When I connect my MyPassport Ultra external hard disk to the computer (it’s a portable external hard disk, model 0820, does not have power supply, it connects to the computer via USB cable), the unlock window appears and I am able to unlock the drive. However, afterward, the main drive does not show up (the device light does come up and it keeps coming on and off, the same way it was doing when this hard disk was working fine for more than one year now).
The main drive does not come up under My Computer, and I am not able to access any content. If I click on a drive icon that does show up in Windows Explorer (without the name MyPassport, which I used to see when the drive was working correctly), the computer and the windows explorer pretty much freezes up. Only if I unplug My Passport does my computer go back to its normal performance. I have tried connecting this external hard disk to the other Windows 10 computers but to no avail.
I ran the Diagonstic Utility on Western Digital website, and it took a long time but the SmartTest did show up as “Passed” but when I ran either the Quick Test or the Extended Test, I got a message saying that “Too many bad sectors”. After that, even the SmartTest is showing up as not completed. Need help please. I need the data on this hard disk, I made a mistake of not backing it up elsewhere. Thank you.
Hi, unfortunately if the drive is showing too many bad sectors is probable that you are unable to get the information by normal means, I would recommend you to contact a professional data recovery.
Thanks for your reply and information. I contacted the data recovery company that services India and I was quoted Singapore Dollar Amount of $900.
Do you have any alternative suggestions?
Could the USB cable that connects the drive to the computer have gone bad (I am going to buy a new cable and try that one)?
Would connecting the drive to Apple Macintosh machines help (I am going to pursue that option as well, I tried Ubuntu but it/Linux does not recognize this drive)?
Also, let me describe the symptoms and how the problem started in a bit greater detail. When I connected the drive to my laptop a few days ago, it was working but was slow in response. I could see all the folders and the data (subfolders, pictures, videos, etc.) in those folders. I could even open one of the stored videos. The video opened but the connection speed was pretty low and so the video was freezing up. To avoid this issue, I tried copying that video from the external drive to my local machine’s disk but that copying did not succeed. I thought that the problem might get resolved if I restart my laptop. However, when I tried doing so, the laptop got frozen. The Restart or even Power Down options would not respond. After waiting for more than half an hour, I manually switched off the laptop by pressing the power key. It was when I rebooted the laptop afterward that this problem surfaced in its full gory detail; I was still able to unlock the drive but other than that - nothing. I could not see the folders/subfolders, pictures/videos, etc. If I try to open this drive through Windows Explorer, that window would freeze up. This problem has persisted in past two days although I’ve tried many different Windows 10 machines so far.
