It’s been a month that my external hard drive could not be detected in my laptop. the light still lights up when i connect it via USB cable but nothing appears on the computer. I also tried connecting it to different computers and cable and it is still not recognized… I also check it on disk management and it is still not visible. is my hard drive damaged? is there a chance I could retrieve all my files?And my hdd is under warranty period,what should i do?
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These drives are pretty strong to failure. Have you tried DIFFERENT usb ports on the same machine? Have you tried to connect and then restart the pc?
Sorry to be posting my problem on your thread but it sounds like I am having the exact same problem except my passport external hard drive just failed tonight. The frustrating thing is that it was working perfectly throughout the day today and then when I tried to access a file I had been using on the drive, it said there were no files on the drive. Thinking I could see things if I disconnected the hard drive and reconnected it (I should have tried to salvage things while at least the computer could acknowledge its presence) I tried to disconnect the drive and then had to shut down the computer to disconnect it since I kept getting the message that the drive was in use (crazy since it said there was nothing on it). When I reconnected the drive after restarting the computer it did not show up at all (nothing in my computer or in any devices when I searched for it). I have tried several computers (in the lab where I work) and different USB ports (this is not the first WD my passport to fail on me) but nothing. When I plug in the device it also turns like it is trying to boot but it makes a wierd clicking noise at the same time and then it just stops and the light stays on but unblinking. Any suggestions for getting a device like this working again or recovering the data from it (without being able to detect it I can’t seem to get the programs for data recovery to see anything) would be greatly appreciated.
Once you plug it in, can you see the drive under MY COMPUTER???
Let me know.
I’m not sure if you’re asking me but if you are, I am not able to see my passport in “my computer”. Is there any way to make it visible to my computer? Thank you very much!
Try this
To access the Disk Management program, begin by clicking the Start button. Choose “Run” out of the menu.
Type the command:
diskmgmt.msc
Tell me what you see…
I tried your suggestion but I don’t think it is showing me my WD devise at all. There is one component called the “system” that I am not sure of but the capacity is listed as 199MB. The other components are my HP_tools, my C drive and my recovery drive (which is tiny). What can I do? Can I take the hard drive apart and put it into any of those hard drive recovery units (I cannot remember the technical name at the moment)? Thank you for your help.
Very weird. Taking out the unit does void the warranty. How long have you had it? Youve tried shutting down the computer and placing the passport in another usb port right?
Look at this
http://jasontomczak.com/2008/05/26/western-digital-my-passport-elite-320gb-great-for-macbook-pro/
If your thinking of taking it apart. Anything else you might add that possibly can give me more details, please re-post
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heid
I think there have been changes since your link is over 2 1/2 years old. I believe they changed the number of pins on the drive and added the bridge board which adds hardware encryption. There are numerous posts here of people trying to hook drive direct and finding the data useless. Or they put it in another external enclosure and it didn’t solve the problem.
Joe
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I’ve only had the unit for a few months but the truth of the matter is that I have tried getting technical support on a non-working WD my passport before (strangely enough that one was also only a few months old) and the tech support was not helpful at all. They sent me another usb cord that would supposedly provide “more power” to the unit but they promised they would send it to me when I talked to them and then it touch several months before it actually arrived. It didn’t even work when it arrived so I was so aggravated. At that point I had already gotten a new passport and replaced the data that I had lost so I just didn’t bother with the old one any more. It has been about a year or so since that happened and now this new drive has gone bad when I have only had it a couple months. I would rather try to salvage the data off of it by taking it apart then deal with support who tells me to do the same things over again.
I’ve tried this drive in several USB ports on several computers in our lab (both in the front of the computer and the back (where I was told it would apparently get “more power”). It does not show up on any of the computers 
Thank you for the link by the way. They look very cool inside!
Ok, this is wierd. When I go into the resource monitor to see what programs are running I do see that WDDMservice.exe and WDDMstatus.exe are both running and are apparently both running normally but in disk management, there is still no evidence that the passport is connected. Is there any way to start a program or task that would “force” the computer to see the drive or am I just grabbing at straws? The only other suggestion I have been given is to try the drive on a mac since that is the only computer/OS that I have not attempted to use to see my passport. Do you have any other recommendations? Thank you very much!
Try going into services and disable the WD drive manager and rebooting.
Joe
I propose you my PCB DEFECTUEUX (defective) article
