My Western Digital My passport showing RAW. How do I make it alive?

Hello liveondead!

I'm sorry you're having a problem with your WD My Passport! :/

Still, 5 years is a long time! Which model of the My Passport series is this?

The I/O device error is a very serious one, including when another software is showing the drive as a Bad Disk and Disk Management – as Unallocated. You could try with another cable on both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, see if you could clone the drive to try and recover the data later. Keep in mind that this could cause more damage to both the drive and the data!

Boot into a Linux/Ubuntu Live CD and see if the drive is active there.

Try to reformat through diskpart:

1. Open the Start Menu, type diskpart, press Enter
2. Type list disk, press Enter
3. Type select disk X (where X is the number the certain drive), press Enter
4. Type clean, press Enter
5. Type create partition primary, press Enter
6. Type format quick fs=ntfs, press Enter
7. Type assign letter=X, press Enter
8. Type exit, press Enter

This will delete all data off the drive but it could help making it active again.

If nothing works, the drive is just too far gone and most certainly is out of warranty (5 years old). :/

Best of luck and post back! :)

CK_WD

Hi Jumanji! :)

Yes, there is a reason. It did cross my mind, of course, but considering the I/O error OP is receiving,
the drive's status in Disk Management suggesting file system error and the fact that performing a health check, in this case with the DLG, could damage the situation more. OP wants to use the drive, I would like to see if it can be reformatted and allocated through the average channels, afterwards we will act considering the results, and most likely a health check with DLG. :)

CK_WD

EDIT: Now I see OP has answered but I am already off for the day and will be back in a few hours! :)

Scratch that last one. I couldn't leave before answering OP.. :)

As I suspected the drive has failed, I was going to suggest the DLG after all is done from my first post, but it's fine that you did it anyways. At this point if you would like your data back, you will have to recover it either using a software or professional services. The latter is more likely at this point, as the drive seems to be too damaged to handle data recovery in home environment. Otherwise WD has data recovery partners: Support Answers.

If you are not interested in data recovery you could try and RMA the device if it is still under warranty:

WD Warranty check:
Support Answers

WD Warranty Policy:
Support Answers

Hope you manage to replace the drive!

Otherwise, if anyone else has better advice, I'm sure it will be posted here. :)

CK_WD

I'm afraid it looks like you won't be able to use it any more. :/

It seems to have severe damage. The DLG reports too many bad sectors. Once they occur and malfunction the device, that's pretty much it.

How old is the drive, did you check if its really out of warranty?

If your data is available for recovery then it could be done by professional in the best case, as the device at this point emits too any errors and is unrecognizable even in DLG. :/

Best of luck!

CK_WD