I have used a Passport Essential for about 1 1/2 years now and suddenly it just stopped showing up on my computer. I started getting a message that one of the usb devices connected was not recognized… Now the computer repair guy tells me most likely I have lost all of my photos… that the drive is probably dead… and there is no way whatsoever to retrieve the photos I have stored. PLEASE tell me that’s not true… I changed the USB cable on the device and tried it in another computer… still nothing… I NEED my photos… Anyone? thanks in advance for any help.
Wow 20 views and nobody has an answer. Uh oh. Sounds like I might as well trash the device, ■■■■ up my photo loss and buy a different device.
Hi,
I posted the following answer in another thread, you contributed:
"Hi,
if the data is really important there is still a chance, if only the case has been damaged and the harddrive itself is still working. in this case, just open the external case, take out the drive and plug it onto a PC direktly or using another case / adapter. but i am afraid the chance is higher, the disk itself is faulty… =("
Does the drive spin up at all? If so, you may have only blown out the partition and may be able to download data recovery software that can read the drive.
Can you hear the drive spin up? Any vibration? Did you drop it?
Can you see it in Disk Management? Device Manager?
Can you see the USB enclosure with Microsoft’s UVCView utility?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe
Here is a video that shows you how to remove your drive from the enclosure:
http://links.homevideomarketing.com/7744/disassembly-of-the-western-digital-my-passport-essential-rn-b7b-only/
Note that some enclosures have a separate USB-SATA bridge board, whereas in others the USB circuitry is part of the drive.
