I have a WD My Passport Ultra, and my computer cannot access any of the files and won't detect that it is a hard drive. If you have a PC you should include a MAC.
This answer explains how to regain access to an unresponsive drive.END MAC Check the power cable. Check the power cables are well seated in the external drive (applies only to 3.5” external drives), and also the AC socket you are connected to. Do not have the drive connected through a USB hub. Ensure it is connected directly to the PC or laptop. Similarly make sure the adapter is connected directly to an AC outlet, and not via an extension cord.
If this is a 2.5” external drive, ensure the Y-cable is connected securely to the drive, and if necessary use both USB connectors. This will provide extra power. If you are connecting to a PC, use the USB ports at the back of the PC, and not any ports at the front. Again, do not connect via a USB hub, connect the drive directly. Check the data cable. If you are connecting to a PC (ie not a laptop) then ensure you are connecting to the USB ports at the back of the system, and not any at the front. Do not connect via a USB hub.
If this is a 2.5” product try using both USB connectors on the Y cable. Try using a different USB port. Check the Drive Partion using Disk Utilities On a Mac PC the Disk Utility is used to verify that the drive is recognized by the system. HGST external drives are preformatted in NTFS which can be used on Windows only G-Technology products are preformatted for HFS+ which is Mac only. Click Go on the top menu bar, then choose Utilities, and Disk Utility. If the drive had not appeared on the desktop, or if Disk Utility is showing that the drive is formatted in a file system that is not recognized, then you can reinitialize the drive from within Disk Utility to a format that the Mac will recognize. Check System Information The Mac System Information app will show you whether the external drive is physically detected by the Mac.
Click on the blue Apple Menu in the top left corner of your desktop. Select About this Mac or More Info.
Please refer to When the System Information opens, click on ‘USB’ or whatever connection type is being used. If your external drive is not listed, as a final step are you able to connect the external drive to a second Mac machine. If the problem follows the drive to the second Mac Pc, then the device may be faulty and you should request an RMA to return the drive under Warranty. WINDOWS Check the Power Cable. Check the power cables are well seated in the external drive (applies only to 3.5” external drives), and also the AC socket you are connected to.
Do not have the drive connected through a USB hub. Ensure it is connected directly to the PC or laptop. Similarly make sure the adapter is connected directly to an AC outlet, and not via an extension cord. If this is a 2.5” external drive, ensure the Y-cable is connected securely to the drive, and if necessary use both USB connectors.
This will provide extra power. If you are connecting to a PC, use the USB ports at the back of the PC, and not any ports at the front. Again, do not connect via a USB hub, connect the drive directly. Check the Data Cable. If you are connecting to a PC (i.e.
Not a laptop) then ensure you are connecting to the USB ports at the back of the system, and not any at the front. Do not connect via a USB hub. If this is a 2.5” product try using both USB connectors on the Y cable. Try using a different USB port. Check Disk Management Even though you cannot see the drive on your desktop or in My Computer, we should check to see if the drive is recognized in Disk Management.
Click start, right click on Computer or My Computer, and select Manage. (If on Windows 8 or 8.1 press the Windows key + the X key, then click disk management) From the Computer Management window select Disk Management from the menu on the left. In Disk Management check if you can see the drive. If you can look at the partition on the drive then as new it will be labelled as NTFS, and should have a drive letter. It should also show the capacity of the drive, and be labelled Healthy. If the drive does not say Healthy, or shows the file format as RAW, then the partition has become corrupt.
It could also be corrupt if the bar above the drive is black and shows as Unallocated. In this instance right click on the drive and select delete volume or delete partition. We can then right click on the drive again and select create new volume or create partition. Follow the Wizard to create a Primary partition. Select NTFS format for Windows only, or exFAT for use on Windows and Mac.
Check the drives status in Device manager Click Start, Right click on Computer, or My Computer, and select Manage. (If on Windows 8 or 8.1 press the Windows key + the X key, then click device manager.) From the Computer Management window select Device Manager from the list on the left. From the device list, expand the entry called Disk Drives.
![Access wd my passport on another mac account Access wd my passport on another mac account](https://discourse-cdn-sjc1.com/wd/uploads/default/original/2X/a/a6b15772510a091722633baa9530b6802bfa6fc5.png)
If the drive is detected by the system, then there will be an entry here for your external drive. If it is not listed under disk drives, expand the Other Devices entry and check if there is an entry for an Unknown Device.
Right click the Unknown Device and select Properties. Under the General tab, it will probably state This device is not working properly followed by either Code 28 or Code 10. Code 10 would suggest a potential power supply issue (3.5” external drives”).
If you have a second external drive with an equivalent power supply then you may try the second power supply. If you do not have the option to try a different power supply, verify the problem by connecting to a different USB port, or if possible by connecting to a second PC. If you still receive the same error code, then we would suggest creating an RMA and returning the drive under Warranty. Code 28 would suggest a driver error. Right click on the ‘drive’ entry in Device Manager and select Uninstall. Remove the external drive, reboot the computer and reconnect.
If you receive the same error, do you have the opportunity to connect it to a second PC? If the drive fails on the second PC with the same error, then we would suggest raising an RMA and returning the drive under Warranty.
In case the answer did not answer your question, you can always visit the for help from WD users.
This answer explains how to view or access files backed up with WD SmartWare or WD Backup.END Please follow the instructions below, in order to view or access files backed up, using WD SmartWare 2.0 or higher, or WD Backup: Important: Always remember that 'backup' is to have the data stored in at least two (2) locations. Moving data from the system drive to an external hard drive is not a backup, unless there is already a duplicate of the file on a different drive. Open the volume from a supported My Book or WD Passport drive. By default, WD SmartWare creates a folder named WDSmartWare.swstor; and WD Backup creates a folder named WDBackup.swstor. Open the WDSmarWare.swstor folder, or WDBackup.swstor folder. For My Cloud drives open the SmartWare share and then the WDSmartWare.swstor folder. Open the following folders.
Your computer’s name: Each computer backed up, using either WD SmartWare or WD Backup will create a sub-folder by the name of that computer. Volume: Our backup software recognizes each backed up drive as a volume. Open the desired User folder to view the file the typical Windows directory tree. Desktop.
Documents. Music. Pictures. Videos. Favorites This allows the user to physically view or copy backed up data to another location. Best practice should leave all backed up data as-is. Any modifications to a file within the backup volume results in that file becoming a new version, existing only in one location.
Thus defeating the purpose of having a backup. In case the answer did not answer your question, you can always visit the for help from WD users.