WD Passport Fatal error?!

socraticfrank90 · Apr 7, 2015

Ok. i recieved a WD Hard drive used to repair and it wont show u on my PC. i deleted the WD passport files that were installed on my personal PC, to see if that will be of any help. the next time i plugged it in, my windows 8.1 PC gave me the USB plugged in sound and the WD installed files by itself. after that, gone. nothing. i couldn't find it anywhere, so i went to disk management, and i found the disk. there's an icon with a red down arrow. when i first opened disk management, it told me to initialize the disk in order to use it, but when i clicked on ok, to Master Boot Record option, (when i try the other option GUID Partition table, tells me the disk is too small) an error message from Virtual Disk Manager shows up saying 'the request failed due to a fatal device hardware error. Help!! i don't want to lose any files!

UPDATE

I think i have the mac one lol. How can i double check

SuperSoph_WD · Apr 8, 2015

Welcome to the community, socraticfrank90!

I'm very sorry to hear about your WD My Passport drive. The fatal device hardware error definitely sounds concerning!

I'd recommend you to test the drive using WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics tool to test the drive's health and check up on the SMART status.
Make sure you run the quick and the extended test. Here's a link to th e software: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=0OqgqI

Keep me updated with the results!
SuperSoph_WD

Nawin Kumar · Jul 7, 2015

i'm also getting same problem. i tried above solution(quick and extended test).that will shows hard drive passed both tests. but i'm not able to access the hard drive. what i have to do ?? please help me to solve this problem.

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WD My Passport 0741
Firmware Number: 1025
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 16:11:49, July 07, 2015

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WD My Passport 0741
Firmware Number: 1025
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 16:11:52, July 07, 2015

SuperSoph_WD · Jul 7, 2015

Welcome to the community, Nawin!

Sorry to hear about your WD Passport!

First, I'd recommend you to edit your post and delete the Unit's serial number!
Then I'd suggest you to check the external HDD's status in Disk Management on your computer. I'd also try testing the drive on another computer and see what the test will show there. Have you tried using a different USB cable as well, though?

It would help a lot if you could post some screenshots of Disk Management. Either way, if you manage to access the drive, I'd strongly advise you to back up the data from it before proceeding with the troubleshooting!

Keep me posted!

SuperSoph_WD

Nawin Kumar · Jul 7, 2015

Thank you very much sir for your valuable reply, when i connected to port it will sounding same like previous connected sound.this is the status in disk management(in image). i'm also tried in other computer i'm getting same problem. i,m using same cable. i don't have another USB cable. please tell me the solution to take backup. i need that data. that data is more valuable for me.

https://plus.google.com/115978563381636516084/posts/WgjpNfPgFB9?pid=6168760108657252770&oid=115978563381636516084

SuperSoph_WD · Jul 8, 2015

Hi again, Nawin!

Unfortunately, it seems like your WD Passport external drive has failed.

I'd recommend you to contact our technical support and send your RMA request if the drive is still covered by the limited warranty. If you wish to recover your files, you should first contact a professional data recovery company because they would be your best bet at retrieving the backup. Here you can see WD's Data recovery partners worldwide and find a company near you that might be able to help you: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=JC5Q5J

Here's also an article from our knowledge base that explains the RMA process: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ttqi8A
WD Support Contacts: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=jnp2fp

Best of luck! Sorry I couldn't be more helpful!
SuperSoph_WD

praks001 · Oct 14, 2015

This is a very common error in Western Digital hard drives. I faced this error three times. It got replaced twice while in warranty but the latest one cannot be replaced since the warranty has expired. I have also been using a hard disk from Seagate for about 4 years but never faced such an issue. What I feel is that Western Digital has been dumping faulty products in India. This is a very common issue with WD hard drives and the internet is flooded with the complaint. I feel cheated & robbed.

praks001 · Oct 14, 2015

SuperSoph_WD :

This is a very common error in Western Digital hard drives. I faced this error three times. It got replaced twice while in warranty but the latest one cannot be replaced since the warranty has expired. I have also been using a hard disk from Seagate for about 4 years but never faced such an issue. What I feel is that Western Digital has been dumping faulty products in India. This is a very common issue with WD hard drives and the internet is flooded with the complaint. I feel cheated & robbed.

SuperSoph_WD · Oct 15, 2015

praks001 :

Hey there, praks001!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your bad experience with our WD My Passport external drives and I'm sad to see you so disappointed with the product.

I can assure you that we don't 'dump faulty products in India' on purpose at all! What might have happened is a bad batch of WD My Passport drives being shipped to you. This would explain why the issue is common to you.

Again, sorry about your unfortunate experience with us!
I hope everything works out for you & best of luck with everything!
SuperSoph_WD

praks001 · Oct 16, 2015

SuperSoph_WD :

What else would I infer when I am getting the similar problem time & again? It only means you haven't been able to rectify this problem in 3 years and instead dumping the faulty products here. I received 2 replacements & each one of them ended up dead because of the same issue. But I've had enough with WD. Now I am educating the people against your scam so that others won't have to suffer like me.

tolasunkanmi · Oct 23, 2015

Hello Nawin,

Please were you able to recover your data through one of the WD's data recovery partners that you were advised to use for data recovery? If you were, please which one did you use? I seem to have the same exact issue. Thank you.

Nawin Kumar :

tolasunkanmi · Oct 23, 2015

Please what are the chances of successfully recovering one's data through your data recovery partners? My sister is very distraught with grief right now because her WD My Passport just had the fatal error and she has years of important work on it that she has no backup of anywhere. She's so worried right now. Please help.

SuperSoph_WD :

SuperSoph_WD · Oct 23, 2015

tolasunkanmi :

Welcome to the community, tolasunkanmi!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your sister's data from the WD My Passport drive!

I'd strongly recommend you and her to always have at least two identical copies of your most precious files stored on different locations (Storage devices). Unfortunately, I can't determine how successful the data recovery would be, you should contact any of the partners that are near your location and explain the failure and issues to them. http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=DHvrVD
They might be able to estimate how lucky you will be. The success of the recovery depends on the damage of the HDD itself, whether it's physical or logical corruption.

Good luck! I keep my fingers crossed for your sister's data!
SuperSoph_WD

Alameenj · Nov 16, 2015

Dear Reader,

I am facing the same problem with my WD My Passport Ultra 1TB External Hard disk,

Please give me the solution to rectify and fix the same problem faced by you.

SuperSoph_WD · Nov 17, 2015

Alameenj :

Hey, Alameenj!

I'm really sorry about that!

Have you tried any of the suggested solutions from above? What troubleshooting methods have you attempted?
Try using the Data LifeGuard Diagnostic tool from our website and run both the QUICK and EXTENDED tests to check on the health and SMART status of your WD My Passport. Here's the link again: http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en

Keep me posted with the results. You can PM me, too, or create your own thread!

SuperSoph_WD

romullas · Nov 24, 2015

I must admit I have just experience the same issue - the unit shows up in Device Manager (with no symbols etc next to it).. Under properties its actually states the Device status as ' this device is working properly' however under volumes there is no information - I cant use disk management as when I select master boot record option I also get the error message saying ' the request failed due to a fatal device hardware error'... I have now tried on 3 different computers to no avail and it is really frustrating... my daughter also bought one on the same day in August 2015 from the same store and her's failed approx.. 2mths ago - the problem is as we don't have the boxes & receipts anymore how do we claim under warranty??? can they see the age of them based on the serial/product numbers on the bottom? id write them here but I will need a magnifying glass to read them??

SuperSoph_WD · Nov 24, 2015

romullas :

Hey there, romullas!

This seems very unfortunate! The error that you are getting indicates that your external HDD has failed. I'd strongly recommend you to refer to the links from my previous posts and contact our customer support.
You can do a warranty check on your WD product here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ZqMPjE
If it's still covered, you should be able to send an RMA request and our support will surely provide you with a replacement soon enough. You don't need the receipt to send an RMA request, though. Check the warranty policies for more details on that here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=PFzUn9

Hope I was helpful. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

romullas · Nov 24, 2015

SuperSoph_WD :

Thanks for the information SuperSoph_WD - I have been onto the WD site and I think I have created a RMA; however it is a bit confusing as I am in Australia and it is giving me a whole heap of other information like I should have kept the box, receipt etc take it back to the re-seller blah blah.... ive tried searching their site to find WHERE I return the item to for replacement but cant find an answer??? Its really quite frustrating and now I'm not even sure they will honor a replacement even though the warranty date states its late 2017 (Ive barely hate the drive 6mths)... I am concerned as my daughters failed 2 months ago also and they are the same drives; same issues.... I have told her to bring hers over and we can try to lodge hers also for a RMA; but my question is - ' is there a flaw in this particular drive?' This seems to be a problem that is occurring for a great many people and when we are not doing anything unusual with the drive and it is for domestic purposes to store data/music/tv shows/movies etc I am concerned that they are not reliable to store information... especially as this is a backup and if backup fails what are we left with?

SuperSoph_WD · Nov 25, 2015

romullas :

I'm truly sorry to hear about your and your daughter's bad encounters with the WD My Passport drive, @romullas. However, there shouldn't be anything wrong with the model particularly. Sadly, a lot of factors could influence its healthy state (system configurations, shipping, power supply, etc.) which is quite unfortunate. My recommendation is to always keep backups of your data stored in different locations. Mechanical hard drives are very sensitive, so it definitely will give you some peace of mind if you have at least two identical copies of your precious data. This way you'd be able to avoid the data-loss headaches!

Concerning your RMA, you should first contact our customer support! Read through the warranty policy where this is stated: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=lRA9l6
No Product may be returned directly to WD without first contacting WD for a Return Material Authorization ("RMA") number. If it is determined that the Product may be defective, you will be given an RMA number and instructions for Product return. An unauthorized return, i.e. one for which an RMA number has not been issued, will be returned to you at your expense.

Hope everything works out with your replacement WD My Passport drives!

SuperSoph_WD

Max Shootingstar · Jan 8, 2016

Same Problem here. On USB safely removal detected, on device manager detected but on Explorer......BLANK.....cant initialize it and cant format it. Just a fatal error.
I have 1TB Ext HDD with 800GB+ data on it. All gone. Service center told they will replace without any problem but data is most important :heink:

A hope is that I have to ask approval to recover the data from 3rd party before replacing it.

So my question is that
1. Is anyone is able to recover data from third party?
2. Are they successful in recovering it
3. Did WD raise any flags on it?
4. Will they give approval for Data Recovery from third party?

SuperSoph_WD · Jan 11, 2016

Max Shootingstar :

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with it as well, Max Shootingstar!

Sadly, this is exactly why we always recommend having more than 1 copy of your data stored in one location alone. Keeping multiple backups is the best way to prevent data loss. Unfortunately, data recovery is rarely a 100% certain procedure and it depends on the amount of damage on the drive as well as the number of corrupted sectors/files. Using professional data recovery services, though, are definitely your best bet at getting most of it back. However, not even they would be able to tell you how successful the procedure would be beforehand.
I'd strongly recommend you to directly contact our customer support either by phone or e-mail and raise all your queries with them! Here are a couple of links you can refer to regarding the data recovery services and warranty policies of Western Digital.

Data Recovery Partners
Warranty Policy
WD Support Contacts

Keeping my fingers crossed for a successful data recovery! Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

ochreangel · Mar 12, 2016

I am having the same problem however on my drive is all tv shows so when I plug the drive into the TV I have no problems accessing or viewing the shows but for some reason it won't open on the computer which means I can't add to the drive or transfer the files to another drive because I get the fatal error msg. Why would it be accessible on the TV but not the computer?

SuperSoph_WD · Mar 14, 2016

ochreangel :

Hey there, ochreangel!

It's highly recommended to create your own thread in the TH community. This way a lot more people would be able to see the issues you are encountering and lend a hand with the solution.
Now, I'd advise you to read through the posts in this discussion and try the troubleshooting tips. Start by find a way to backup your data and then test it using WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. I'd advise you to try accessing your WD My Passport from another computer and see if the error is still present or the data - accessible.
Another important thing you should try is swapping the USB cable with a different one and updating your USB hub controller drivers from the computer/motherboard manufacturer's official website. Manually updating the hardware-specific drivers improves the performance, compared to generic drivers that Windows Updates install.

Give these a try and let me know how it goes! Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

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