HELP! WD Hard Drives are crap!

So, went to open up a WD Passport Hard drive that is approx 8 months old. We've used it many times on both of our MacBooks and have had no issues, until now. Now it won't recognize at all. Tried it on the PC as well (Windows 7) and same issue. Tried using the disk utility on the macbook and it says it cannot be repaired.

Help! We don't want to lose years upon years of pictures and movies! Any way to get these off before I file a warranty claim against it? Suggestions for data recovery software maybe?

EDIT: It powers up fine, tried swapping cables, can see the blinking light when it is connected to all the computers and can feel the drive spinning.

 

As long as you haven't had a mechanical failure of the hard drive (i.e Head crash) your data may be fine. It could just be the USB interface that has died. If it were my hard drive, I would go to a computer shop and ask for a USB drive enclosure, probably SATA if it is a newer WD drive, and then transfer the hard disk from the WD enclosure to the new enclosure. This means that you will hve to open the WD enclosure, which will invalidate you warranty, but you "may" save your data/pictures. If you don't feel confortable doing this ask the computer shop to do it for you or find a friend who is tech savy.

 

What is your drive from below?
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=1&lang=en

1. Pick the drive and see if there is Firmware update.
2. if yes, please update to latest.
3. if no, go to Disk Management/Windows and Disk Utility for Mac
4. If the drive volume shows up right click and format to NTFS/Windows and GUID partition and HFS+J for Mac


they are actually great hard drives, its probably your computer! try this first ^

 

1. is the drive spinning without clicking noise? If no, check cable on both external drive and computer. Is the USB port good with another drive?
2. if yes, do you see the disk under device manager/windows and system profiler/mac? If no, reboot or unplug-replug.
3. if yes, do you see the partition under disk Management/winows and Disk Utility/Mac? If no, check if security enabled?
4. if yes, do you see the drive letter assigned/desk management/windows? If no, right click and assign drive letter.
5. if yes, you may have to format the drive again. **** Do this after all other methods failed as it will wipe out your data.***

 

Ontrack recovery can pull data back as long as a mechanical failure has not occurred. If its mechanical you can send them the drive and they take it apart and pull the disk. But it cost a ton. The software is usually pretty good about pulling data back even if it has been formatted.

 

Don't do a format unless you wanna loose everything., but generally WD is pretty good.

 

Doing a format does not really get rid of the data. It just basically removes the address to where its located. If a ton more data is added it basically overwrites on top of what was already there. I've formatted drives multiple times and pulled data back from them.

 

x2! I would do this first. There are several videos on YouTube for step by step instructions on how to open the WD enclosure if you want to do it yourself. A new enclosure shouldn't cost more than $30.

I wouldn't say WD is crap. I've used them almost exclusively for 15 years. I've only had one fail one me, and it was most likely my fault. WD was kind enough to replace it for me with a new (and better) drive.

Always keep a backup of your data!

 

So I picked up a SATA hard drive enclosure and popped open the portable hard drive. Attached are the pictures of it. The enclosure setup was essentially just an enclosure and had a small circuit board but it isn't even close to the same size.

 

That circuit board should stay attached to the hard drive. The whole hard drive (with circuit board) should just plug into the new enclosure.

 

Guess I bought the wrong one lol

 

I should have mentioned that there are two sizes of drives and enclosures, 3.5" and 2.5". You would have the 2.5". The enclosure shouldn't cost more than $20-$30. The drive will have a connector on one end with connections for SATA data and power. Usually there is just a small circuit board in the encloser that plugs into this connector on the HD.

 

I just watched this video. Apparently in the newer WD Passports, the USB interface is built directly into the circuit board of the HDD. At 7:00 in that video, he compares a standard WD 2.5" HDD to the WD Passport HDD.