I got a 1TB MyPassport with the intention to use it to backup my important documents.
Eventually, the drive got incredibly slow. Slow to the point where copying a single 5mb file would take hours before generating a write failure.
I thought it was a the USB port I was using, so I changed USB ports. Nothing. All my other USB devices work fine.
I thought it might be the cable, so I replaced it, the issue persisted.
I thought it might be the drive’s firmware, but according to the updater I have the latest version.
I thought it might be the drive’s driver, so I updated to the latest version of SES, which I apparently already had, same issue.
At this point I was annoyed, this drive is barely used, it makes no clicking sounds. If I try to copy a bunch of files it might succeed with the first 5 or 6, but then it will stall out forever.
I thought Windows 7 file copying services might be the issue, so I tried TerraCopy, same exact issue.
I get IO write errors being reported.
Nothing is wrong with the source files, I can copy them all over the place except the passport, no issue.
Nothing is wrong the PC itself, I can copy files without issue to USB pen drives.
I then tried to run Windows Error checking on the drive (chkdisk) from the drive’s properties page.
I selected both options (auto-fix errors, and Scan-For and Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors)
It verified 4 files, and stalled for 1 hour. It made it up to 14 files, then stalled again. It got up to 64 files, but by that time had taken about 3 hours, so I cancelled. If don’t tell it to Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors the check simply doesn’t do anything, I get an error that it can’t run and that’s it.
I installed the WD utility to check the SMART status of the drive, but it can’t detect that drive for some reason.
Here’s the clincher: Believing my 6-month-old drive to be broken, I got a second WD 1TB MyPassport (with the new, provided cable)… and I have exactly the same issue.
Point Form Notes:
Both drives are NTFS.
They are both not write protected.
I have tried all kinds of replacement cables, cables aren’t the issue.
The PC can use other USB drives without issues.
I tried a new drive, so the drive isn’t broken.
I have Windows 7 x32.
I have the latest version of everything, so unless you’re recommending an older version of something, it won’t help.
I have only ever managed to get 30-ish GB of data onto the old drive, over the course of 6 months, but today I can barely get anything additional onto it.
Renaming folders isn’t an issue.
