WD Passport runs and unlocks, but can't view MyBook or find files

[genschiller]

I have a 7 year old WD MyPassport that is suddenly not letting me access the folders and files on it.
When I plug it in, I get a dingle, and SmartWare launches. I can open the passport and select unlock, and unlock is successful, but then…nothing. I can’t see MyBook or find anything using file explorer.

What do I do here? My son’s whole childhood is on this drive.

[mikes2]

The possible causes for such an issue can be an incompatible file system, missing drive letter, disk driver issues, damaged partition issues on the hard drive. In a worst-case, the drive itself is failing.

You can try below fixes to resolve the issue:

1. Initialize the drive or drive partition
2. Change/Assign drive letter
3. Update Disk drivers
4. Enable drive in BIOS

Hope it helps!