WD MY PASSPORT 1 TB stopped working after Win 10 pro

[hiamreshg]

Hello all,

While searching for help on my data lost-coincidentally after upgrading to Win 10 pro I came to know about this forum.
My problem is killing me since last two days... Actually i had a WD 1 TB my passport, I was using it on my television as an input device and keeping all my important data. All of a sudden three days back the TV was showing error and all the folders(every folder was visible) from WD my passport was showing empty. I thought there may be some driver problem so connected with my newly upgraded Laptop with Win 10 Pro. It tool long time to update drivers and the drive was showing without any details on my computer. Nothing helped so I visited WD website and downloaded WDDriveUtilitiesSetup_for_web_1.3.0.17. It also took long time to update last night i slept keeping it on update. In the morning it was showing updated... still it is not opening on laptop i tried on multiple laptops. Now when Connecting to TV it is showing some random files and not all the folders
Where is my data now ? What is the best way to recover my important data from WD my passport.
Any help will be appreciated and I thank you all for the reply to resolve problem.

I have attached screenshots to help in understanding the problem details.

 

[primuspaul]

What USB cable are you using? Try using a different cable, perhaps of a different generation (USB 2.0/3.0) and certainly of a very short length (1.5 ft or less) and see if the problem repeats itself.

Failing that:

I'm not familiar with this particular brand and generation of external drives, but why do you need a driver to use it? External USB drives should plug and play with most computers equipped with USB. Perhaps you should try it with a regular USB 2.0 computer running Windows XP or GParted (via UBCD).

 

[hiamreshg]

Many thank vassok, I am using the same cable- came with the product. It is less than 0.5 meter. My device is from western Digital( http://www.wdc.com)
Now coming to the problem status yesterday I have tried on multiple Laptops. surprisingly i was able to see some of the folders (2/90). and after some time even these folders became non accessible. Finally I thought of data recovery and searched online for the recovery tools. I found one tool which claims to be free and with that tool i was able to find most of the data... now at the time of recovering the data, it was asking for registration and the cost associated with it was much higher than the device cost.
Now I worried about the data since the device came with 3 years warranty and it is very much under warranty. So my primary concern is data recovery software which comes at a reasonable price.

Thank you

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
You might review this thread :/
Interesting question here about bricking older hdd's :/ - Windows 10 Forums

 

[primuspaul]

Many thank vassok, I am using the same cable- came with the product. It is less than 0.5 meter. My device is from western Digital( Western Digital Hard Drives, Network Drives, Media Players)
Now coming to the problem status yesterday I have tried on multiple Laptops. surprisingly i was able to see some of the folders (2/90). and after some time even these folders became non accessible. Finally I thought of data recovery and searched online for the recovery tools. I found one tool which claims to be free and with that tool i was able to find most of the data... now at the time of recovering the data, it was asking for registration and the cost associated with it was much higher than the device cost.
Now I worried about the data since the device came with 3 years warranty and it is very much under warranty. So my primary concern is data recovery software which comes at a reasonable price.

Thank you

Have you tried using a DIFFERENT USB cable? Your cable may have come from the manufacturer, but that doesn't mean it cannot be defective. You tried different laptops, why not a different (equally short or shorter) cable?

Next, I'd try booting into UBCD Parted Magic and making a copy of the partition to another drive, perhaps using Clonezilla (from within GParted). If you can successfully make a clone to a different drive, you'd effectively recover your data. Parted Magic also contains a program called Photorec, which can supposedly recover data. UBCD is free to use, although I have not used this data recovery program.

If even that fails, you can try (but it may void warranty) to take the drive out of the enclosure and connect it directly via SATA to transfer the files.

 

[primuspaul]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
You might review this thread :/
Interesting question here about bricking older hdd's :/ - Windows 10 Forums

hiamreshg: I saw you posted that you tried many laptops, but did they all have the same OS? I'd try something like Windows XP. Otherwise consider following the three steps I listed in my previous post, starting with a DIFFERENT short USB cable and connecting it a computer running something OTHER THAN WINDOWS 10.

 

[hiamreshg]

No dear Vassock, I have tried on Win 7, and Linux machine. On Linux machine few folders were visible. When I tried taking the back up in other hard drive second time the passport was not getting mounted and showing error. Next i tried searching on recovery tool and found a free tool Aid file recovery, I was able recover the files by using this software. But before backing up requires some registration and the cost associated for registration is even more than the cost of device.
Now i am looking for good data recovery software with less cost. Any help about the best economic recovery tool ???

 

[primuspaul]

I gave you the recovery tool. It's included in UBCD.

Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

But before you continue messing with the HD, you need to try a DIFFERENT USB CABLE. That's the easiest thing you can troubleshoot and I have not seen you say you tried it.

 

[CKWD]

Hello hiamreshg!

I'm sorry for the problem that has happened!

Still, vassock is right. I understand you believe you've tried so many methods to resolve your problem and now seek a specific answer but you came here for help, hence we would like to provide it to you if you let us to.

So please do the following, as already suggested:

1. Use a different USB cable with the WD My Passport. Try it on both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports. Share the results here.
2. Follow vassock's advice using UBCD (post #5 and post #8 – link).

Personally, this looks like an error in the file system and/or corrupted files for some reason. A reformat could fix the issue but would delete the data. You need the data so data recovery may prove the only option. WD has data recovery partners but if you insist you could try data recovery tools at home. But keep in mind that meddling with the drive more could damage it and the data more.

Please post back to tell us what happens! Good luck!

CK_WD