SOLVED WD Passport stopped working

[jrj350]

First, let me say I have googled this problem and there are dozens of answers. I tried all of the ones that were marked as,"solved". Nothing helped. I have had this WD Passport unit for about three and a half years with no problems. Yesterday and today I have worked trying to get the thing recognized. I do not believe the problem is caused by the computer or by Windows 10. I just want to know if there is any possible way to save the unit.
Here is a fairly well-detailed summary.

Problem - WD Passport stopped working.
Dell laptop computer – Windows 10 op system
I attempted the easy checks like disconnecting and reconnecting the WD Passport. None of the simple solutions worked. I then did the following:
1. Attached WD Passport
2. Started WD Drive Utilities.
3. Opened Device Manager
4. Under Disk Drives, have
WD Passport 0748 USB Device
Under, General. “Device status – This device is working properly.”
Under, Driver - “Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date.”
5.In WD Drive Utilities,
selected Diagnosis
6. In WD Drive Utilities,
selected Run Drive Status Check
7.Immediately got,” SMART status failed.”
8. In WD Drive Utilities,
selected Drive Eras9.Received following output message:

Unlock Drive
5 Incorrect attempts
To try again:
1.Safely unplug your drive from the computer
2.Plug your drive into the computer
OR
Erase Drive
If you do not remember your password, you may erase your drive which erases all data on the drive.

(There are some warnings about erasing the drive. I never established a password for this drive.)

I then attempted to erase the drive and received this message:
An exception occurred during the operation, making the result invalid. Check
InnerException for exception details.

I could not figure out how to check,”InnerException”.

I tried the WD Passport unit on my Samsung desktop computer,(also Windows 10), with the same results as above.

Thank you

 

[Digerati]

I tried the WD Passport unit on my Samsung desktop computer,(also Windows 10), with the same results as above.

Then it sure points to the drive, or the enclosure it is in.

It is possible to remove the drive from the external drive enclosure and attach it to or install it (as a secondary drive) in your computer with an adapter to see if you can then read, and possibly recover any data stored on it. Sadly, the drives used in these devices typically have a different, non-standard drive interface (to convert to USB) on the drive itself. Finding the correct adapter seems to be a real challenge as I cannot find one - at least without knowing exactly what I am looking for. You most likely will need to take the enclosure apart and see what is there.

 

[Norton]

jrj350 Have you tried the drive on another PC.? I would examine the USB connections in the enclosure for a cold solder joint.

You mentioned in your OP that you ran WD diagnostics, would that be "WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics" ?
I had a similar problem on a new Dell Laptop, ran WD Data Lifeguard and the drive didn't pass.
Dell replaced the drive under warranty.

http://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=940

 

[Comp Cmndo]

...
7.Immediately got,” SMART status failed.”...

That's all you need to know, it's dead. Same thing happened to mine a couple months ago.

 

[Digerati]

jrj350 Have you tried the drive on another PC.?

Please note that not only did he state he tried it with a different computer, but I quoted his comment on that!

I do agree to always try warranty coverage if applicable. But I noted the OP also said he's been using this device for 3 1/2 years. While there are a couple Passport versions warrantied for 5 years, the 0748 model appears to be a basic "My Passport" model with a 2 year warranty.

 

[jrj350]

All right, let me first thank you all for the replies.
Now let us bow our head in a moment of silence as I say goodbye to this item.
...
...
Hey, the good news is I didn't have anything important on the disk that wasn't backed up elsewhere. So nothing lost. I will say, I would never buy one of the Wd units again. Not sour grapes, just how I feel. Too many other options to choose from, I think.

 

[Digerati]

Actually, I am not a fan of external drives in general. The forums are flooded with problems - many of which are due to the unreliable USB interface.

Good news that you have backups elsewhere. It is so important to have multiple backups. Sadly, many use these external drives as their only backup, or worse, as their only storage location for large files they don't want to lose - like family photos.

 

[Norton]

I don't think there's a problem with the WD Passport, you were happy with it for 3-1/2 years. The problem with all portable drives is they can't take the G force abuse.
You can't go wrong when you have redundant back up drives. Good move.
Please mark as solved.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

Actually, I am not a fan of external drives in general. The forums are flooded with problems - many of which are due to the unreliable USB interface.

WD portable drives use a drive controller with a USB interface. Removing the drive from the enclosure won't help.
Seagate portable drives use a drive controller with a SATA interface & a USB to SATA adapter. This allows removing the drive from the enclosure & attaching to desktop.

This makes the WD enclosure slightly smaller than the Seagate. However, if the Seagate fails, you can still use the enclosure & the adapter. For some reason, laptop drives cost more than the corresponding USB portable drive. They use the same drive, so you would think the USB portable drive would be more expensive.

The only difference in all the WD Passport variations is the warranty & price. The drives are the same.

... I will say, I would never buy one of the Wd units again. Not sour grapes, just how I feel. Too many other options to choose from, I think.

I feel the same way. Am currently using a Hitachi SATA2 750GB laptop drive in a SATA3 caddy. The drive was removed from a laptop & was replaced with a SSD. Am finding that manufacturers put SATA2 drives into SATA3 laptops & SATA1 drives into SATA2 laptops. Never knew until carefully reviewing HWInfo details. When purchasing, specs are not that detailed & you'd never know.

 

[Digerati]

WD portable drives use a drive controller with a USB interface. Removing the drive from the enclosure won't help.

Yes it will - as long as you get the appropriate adapter as I noted above. Or you can remove the drive and drop in another compatible enclosure. There are several tutorials and videos out there showing exactly how to do this.

 

[Grizzly]

I can't say that I had many problems with WD drives. Of course you can get a drive that fails prematurely. This is why I try to get drives with a long warranty like the black series. I had one external drive fail before (WD MyBook), fortunately it was in warranty so I had nothing to worry about. I personally do not rely only on one drive. My concept is to have copies on at least three drives.Chances that all backups fail at the same time are close to zero.

 

[Digerati]

I have never seen any studies but IMO, external drives in general are less reliable than internal drives. This can be attributed to several reasons, not least of which is the fact external drives have the USB interface as a middleman between the SATA drive and the computer. And USB just isn't the reliable I/O it should be. External drives are also subject to knocks, bumps and even falling over or drops.

Sadly, external drive makers don't tell us much about the reliability of the drive itself. But I will note internal drives with 5 year warranties are not hard to find. I cannot find an external drive with a 5 year warranty. Most are just 1, some are 3 years.

 

[Trouble]

I have never seen any studies but IMO, external drives in general are less reliable than internal drives.

I would have to agree. They just seem to wear-out sooner, which I generally associated with the small plastic enclosures being less than adequate for proper heat dissipation for spinners.
I've seen a few attached to servers or workstations acting as servers for backup purposes and left to run, full time all the time and I don't think that, that is a practical application.
I've had a few where the interface cross-over components failed and I've had a few where the actual physical drive, inside the enclosure, just went toes up.
I'm down to a single 2TB WD Elements, that I use occasionally for a quick and dirty backup / image..... having just cannibalized my 1TB Seagate to use the SATA drive in a laptop that I'm attempting to bring back from the dead.

 

[Digerati]

which I generally associated with the small plastic enclosures being less than adequate for proper heat dissipation for spinners.

Good point, which - based on the last line of my signature - I am embarrassed that I failed to point out earlier.

just went toes up

Hmmm, that's not quite the "tango uniform" expression I remember!

 

[Trouble]

Hmmm, that's not quite the "tango uniform" expression I remember!

Yep, me either but.....
I was trying to keep it PC / Family Friendly and not appear sexist or misogynistic

 

[ridevaquero]

DEC 22, 2021

High JR,

I have the same problem. Still a WD USB EXTERNAL HARDRIVE ( but mine are Model Passport 2626 of 1t capacity, ). And I bought a second one, worked for a day or two, and got the same result. So on the third attempt with a third HD. All-new, I do not if they are of the same lot. I enabled debugging and disconnected WIFI. BUT Aja! I then saw and realized WIFI is NOT completely disconnected. It is disconnected for me attempting to do anything on the internet, BUT not for windows. There is a backdoor and windows connects up with ExpressVPN service and I gather third parties may as well. And then it wrote to my BIOS and what do you think happened after that, I got the problem again for the third time! Either three new drives are BAD, I seriously doubt it, though possible if they were from the same lot, or there is a bad boy or boys in town disabling external USB HD. I also started getting messages to buy recovery s/w. I have NOW enabled a password so that you cannot write to the BIO without knowing it, so whoever hacked in cannot rewrite it again, to make a fourth EXT WD USB fail. I think the powers in charge want us (ALL USERS) to use cloud storage, I do not want to, cause how do you develop anything proprietary with everybody spying on you. Also, it is a way to also obligate us to purchase recovery S/W. Supposedly you can disable SMART status so that you can use your ext HD. But APPARENTLY, ON NEW computer\s it is NOT. I have Windows 10 HP laptop and for the life of me, I cannot find or access the SMART Status bit in the BIOS. I found a youtube video where a computer technical repair specialist stated that his newer computer hardware did not have explicit access as the older ones did. I am a chip designer, and these kinda test modes we would never take out, I think they are available, but NOT for the user anymore. I believe it is hidden. These acts are malicious and I believe are purposely done to dissuade users from storing their data on external USB Harddrives, to force all users down the funnel of cloud storage as well as recovery software. I

I also do not believe the problem is caused by the computer or by Windows 10.

Now I will answer your question about if there is any possible way to save the unit. I think probably there is if a brave whistleblower type Edward Snowden came forward and confirmed my speculative, but possibly likely scenario and gave us the hidden code to disable SMART LOCK, so we can use it! I need to confirm that a 4th HD will NOT Die since I only know this password. But who knows there is probably a back door to get into the BIOS. I have to go buy one and I do not feel like it. I have a workaround for now where I still don't use cloud storage but neither do I use ext USB storage. Let you know after the new year if anybody is interested and be nice if somebody could confirm what I have observed.

I copied your fairly well-detailed summary below for others. But is the same, except for my hard drives where WD USB EXTERNAL Passport 2626 devices.

Sincerely and also peeved about it,

Ride Vaquero ((e-mail address removed))
My Avatar ib case anybody is wondering, who names their kid Ride. But you never know,

Problem - WD Passport stopped working.
Dell laptop computer – Windows 10 op system
I attempted the easy checks like disconnecting and reconnecting the WD Passport. None of the simple solutions worked. I then did the following:
1. Attached WD Passport
2. Started WD Drive Utilities.
3. Opened Device Manager
4. Under Disk Drives, have
WD Passport 2626 8 USB Device
Under, General. “Device status – This device is working properly.”
Under, Driver - “Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date.”
5.In WD Drive Utilities,
selected Diagnosis
6. In WD Drive Utilities,
selected Run Drive Status Check
7.Immediately got,” SMART status failed.”

 

[Bighorn]

I've had a WD My Passport 1TB about the same 4 years age of the thread, no issues. It's a red/pink version so maybe the other colors attract heat differently.

 

[Tim Locke]

MY external drive is Seagate not WD. Is your a USB 3 drive? with that funny looking USB3 connector on the device end?
If so try wiggling that around, then=y seem to be very unreliable.

 

[Callistemon]

I enabled debugging and disconnected WIFI. BUT Aja! I then saw and realized WIFI is NOT completely disconnected. It is disconnected for me attempting to do anything on the internet, BUT not for windows. There is a backdoor and windows connects up with ExpressVPN service and I gather third parties may as well. And then it wrote to my BIOS and what do you think happened after that, I got the problem again for the third time! Either three new drives are BAD, I seriously doubt it, though possible if they were from the same lot, or there is a bad boy or boys in town disabling external USB HD. I also started getting messages to buy recovery s/w. I have NOW enabled a password so that you cannot write to the BIO without knowing it, so whoever hacked in cannot rewrite it again, to make a fourth EXT WD USB fail.

Just because the connection to the Wi-Fi network is disabled, does not mean all networking drivers will be disabled. How do you think the BIOS update, which is a normal thing and not a conspiracy, caused the issue when the issue had already occurred a few times before the BIOS update? If you are receiving messages to purchase recovery software, and you have not installed trial editions, your computer is infected with malware. This could be the cause, not the BIOS update. Setting a BIOS password will not prevent your computer from becoming infected with the malware, as the adware, which could be at fault for affecting the disks, has no relation to the BIOS update.

If the Western Digital products are from 2020 or later, it is not unlikely for multiple to be defective. Western Digital used to be superior quality products (at least for internals), but has become a scam company under CEO David Goeckeler. 2 new WD Black HDDs from the WD Store had I/O Device Errors from the beginning. One sounded different after 60 days, with a Current Pending Sector Count of 8, an Uncorrectable Sector Count of 1, and Error Code 7 the next day. The WD Black totally crumbled after 5 weeks, before it could finish erasing once. The physical device WD6003FZBX-00K5WB0 (not just the filesystem) could not be recognized without being connected before starting Linux, but prevents booting beyond POST. It was connected while displaying the F12 boot menu (after POST and before Linux), and everything had Input/Output Errors except HDDSuperClone, which has been erasing the HDD at 1530 KB/s for 4 weeks. None of our other disks have ever fallen apart to that extent in under 10 years. Customer reviews strongly reflect the increase of I/O Device Errors with Western Digital products. Seagate has much better reviews nowadays and is no longer inferior.

The WD Support website blocks an RMA as "OUT OF REGION", despite being purchased from the official Western Digital Store and never crossing borders. "OUT OF REGION" means the product was originally sold in a different country. Western Digital used to provide Advanced RMAs for free, before requiring expensive deposits and a permanent $25 charge, which is never refunded even after returning the original. The $25 cannot be refunded even when an Advanced RMA is refused outside the customer's control. Western Digital has customers submit the $25 before knowing invasive identity verification is required to continue, with no option to cancel and refund the $25 by the time the customer gets to know. Seagate now only requires an inexpensive deposit for advanced replacements, which is entirely refunded after returning the original.

Western Digital uses Styrofoam instead of polyethylene foam because it's slightly cheaper. Styrofoam cushions much more poorly than polyethylene foam, and should never be used for an expensive HDD. Styrofoam is also toxic and nearly impossible to recycle. Polyethylene foam is not much to ask for, as it's also inexpensive plastic. The quality of the Styrofoam accurately represented the product. Western Digital previously used polyethylene foam before becoming a scam company. Seagate has done the opposite and mostly transitioned away from plastic cushioning.

In August 2021, a bait & switch scam was uncovered with the SN550 Blue SSD, not long after the Red SMR scandal. Western Digital neglects severe vulnerabilities in My Cloud OS 3, and says to buy a new WD My Cloud if your existing product cannot be upgraded to OS 5. Instead of providing updates, Western Digital will leave customers vulnerable until later in 2022, when networking functionality will be crippled, with a ransom to purchase a new device with OS 5. Western Digital claims to have determined it necessary to end support for OS 3, even though it is not fundamentally flawed, and the problem is the very lack of support itself. I have accurately recommended Western Digital hundreds of times over the years, and do not regret that, but the new CEO David Goeckeler has trashed the company. It has become increasingly clear that the latest Seagate products are superior to Western Digital, after both companies have new CEOs.

Supposedly you can disable SMART status so that you can use your ext HD. But APPARENTLY, ON NEW computer\s it is NOT. I have Windows 10 HP laptop and for the life of me, I cannot find or access the SMART Status bit in the BIOS. I found a youtube video where a computer technical repair specialist stated that his newer computer hardware did not have explicit access as the older ones did. I am a chip designer, and these kinda test modes we would never take out, I think they are available, but NOT for the user anymore. I believe it is hidden. These acts are malicious and I believe are purposely done to dissuade users from storing their data on external USB Harddrives, to force all users down the funnel of cloud storage as well as recovery software. I

SMART is absolutely not a scam to brick drives. It is actually very lax, and often waits way too long to provide warnings. Even when it does show errors, that does not accelerate failure. It is however, quite common to have fictitious SMART warnings from scam software. This could be the same software as what is bricking the HDDs, but it is definitely not the actual SMART system of the HDD that is bricking the disks. SMART is not disabled through the BIOS. It can be disabled with software running on Windows or Linux, but such change may be reverted after power cycling. There is no reason to do that, however.

To run an antivirus scan, press Windows + R, input PowerShell Start-MpWDOScan, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter. To check the real SMART values, download smartmontools (https://github.com/smartmontools/sm...LEASE_7_2/smartmontools-7.2-1.win32-setup.exe) and run the installer. Open a Command Prompt as administrator and input smartctl -a /dev/sdX: replacing X with a letter, A for Disk 0, B for Disk 1, C for Disk 2, and so on. Task Manager shows which disk number each disk has.

 

[Bighorn]

A comment on the WD My Cloud NAS drive, I also get the warning about the change for my 2TB drives. I took one out of service and removed the drive from the case, it works fine in a drive dock. I'm shopping for a new 4TB NAS drive for replacement of the remaining 2TB My Cloud. The newer My Cloud Home requires Internet access and I don't need that.