I found the fix. I had to enable the local administrator account because I guess it's disabled by default. I then logged into that account and was able to see the drive and it showed up as formatted and ready to go. I then added my accont that is an AD network account in the security tab and gave myself full rights to the drive.
I then logged off and back in under my AD account and was able to access the drive now. Even though I was in the local administrators group Windows did not allow me to access the drive. It's weird because I had another external hard drive that's a WD Passport that I had no problems accessing since day one. Now I see why people are buying Macs. I am a network admin and I have a pertty good knowledge of PCs and this had me scratching my head. I can imagine what a regular user goes through trying to fix these problems. I just had a coworker ask me about laptops and he finally bought a Mac last weekend and he is very happy.
Solved: hey guyz,plz help me.my prob is as follows when i connect external hard disk to my laptop i.e., z510 it detects the hard drive bt doesnt.
What happens while connecting other hard drives? Does the same issue occur? Regarding this issue, I would like to propose the following suggestions: 1. Connect other hard drives to test. Connect the external hard drive to Windows XP, initialize and reformat it as NTFS, then connect it to Windows 7. Try reinstall USB controller: Use the Mouse First, please disconnect all USB devices and then perform the following steps: 1) Click 'Start' button, type “devmgmt.msc” (without quotation marks) in the “Search” bar and press 'Enter'. Click “Continue” if necessary.
2) In Device Manager, double click to expand 'Universal Serial Bus controllers', right click on the Host Controller, click 'Uninstall' and click 'OK'. 3) Repeat the step 2 to uninstall all items under 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'. Then, restart your computer and Windows 7 will reinstall all USB controllers automatically. Use the Keyboard First, please disconnect all USB devices. Then, go through the following steps: 1) Press 'Ctrl + Esc' to open the “Start” menu. 2) Type “devmgmt.msc” in the Search bar and press 'Enter'.
Click “Continue” if necessary. 3) In Device Manger, press Tab and use 'Up' and 'Down' to move the highlight to 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers'.
4) Press 'Right' and expand it. 5) Press 'Down' to move to the first item and press 'Delete' to remove it. 6) Repeat the step 5 and uninstall all items under 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers'. Then, restart your computer and Windows 7 will reinstall all controllers automatically. Best Regards Dale. I found the fix. I had to enable the local administrator account because I guess it's disabled by default.
I then logged into that account and was able to see the drive and it showed up as formatted and ready to go. I then added my accont that is an AD network account in the security tab and gave myself full rights to the drive. I then logged off and back in under my AD account and was able to access the drive now. Even though I was in the local administrators group Windows did not allow me to access the drive. It's weird because I had another external hard drive that's a WD Passport that I had no problems accessing since day one. Now I see why people are buying Macs. I am a network admin and I have a pertty good knowledge of PCs and this had me scratching my head.
I can imagine what a regular user goes through trying to fix these problems. I just had a coworker ask me about laptops and he finally bought a Mac last weekend and he is very happy.
Thank you for the reply, I had tried to reinstall the drive but nothing is happening, i have tried all the software available in the WD website, i have even tried to format the hard disk, with the quick format software provided by them, Their is a software by name PP4R2-1-4-2, i have not tried it. I have tried the disk management system also, i dont want to format my hard, i have somany important files in it.so please let me know if their is any other way to solve my problem.and if format only is the option, i have tried to connect hard disk in other systems also, their was no use. I had tried to reinstall the drive but nothing is happening, I have tried all the software available in the WD website, I have even tried to format the hard disk, with the quick format software provided by them, Their is a software by name PP4R2-1-4-2, I have not tried it.
I have tried the disk management system also, I dont want to format my hard, I have somany important files in it.so please let me know if their is any other way to solve my problem.and if format only is the option, I have tried to connect hard disk in other systems also, their was no use. I have tried all the option, and i think now i am left with the only option as stated by my frnd i.e. The three options, though the 3rd option is not an option for me as it is not in the warranty period and i dont want to loose my data, so i will try the 2nd option mostly.
Regarding the cable, as u have suspected it works with a cable, though it is not a SATA cable.and i have not tried any other cables, as i can see that my power supply is working well with the cable, as the hard disk has a LED, which blinks as normally as it used to. I have used the hard disk in my laptop(DELL VOSTRO) before, and i recently removed vista from it and installed windows 7 though not genuine.
Is this may be a problem? Though i would not think so, as it had worked in the 7 OS for about 2 days. Recently the hard disk is giving some sounds from it.
Here I am with the same problem as original poster. My problem happened today.
Only, for about a week, I heard little clicking whirring sounds coming from the Passport. I began to copy my photos from the drive to my C drive. The Passport was also my backup drive, and had the Windows image on this drive as well. So I'm thinking about the options listed for recovery of the personal documents. It is not in warranty. I tried a new cable, I tried a new USB port, I tried connecting to a different computer. I connected a different/new Passport to the computer (Windows 7 Pro OS) and I got a message that it had installed the software and the drive was ready to run.
I'm reluctant to use any Passport now, once burned is enough for me. I recently purchased a 4TB WD MyBook to connect to the router for network backup, but now I have NO/ZERO confidence in Western Digital products.
I may return it still in the box, and opt for an offsite cloud backup for all family computers. What exactly is a USB drive 'caddy' someone mentioned? Or, would it be best to take it intact to a place like Staples and get my files salvaged? Better than personally dismantling the drive and inserting the guts in a caddy? This failure happened today. What a bummer! I won't be choosing a cloud backup service using WD products!
Any help going forward is appreciated. Some skilled techs have figured out ways to access the drive long enough to retrieve data. I would not mess with your driver further, if you really need that data, unwil you find one of the experts. We have had good luck by replacing the electronics on the board attached to the hard drive. But it is not the sam on all Passports.
They apparently used drives of different brands. At least on the Passports I have seen, they used drives from a variety of manufacturers.
We support the recommendations of others on this list. If you really need the data, look online for the companies that rescue data. Some charge as much as $400, while others will do it for $85, after a $50 lab analysis fee. Some skilled techs have figured out ways to access the drive long enough to retrieve data. I would not mess with your driver further, if you really need that data, unwil you find one of the experts. We have had good luck by replacing the electronics on the board attached to the hard drive.
But it is not the sam on all Passports. They apparently used drives of different brands. At least on the Passports I have seen, they used drives from a variety of manufacturers. We support the recommendations of others on this list. If you really need the data, look online for the companies that rescue data.
Some charge as much as $400, while others will do it for $85, after a $50 lab analysis fee. Click to expand.Raybay, thanks for the quick reply. I managed to move some files off there a week ago, when it first began clacking sounds. But it did not want to move massive blocks of them. I have about 40g of photos and papers on the drive to rescue,about 10 years worth of personal pictures including documentation for insurance losses from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Don't need the old backups since new backup is running now. But will see what I can find.
Have you heard whether the cost of salvage is proportionate to the quality of results.the bigger the charge, the better the results? Just curious if anyone has gone this route?
Thank you all. The costs are high, but they vary a lot. Some recovery technicians list by brand and model of drive what they will charge. But in our experience, they can recover most of the data on the drive once they start. But you have to agree to a certain fee because once they start, they do not stop until done. Part of the reason is that they have to do the recovery the first time they get access. There are few second chances.
There are technician shops that give their prices by brand of hard drive they are to work on. With Western Digital being best value. But those drives that come unlabled in an external bay can be from an unknown manufacturer. And they can be more expensive.
We do this work in our repair shops, but find the specialty shops are better and faster than what we can do. They will charge us about $55 to evaluate the drive and then contact us for an estimate for the recovery. Often he companies that do this will finish the job for us for $140. But I have seen a lot of outfits (focused mainly on company hard drives that start at $400.) If you can figger out who made the drive, you can contact the manufacturer who has a list of recommended independent technicians.
Those independent technicians can often tell you whether the drive is a good candidate for recoverying files. Very often, it is the system board on the back of the drive that is bad, and once they replace it, the recover is simple and quick. What you want is an expert who works with a certain set of brands and models of hard drives that are found sealed in an enclosure. Just like anything else, if you find the folks who are familiar with the drive, and you are not a big corporation, and can give them three weeks to get it done, the cost can be very low. Some drives are darned difficult, as the only way to get access is to remove the platters and that gets expensive to synchronise those platters. You should be fine.
No name drives have no easily identifiable brand name when you open up the case. You might have to go online to thePassport folks (or other manufacturer) to find out how they identify the drive. A named drive would be Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, HMDI, Toshiba, etc. Where the drive has a stickeer, serial number, product ID, etc. Many, but not all, of the Psssport units have Passpor on the case, etc, but when you open it up, there is no identificaiton on the hard drive.
Freezer trick failed on my WD Passport 1Tbyte portable. POS just gave up the ghost while I was calling back a backup restore. I don't even have 30 hours on this drive. The USB interface still hooks to Vista or 7 with no problem but the integration from USB to drive seems to find the drive is 'nobody home'.
Nice time for a drive failure. I'm guessing the chipset on the PCB is a bunch of floor sweepings from a low cost manufacturer producing the PCB out of house for WD. I've had reasonable luck with Western Digital over the years, as moderate duty drives but this toy seems better off mounted in a cleanex box.
There is even a rubber mount scheme inside the little plastic project box they build it in. Too much cost for 4 rubber sleeves or a condom to wrap it in?? Bad design from the git-go. I took very care my wd my passport eksternal hard drive, even though after using it for almost 2 years.
Suddenly it just can't be detectable in windows explorer. I could be detected in BIOS and Device Manager. I have tried connecting it to my laptop with same result. I brought it to data recovery service. They have several charging fee rates depend on the damage level of the hard disk and the difficulty of recovery process.
The cheapest one or level one is about $300 and the most expensive one is about more than $1.000. After they checking my hard disk, they just said it was not the level one (the level I was ready to pay) and before they continued the words, I rejected them. It was already too expensive for me to pay them. I am very upset with WD My Passport Eksternal Hard Drive because I have bought 3 WD My Passport 1 TB and 2 WD My Book 3 TB. They are still fine today.but who knows in near future? I suggest, do not rely on this WD My Passport Eksternal Hard Drive to save your value data!