?  Do you?

 I’m not upset with you, but you have to understand my situation, right?

Hey Joe,

 Come to think of it, the last thing I did with my Passport was to hide some folders because I was going to use it on a co-workers computer.  You did mention in a previous post about hidden files?  Is this a known issue? Is it because I marked some files as hidden that caused my Passport to fail?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Dan

I understand your frustration on lost data. I don’t work for WD this is just a user’s forum the only WD employees here are the moderators. Most of us regular posters here have learned about lost data the hard way. When I need to free up HD space I copy the files then go an open them before deleting the origonal. It doesn’t take that long ot open and close files for a quick look. My personal choice is not to use a USB powered drive. Many computer makers use a barely adequet power supply and it doesn’t take much of a voltage drop to cause a problem with USB powered drives. Also I don’t look at USB connectors as the best idea for portable devices. They are pretty flimsy in my opinion. Look at a headphone jack for comparison. The big thing to remember is any device can and does fail. Hard drives internal and external, CDs,DVDs, flash drives, floppy disks. The drive died is pretty vague do you still have it? 

Joe

Joe, check out my earlier post. I think we have a clue here. The last thing I did was mark some folders as hidden.

I’m pretty sure that this is what caused the problem. I did see some other posts regarding this. I have a case open with support (or so I hope).  If marking folders cause the Passport to fail, then it can’t be user error, but an issue with the HD?

Thanks for your help.  I think we’re on the right path here. It HAS to be an issue with HIDDEN FILES.

Marking the files hidden shouldn’t delete them. You should be able to change the folder view to show hidden files and they should be visible. Sometimes a corrupt driver can hide the files but they are still there. To check the driver find it in the Device Manager and delete it then unplug drive and reboot system. When you plug the drive back in it should load a fresh driver. I had to do that once or twice. You can burn  Linux Live CD and boot from that and see if you can find the files. I saw this post last week http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Portable-Drives/Cannot-view-and-access-the-files-inside-My-Passport-500GB/td-p/546960 

Joe

Joe, I’m not sure if it matters, but I cannot access My Passport.  I’ve had tech support remote in and they had told me it has failed. The LAST thing I did was mark some folders as Hidden and it stopped working at that point. I appreciate your help.