Need to Recover Data from WD Passport External HD

My Passport External HD suddenly failed.

- Replaced cable. Apparently this is not the problem.

- I have tried on another computer with same result.

- Light on HD is on but no sound of turning or no clicking sound.

- HD is recognized only in Disk Management. It does not show up under drives when clicking My Computer, thus I cannot access the drive.

- I downloaded Easeus Data Recovery (Trial) but when scanned does not find drive for Passport.

- I have not contacted WD, but searched their site for solutions/troubleshooting. Basically, they say use data recovery software. I do not want to pay many $$$ to send to a professoinal.

Anyone know of a Data Recovery Software or have ideas how I can access My Passport ? Thanks !

(Note: Passport is only about 15 months old and not really used that much. Not sure I would recommend WD to anyone)

It's possible the USB drive controller has failed. If it is no longer covered under warrenty, you should be able to remote the internal drive from the shell and insert it directly into your computer.

Capture.PNG (39.9 KB)


Picture above. Disk 2 is the Passport.


FuturDreamz - This is an external HD. Can the HD be removed from the plastic case and attached/inserted to a laptop ?

Yes, you should be able to remove the drive from the case. That's exactly what FuturDreamz was describing.

It looks like Disk Management sees it just fine, online and ready for you to partition. Since you've got data on there, you might want to try Testdisk to rebuild the partitions that are there: http://www.cgsecurity.org/

Might be easier to go with Paragon first, recommended by whs earlier. If that doesn't do it for you, then try Testdisk.

Thanks for the replies.

Having problems burning Paragon to a disk after download. Keep receiving error. Even so, I am concerned that the data recovery software will not recognize the Passport during a scan as I encountered with Easeus. I believe that is why no data is indicated under Disk Management for Disk 2 (Passport) It is not recognized by Windows.

If I remove external HD from the case as stated by futur above, how do you connect to a laptop ?

torre said:

Capture.PNG (39.9 KB)


Picture above. Disk 2 is the Passport.


FuturDreamz - This is an external HD. Can the HD be removed from the plastic case and attached/inserted to a laptop ?

Usually yes. External HDD drives are usually just a standard 2.5"/3.5" sized SATA drive with a SATA to USB adaptor. It's possible the SATA to USB adaptor has failed. You should be able to dissasemble the shell and have a proper SATA drive inside.

As for connecting to a laptop, there's three possibilities:
1. use the SATA to USB adaptor. this assumes that you'r adaptor works, but the connection got loose
2. buy a adaptor, like this one (depending on what size of drive is inside)
3. pull out the laptop's hard drive and install this one. a bit more difficult to do, and is useless if you don't have another means of booting.

torre said:

Thanks for the replies.

Having problems burning Paragon to a disk after download. Keep receiving error. Even so, I am concerned that the data recovery software will not recognize the Passport during a scan as I encountered with Easeus. I believe that is why no data is indicated under Disk Management for Disk 2 (Passport) It is not recognized by Windows.

If I remove external HD from the case as stated by futur above, how do you connect to a laptop ?

Well, if you're having problems with burning the disk, and aren't even sure if it'll work anyway, you could just download and run testdisk (linked to above), it runs directly in Windows.