Chosen Solution
My USB MyPassport 2TB stopped working when I plugged it in the computer.
Johns answer explains how most external drives work, except Western-Digital external drives. Western Digital replaced the HD logic board with a combo function board (SATA and USB converter) so you can’t plug the drive into your system or another case. Western Digital also uses hardware encryption on the external drives so you can’t access the files by swapping the case. When you plug in your HD do you here is making any noise and does the LED light up at all? Did you forget to dismount the drive before disconnecting it? If either is true then there is hope on saving the drive (may not be able to save the data though). Without knowing your system and OS we can’t go forward here.
These units have two parts: the HDD, which is nothing more than a regular HDD with a SATA connector. The second part is a simple SATA-to-USB converter. And there’s a cable, too. Any of the parts can fail. First, try another USB port, then another cable if you have any reason to think it got damaged. Try another computer if you can. Beyond that…the device’s internal USB converter can fail, and they do, but most often the drive itself is bad. They get dropped, kicked and abused, and the cushioning is bare-minimum. The only way to troubleshoot this thing is to tear it apart and separate the pieces. But first, call Western Digital support. In my experience they’ll honor a warranty if a professional shop takes it apart, and you call them first. Once it’s apart, it’s a simple matter to test the drive by attaching it directly to a SATA port or a known-good USB converter. -John
my passport detected, but that partition not shown at my computer.(win xp)
My External drive 07A8, it does not work when I plug it in?
