WD Passport Ultra not showing up on media player

thaiphoon

Commendable
Apr 4, 2016
4
0
1,510
For about 2 years I used a WD My Passport Ultra 2.5" 2TB external hd. For about 2 years it worked fine until it gave up. So, I bought a new one, started to load on videos It shows up perfectly on my computer, but when I connect it to my (China made) 1080 HD media player, it doesn't show up. There's nothing wrong with the player. I have two, one in the bed room, the other one in the living room. It doesn't show up on both. I asked an acquaintance and he said: format it.
So I formatted it (it is NTFS) and put on one mp4 file, connected it my media player. Media player doesn't recognize my HD.
Did i might get a faulty disk?
 
Solution
Hey there, thaiphoon.

Sorry to hear about the problems you've been experiencing with your drive. It does sound like the HDD is working properly, but just to be on the safe side, I'd recommend that you try it with a different USB cables (preferably shorter than 12") and also download DLG (Data Lifeguard) to run both tests (Quick and Extended), just to make sure that everything is working properly. Here's how to test it: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.
You should also make sure that those media players support the size of the drive you have. Also if there's an option for you to format the HDD via those players - go ahead and try that out as well.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD
Hey there, thaiphoon.

Sorry to hear about the problems you've been experiencing with your drive. It does sound like the HDD is working properly, but just to be on the safe side, I'd recommend that you try it with a different USB cables (preferably shorter than 12") and also download DLG (Data Lifeguard) to run both tests (Quick and Extended), just to make sure that everything is working properly. Here's how to test it: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.
You should also make sure that those media players support the size of the drive you have. Also if there's an option for you to format the HDD via those players - go ahead and try that out as well.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD
 
Solution

thaiphoon

Commendable
Apr 4, 2016
4
0
1,510


Thanks Boogieman! I'm using the original connecting cable I got from WD. It was in the box and is probably about 14" long. Why you recommend a shorter one and not the one supplied by WD? To find a shorter cable is another thing, because this is a special cable to fit into the WD HD. I will download DLG and run the tests.
My two media players support 2TB hard disks, they have done so with my (now faulty) one I have used during about 2 years. I don't think that my media player would have the possibility to format a media.
 
Don't be alarmed by this, I usually recommend a shorter cable because the shorter it is, the less likely it is for a fault to occur due to the cable, although the WD ones are good quality cables, sometimes there might be a faulty one. Usually cables with length of 12" - 18" should work perfectly fine (even longer ones). So as I said, don't worry about that.

I'll be sure to check the results from both tests once you share them here.
 

thaiphoon

Commendable
Apr 4, 2016
4
0
1,510


Thanks Boogieman, I'm running the tests now, I'm busy on the extended one now. Will share outcome once it is finished.
 

thaiphoon

Commendable
Apr 4, 2016
4
0
1,510
Woaw, the extended test would take more than 18 hours and there is only one small mp4 file on it. I might do it tomorrow during my stock trading. Here are the results:
How do I add a file, can't see how to do? Anyway the quick test passed.
 
It's normal for the long test to take a long time, but not quite that long for a 2TB drive. No matter the type and size of the files on your drive, the Extended Test scans each individual sector of that drive, thus resulting in a pretty long test. But as I've already mentioned 18h is a bit too much for a 2TB HDD. Anyway the speed of the test can be affected by other things as well, as your system and processor load, so let me know once you've completed the test. It's really good news about the Quick Test. :)
 

buck5000

Commendable
Nov 20, 2016
5
0
1,510
Had the same problem with both a bluray player and a 3 year old android box - the light on the hard drive would come on but neither one was seeing the Western Digital My Passport Ultra 259F 2TB that I'd copied movies onto with the computer.
But I eventually found the right solution elsewhere on this site: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3208732/picking-passport-ultra-1tb.html#18895071
The source of the problem is that Western Digital is now shipping their Hard Drives with GPT (GUID Partition Table) instead of the MBR (Master Boot Record) partitioning system that they used to have.
The solution requires not only a reformatting, but before that, a deletion of the existing volume on the Hard Drive, and then a change of partition type to MBR - in Windows 10 you right-click on the Start button(lowest left) to open up Disk Management and that gives you access to the required tools.
You right-click on the purple drive bar and delete the existing volume on the My Passport (Warning! - along with everything you have on the drive)
Then you right-click on the far-left part of the bar and select 'Convert to MBR disk"
after those 2 steps the drive bar will be black and be labelled as 'Unallocated'
You then right-click on the main part of the bar and click 'New Simple Volume' and proceed through the setup
Now you have a Hard Drive that will be recognized by older, hardware based Media Players
 

buck5000

Commendable
Nov 20, 2016
5
0
1,510


Sorry Boogieman_WD, but I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your diagnosis - I believe that his problem lies with the fact that Western Digital now ships at least some of it's Drives formatted with the newer GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning system instead of the older MBR (Master Boot Record) system that your 2 TB My Passport Ultras used to ship with - my older hardware-based Media Players wouldn't see a new 2 TB My Passport Ultra 0259F until I changed the partitioning system to MBR - a process detailed in my post below
 
Hey there, buck5000.

This is indeed something that's worth the try. Thanks for the suggestion. However it sounds a bit odd that the drive would take 18 hours for the long test to complete. I'm definitely not saying that your solution is not helpful, I'm just not sure that this is the case here.
Hopefully @thaiphoon comes back to the thread and update us with more details.

By the way, you did great by finding and implementing the solution!

Cheers!
Boogieman_WD