I see this so many times it’s deathly disturbing me: Passports and other WD external drives not being recognized at first use or after (much worse) after working just fine for awhile… So here’s my 2 cents…
Firmware is a HUGE popular issue with some of WD’s products, especially if you are trying to work with Windows Vista (uuuuggggghhhh… lol). As Vista “updates” your computer, it’s erases parts of different software or disables it. This issue can be solved in this case with a firmware update. Also if your computer uses “Smartware” there is a specific type of firmware update for you. I reccomend NOT updating Vista everytime it says it needs to update or check with Microsoft and see if they may have fixed the updating issues with Vista since they’ve released Windows 8. If this doesn’t help see if your computer has a backup file from when your computer was working fine with your external harddrive. Hope this helps!
Now, mine works just fine and has been as long as I do preventative maintenance on my laptop and make sure absolutely necessary updates are downloaded.
If you know any other ways to help with this issue, PLEASE POST! I welcome any added comments to help resolve this issue!
On a different note…
If you are having issues with maleware on your comouter, I HIGHLY reccomend “Malware Bytes”(Malwarebytes.org). It’s FREE and to download and use and works WONDERFULLY! If you issues with viruses, there something FREE to download and use too, and it’s better to use than the ones that cost outragous annual fees for it’s services. It’s called “AVG free”(AVG.com). Just google both of these to find the website. I reccomend going to original download site (the one I put in parentheses) and not downloading it through a third party (i.e. CNET, fileshare, filehippo, whatever they wanna call themselves)
