Passport suddenly stopped being detected

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

I own a (Western Digital WDBAAA3200ABK 320GB MY Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive) and a short while ago it suddenly stopped working properly.

When I plug it into the computer, it powers up, the light comes on and I hear the disk spinning, but it doesn’t show up on my computer.  I’ve tried it on other computers and the same thing happens.  Any ideas of what’s wrong? How can I fix it?

2

I tied installing the driver from the site - still no luck.

I tried using a different micro-USB cable - still no luck.

I tried finding the drive through the device manager and it wasn’t there.

When the disc is initially plugged in, it starts spinning and makes a small click.  It does this three times and that stops making noise.  Any thoughts?

3

if the drive is not showing on device manager or disk management the unit has failed

you have already tried the recommended steps

4

my passport did the same tonight… did you solve it??

5

I own a (Western Digital WDBAAA3200ABK 1000GB MY Passport Essential Portable Hard Drive) and a short while ago it suddenly stopped working properly.

When I plug it into the computer, it powers up, the light comes on and I hear the disk spinning, but it doesn’t show up on my computer.  I’ve tried it on other computers and the same thing happens.  Any ideas of what’s wrong? How can I fix it?

6

if your passport spins up clicks 3 times and stops - then your drive has failed heads. In this case DO NOT POWER IT ON ANYMORE. damaged heads could create scratches on platters, and make the drive virtually impossible to recover. head problems are not exactly DIY material.