Hi,please my WD passport ultra (1tb) is now showing as local disk,i can't access any files and it slows my laptop down(win 8).I tried troubleshooting but nothing came up,is the anyway i can get access to my files and make the external work again?
Sorry that you are experiencing some issues with your WD drive.
What troubleshooting steps you have performed up until now?
Some of the basic ones are: attach it with a different USB cable to a different USB port(even system). In case this does not work, you can try to access it with some software tools. Testing the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool would be a good start: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=U3E2sM
If the issue persists, and the HDD can't be accessed by software tools, then I guess you will need to either contact some data recovery company(in case the data on the HDD is really important) or contact WD's Support and eventually RMA the drive if it is under warranty.