Not recognizing my passport

[alanas]

So my computer decided to randomly not recognize my drive. When I plug it in it takes forever for the computer to find it and instead of saying mypassport it nwo says local disk. All my files are still there, but when i try to play them (most of them are videos) it is very slow and glitchy 

What do I do?

[Ichigo]

Hello, if possible try using another USB cable or connecting the Passport to another PC, if the problem continues, run a test using DLG. Check the link below for the steps. 

How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows 

[bthreadg]

Hi Alanas,

I have the same problem, and have searched endlessly for a solution - there isn’t one.

Google “My Book Essential Not Recongized Windows” . . . there’s millions of search results and NO SOLUTION!

WD’s “my book [non]essential” / “passport”, etc., are POSs of the lowest form - the company can’t provide fixes, and you’ll only waste more time and money following the well intended advice to buying new cables, re-installing drivers,  patches, blah blah blah.

ALL of my 1Ts eventually stopped being recognized - of course, not until I had saved important files that now are unretrievable.

Save your time, money and patience, and use a cloud service.  WD external drives are junk and customer service is ineffective.

[pumpsw]

Absolutely, you’re right.!!!

I got same experience. This happened in only 2 weeks.

WD said what they can do is only replacing the damaged disk.

I lost 2 Tb of data. I’m so frustrated.

I’ll never buy WD product again.

[haitham_mostafa]

I have the same problem (with the second WD external in a row)

I will never buy any of western digital products any more too.

I have lost very important data (photos from trips around the world and places I will never go again)

I am also recommending all my friends not to buy WD products.

[Joe_S]

One problem with USB powered drives is that many computer makers use barely adequet power supplies and drives are very sensitive to low voltage. Using a longer cable otfa hub adds to the problems. Then there is moving the drives around and storage. Personally I would not rely on a USB powered drive.

Joe