WD My Passport External Hard Drive Connectivity Issues - Need Help

toshar

toshar

New to this forum
I bought the WD My Passport 1TB External Hard Disk Drive back in 2013 for around 5.5k. My primary purpose was to store personal data (xyz) for easy access from anywhere. However, I've been consistently disappointed with its performance. Unlike a simple plug-and-play experience, using this drive has been a hassle. I've tried various cables - USB 3.0, USB 2.0, cheap ones, expensive branded ones - and tested different ports on my laptop, cabinet, and motherboard, but nothing has worked seamlessly.

Every time I connect it, I hear the Windows connection sound, but then it disconnects. I've tried adjusting the cable, disconnecting and reconnecting, and sometimes it stays connected long enough for me to enter the password and access data, but then it disconnects again. This issue has persisted since day one, making me frustrated after 11 years of dealing with it. It seems like the drive requires more power than the standard 5V ports provide.

I'm wondering if there's a way to convert its default connector to SATA and 12V power. I'm willing to install it permanently inside my desktop cabinet and supply it with the required power if that means it will function like a regular hard drive. Nowadays, data can be stored in the cloud, on mobile phones, or on smaller USB drives, but I prefer using this HDD if it can work reliably within my setup.
Any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated. Sometime the drive works perfectly for hours which means the problem is within the connection part and not the drive part.

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OP
toshar

toshar

New to this forum
quicky008 said:
These drives need usb 3.0 ports to work, may exhibit malfunction if connected to usb 2 ports.
Click to expand...
Thanks for response. Ideally USB 3.0 drives are backward compatible, so do their port are designed this way.
Anyways, I have been using this HDD on number of USB 2 and 3 ports in last 11 years. I don't think if port is the problem.
 
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
USB 2 port offers 5V 500mA max whereas USB 3 offers 5V 900 mA.

So USB 3 has more power and specially 2.5” HDDs with moving parts may sometimes need that much of power to operate normally.

External HDD might not reliably work when plugged into USB 2 port or used with USB 2 cable. Only very low powered devices like USB 3 pen drives etc will work reliably on USB 2 port but then with reduced speed. I personally do not consider it as a good idea to plug external HDD or one with casing into a USB 2 port. If you see the specs of your HDD it says 5V DC 0.55A.

Further there’s no 12V rail in 2.5” HDDs or SSDs. The 12V rail on SATA power does not connect anywhere when connected to 2.5” SATA devices. These drives are operated on 5V DC. There’s 12V pin on them so that same SATA power connector can be used on 2.5 as well as 3.5, but it’s not connected anywhere inside.

If data on the HDD in question is important, consider backing it up first. The drive might have reached its EOL.

Edit 1-
Moreover I just remembered, when USB 3 was not mainstream, I had bought a USB 2 2.5" Ext HDD casing. I just pulled it out from my junk stuff and see the photo, it has main + auxillary USB cable connection. It needed 2 USB ports to work reliably. The second cable was meant for auxillary power.
 

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toshar

toshar

New to this forum
@patkim @RumbaMon19 Thank you so much for your reply. I also feel that power delivery from a single USB 2.0 or 3.0 port is not enough to keep the drive running and it keeps on going into Failsafe mode. The maximum I have done so far is to plug its wire into ONBOARD import of the motherboard and not the chassis, that's what max I have in my hands and it's not appropriate because sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Tried various computers and various laptops, same result.
I will try to source the "Y-Split to USB 3.0" cable, let's see if the aux wire can power the drive.

  • Speed and performance is not in first place as I am still on a very old rig and uses the drive just to retrieve data when required, say once a week.
  • The drive was barely used in the last 10 years so I don't think if it is near its EOL and HDD are not a consumable item like batteries.
  • I will try my best to retain the drive before spending money on an in-fashion SSD.

Will update the result. Thanks.
 
patkim

patkim

Cyborg Agent
*support-en.wd.com/app/products/downloads/softwaredownloads

Apart from third-party tools like crystaldiskinfo, hdsentinel etc, use the WD's own proprietary tools and check the health of the drive. Linked above. I can think of 'WD Drive Utilities' tool from the link above.
HDDs are not consumables but they are highly unreliable.

My Toshiba brand new HDD failed within less than one year and one that I bought second hand (for some reasons) still rocks after 8 years.
 
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