How To Fix WD My Passport Hard Drive Not Detected?

Summary: You may encounter the ‘WD My Passport hard drive not detected’ error due to various reasons. In this post, we will discuss some effective workarounds that can help you troubleshoot this issue. If the hard drive is physically damaged, you need to contact a professional data recovery provider to recover the data. Request a call back

Table of Contents:

1. What is WD My Passport External Hard Drive?
2. Common Issues and Recovery Solutions for WD My Passport External Hard Drives
3. How to Fix WD My Passport Not Detected?
4. Case Study: Recover Data From WD That Is Not Showing
5. Find the Top WD My Passport Data Recovery Service Provider
6. In a Nutshell – Fix WD My Passport Hard Drive Not Detected
7. FAQs 

What is Western Digital My Passport External Hard Drive?

Western Digital My Passport is one of the more popular choices when it comes to external hard drives. Not as expensive as LaCie but with almost the same ruggedness it has been a best seller for several years.

Its appeal lies in:

• WD hard disk is a trusted brand and among the top hard drive manufacturers.
• Offers great value for money when compared to SSD.
• Storage from 1 TB to 5 TB.
• The enclosure is made from premium ABS plastic.
• Compact and lightweight.
• Offers backup, password protection, and 256-bit AES encryption.

Western Digital My Passport also offers USB 3.0 connectivity and a built-in WD Backup™ software that facilitates local and cloud backup functionality.

In a nutshell, the WD My Passport external hard drive is an all-in-one portable HDD with all the features and functionalities you seek.

Common Issues and Recovery Solutions for WD My Passport External Hard Drives

The WD external HDD is also prone to damage and other issues, like the WD My Passport not showing, but the LED is blinking. This error indicates that the file system doesn’t recognize your WD My Passport external hard drive.

Nevertheless, you can try a few workarounds to fix the error, WD My Passport hard drive not detected, but the LED is blinking.

Using another USB port, changing the USB cable, connecting the hard drive to another computer system, etc are often what does the magic. But, in most cases, the HDD not detected issue occurs due to physical damage. To know more about My Passport Hard Drive Recovery read on.

Additional Reading: Recover Data from WD External Hard Drive During Warranty

Now that we’ve covered what the WD My Passport External Hard Drive is and its common causes of issues, let’s delve into solutions for fixing the problem of WD My Passport not being detected.

How to Fix WD My Passport Not Detected?

Let’s take a look at some effective methods to resolve this issue.

Methods	Steps
Show All Hidden Devices	Go to search bar > Type devmgmt.msc >
Change the USB Cable/Port	Try different USB cable or USB port >
Change the Drive Letter	Go to search bar > Type “Disk Management” >
Uninstall Drivers	Go to search bar > Type devmgmt.msc >
Change USB Suspend	Go to search bar > Type Control panel

1) Show All Hidden Devices

When you connect the WD My Passport in your computer system and it’s not detected, it might be hidden. To verify it, make all the devices unhidden.

Follow the below steps to unhide the devices on your computer system.

• Type “devmgmt.msc” in the Search bar and hit Enter.
• In the Device Manager window, navigate to the “View” tab.
• Expand it and select “Show hidden devices”.

• Reboot your computer system or restart your computer and check whether the system is detecting your WD My Passport hard drive.

2) Change the USB Cable/Port

You may face the issue if the USB cable is damaged or is not compatible with the respective USB port.

Use a new USB cable to connect WD My Passport. The system might be able to detect it.

Also, change the USB port. A laptop has at least four and a desktop has six. Though WD My Passport is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 it is better to connect it with USB 3.0 ports. To differentiate from USB 2.0 these are blue in colour.

Also in the case of a desktop, the front and back ports offer a different speed. Connect to a port at the back.

Additional Reading: Fix A USB Drive Not Showing In My Computer

3) Change the Drive Letter

Windows assigns a drive letter to all connected volumes. Changing the drive letter could be a solution to your WD My Passport hard drive not detected.

Follow the below steps to change the drive letter of the WD My Passport hard drive:

• Type “Disk Management” in the search bar and hit Enter. You can also right-click on Start and select Disk Management.
• In the Disk Management window, navigate to your connected WD drive, and right-click on it.
• Select “Change Drive Letter and Paths”.

Source: www.handyrecovery.com

• Assign a new letter to your WD external drive to show and save the changes.
• Reboot the device.
• Now, check whether it is being detected by the operating system.

4) Uninstall Drivers

There are chances that the drivers are not updated or have some issues. It could cause the problem WD My Passport hard drive not detected.

So, to troubleshoot the non-detected WD My Passport issue, uninstall the USB drivers. Follow the below steps:

• Type “devmgmt.msc” in the search bar and hit Enter.
• Device Manager will open.
• Navigate to “Disk Drives” and expand it.
• Right-click on WD My Passport. It might be named differently such as USB 3.0 Flash Storage Device or similar.
• Click on Properties.
• Select Driver tab.
• Click Update Driver.
• In the box that pops up select Search automatically for drivers.
• If Windows cannot find a driver then go back to the Driver tab and Uninstall Device.
• Shutdown the device.
• Remove WD My Passport.
• Start the device driver.
• Connect WD My Passport via USB 3.0 cable to a proper USB port.

It might resolve the problem you had, WD My Passport hard drive not detected.

5) Disable USB Selective Suspend

This feature of Windows works only for laptops. It shuts off power to some ports when the battery is low. This allows essential USB hardware like a mouse to operate but might shut down the mic.

You need to disable this feature to resolve the error WD My Passport hard drive not detected, but the LED is blinking.

1. Type Control Panel in Start bar

2. Click Hardware and Sound

3. Click Recover Power Options

4. Change Plan Settings

5. Select Advanced Power Settings

6. Scroll down to USB settings

7. There are two types: On Battery and Plugged In disable both

Let’s explore a successful case study where Stellar Data Recovery successfully retrieved data from a WD drive that was not being detected.

Case Study: Recover Data From WD That Is Not Showing

Client: Business Entity

Client City: Delhi

Goal: Recover data from WD that is Not Showing

Method: Recovered Data with the help of Stellar Data Recovery Delhi from Client WD Drive.

Challenges faced by Client :

• The client was having issues accessing any of the data on his WD Hard Drive because of data access issues.
• It was a WD10EXEX-21WN4A
• The client was analyzing bad sectors drive or WD Hard Drive.

Process of Stellar Data Recovery:

• The results of Stellar Data Recovery’s initial research revealed that the WD Hard Drive’s bad sectors were to blame for the data loss.
• The copying is then completed successfully by Stellar Data Recovery by avoiding the problematic WD Hard Drive sector. Then they used Stellar Data Recovery Software expertise to scan the copy.
• In order to allow the customer to effectively analyze or check the recovered data, regardless of any potential issues with the file structures or formats, we then granted the client access to the data on a new drive in line with the client’s instructions.

Client Feedback on Our Services:

The client was pleased with his vital data and with our data recovery services. Our top-notch services and outstanding quality made this feasible.

Find the Top WD My Passport Data Recovery Service Provider

If none of the above workarounds work, it indicates that the hard drive is physically damaged. In such a case, seek the help of a professional data recovery services provider for hard drive recovery. If you have a problem with the WD My Passport 2626 driver being unavailable, these experts can help retrieve your data with 100% safety and integrity.

Choose a data recovery service provider who can examine the WD My Passport Ultra hard drive in the controlled environment of a Class 100 Clean Room lab. Their team will carefully diagnose the issue and, if necessary, replace any faulty components. Following this, the HDD will be cloned, and the data will be retrieved using proprietary software after download and installation.

In a Nutshell – Fix WD My Passport Hard Drive Not Detected

The ‘WD My Passport hard drive not detected, but the LED is blinking’ error indicates that your file system does not recognize the HDD. There could be different reasons behind this error. You can try troubleshooting this error by changing the USB port or cable, uninstalling the drivers, changing the drive letter, etc. But, these are simply workarounds and might not solve the problem.

Unfortunately, if the WD My Passport external hard drive does not respond, you need to contact a professional data recovery services provider. They should be certified and trusted with remarkable experience in recovering data from physically damaged WD hard disk.

Additional Reading: Recover Data From WD Black Hard Drive

FAQs – Fix WD My Passport Hard Drive Not Detected

1. How is data recovery possible?

Data recovery is possible by utilizing proprietary algorithms and extensive experience to reconstruct data from remaining fragments, effectively creating a new drive identical to the original. Deleted files may not be erased entirely; instead, their location logs are deleted, allowing skilled engineers to piece together the remaining data.

2. What causes data loss on WD My Passport drives?

Data loss on WD My Passport drives may result from accidental deletion, formatting errors, malware infections, or hardware issues such as disk failure or damage. Regular backups and cautious handling can mitigate these risks.

Additional Reading: Fix A Slow WD External Hard Drive Without Data Loss

3. Can I check the health of WD My Passport?

You can use Western Digital drive testing utility from their site. You can also use a third-party app. All of them check for SMART attributes stored inside the disk.

These are self-test measurements that the hard disk does to report its heath. If you take good care of your WD My Passport and do not drop it, there is no reason why it should not last five years.

4. How can I prevent data loss on my WD My Passport drive?

To prevent data loss on your WD My Passport drive, regularly back up your files to another storage device or cloud service, and handle the drive carefully to avoid physical damage or corruption.

5. How quickly can data recovery work?

In case of logically lost data (accidental file deletion or reformatting), the process can take an entire night to work through the whole disk. If only a few essential GBs need to be extracted, it can happen faster.

Hard drive recovery in a lab might take time depending on the issue. Something fundamental such as firmware corruption can be fixed soon, but fixing the access arm might take a while.

6. How much does data recovery cost?

Data recovery costs vary depending on the complexity of the issue and the extent of damage. For instance, resolving issues like a damaged WD My Passport not showing up on a Mac might require a team of engineers spending a week, while simpler problems could be resolved in a day. A preliminary examination is necessary to determine the exact cost.

7. How will the recovered data be sent to me?

Recovered data will be sent to you via a USB pen drive or an external disk. Alternatively, you can provide the device driver, or purchase one if needed, for data transfer.